JAYNE CORTEZ! WOW!

WOW! That's all I can say after last night. WOW! One of my long time idols, Jayne Cortez was here in SF - I can't believe after a couple of decades. And, wow! What a performance. I've been listening to and reading Jayne since high school. My students will remember me playing selections of poets and always including Jayne's "Maintain Control." She did that tune last night. WOW! I was stoked. I was astronauting! (Is that a word? 'tis now.) WOW! And the musicians! Including what must be her son with Ornette Coleman. (Yeah, wow!) I SO love jazz - and with Jayne, wow! I can't remember seeing another poet get a standing ovation like that - maybe Stanley Kunitz, but after he was ancient, and before the reading. Jayne did an encore to two standing ovations in the sparsely attended performance. What's up with ya'll? Here, the kids think they invented spoken word. I always say: check out Jayne Cortez; She's been doing it since I was half your age. And, those that came before her. What's happening to all that history? She made me feel proud. I remember once, during a search for a hire, someone asked what I thought of the poet and I said, thinking of people like Jayne, "It was okay. Competent. But you know what, when you think of all the things a poem can do - change your life, raise the hair on your neck, make you cry, laugh, break up with your boyfriend, start a revolution, change the world - I don't know, I didn't hear any of that. What a waste of a poem."

Yes, last night, walking fast through the peed-up streets, hearing ghosts of poems/performances tapping on the windows of my Muse, and singing through the vacant streets with the slumbering shapes in the doorways: "Did you ever have to make up your mind...", and thinking, goofily, some day some critics going say: "Lorna Dee Cervantes once stated in a blog entry that she was a cross between Jayne Cortez and John Sebastian." jaja

My favorite, besides my favorite, "Maintain Control," was a piece she did repeating "She got hot..." and ending with the line, "when he didn't say he'd love her for ever after" and then following with repetitions of "He got cold..." It was hilarious, brilliant, and right in synch with a lot of what I've been thinking about lately in relation to communication and mis-communication between the sexes. She got hot. He got cold.

Off to hear her speak (and maybe give her a copy of DRIVE, just because she helped it to be) at SFSU today at 4:30 in the Richard Oakes lounge of the Cesar Chavez student center.

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE.

"and push out your violence/ push out your violence..."

Tuesday Morning In Autumn

another new fall
birds dive after what they want
I, too, missing you

I Always Did Like This Song..

"Did you ever have to make up your mind?
And say yes to one and leave the other behind?
There's so many changes, and tears you must hide.
Did you ever have to finally decide?

You know, that one would be blue eyed
and cute as a button
with hair down to here
and plenty of money.
And just when you think
she's that one in the world,
your heart gets stolen
by some mousy little girl..."

I've been singing this song to myself for over 40 years - sometimes daily; it's an ingrained habit. I found myself singing and thinking about it tonight. This version, I was about 11 when I first watched it. Besides cute (John Sebastian), I was fascinated by the off rhyme. Maybe that's where I get my penchant for what I call "half, quarter or even, fifth rhymes. Oh course, when I sang it, it was always "he" and "guy", as the circumstances dictated (I always was a sucker go for those mousy little guys.)

But the truth is, I always imagined myself in that slant.


The Lovin' Spoonful

"Then, you bet you better finally decide...".

I've Got...

... a little brown book, and I know how to use it.

Yes, life is interesting. Otherwise, it would just be plain tragic and funny as hell.

A Poem In Progress - "For ..."

For ...


I saw the ocean
in your eyes, touched
your heart, once,
a subtle lapping
under the fingers.

A soft evaporation
left its mark
and something burrowed
in the fleshy sand;
your harvest, a thing

of the past. What
is past refuses
to stay under its
underlines -- the headlines
under your brow, the mad

believing. I walk the tidelines,
the furrows, the sorrows,
the bright bridges into
tomorrow. The digging
continues, a gouging

under sentences. If I
were this belief I would
flourish, fly over crag
stone and reef. I wouldn't
stay here, fast and locked

in this absence of you.
All the possibilities become
you: a flinch in time,
an unreeling. The spools
of our separate lives run

out on their own. The great
fish of the heart, spawning
under its river, tight-fisted
as shark, The greening love
of sea -- left -- unbelieved.


10/26/07
Lorna Dee Cervantes

Smiles Cafe - Above the Darth Vader Hiss of the BART

Smiles Cafe: Above the Darth Vader Hiss of the BART


Yesterday, I ventured out to buy a stack of the San Francisco Chronicle with the big article and pics on the Precita Eyes Muralists Center's 30th Anniversary Gala Benefit event this saturday at Project Artaud. I went across the street to where the papers are only 39 cents and the ATM will give you the limit. There in the beeping ATM sat a crisp twenty dollar bill and the receipt. I looked around. Two Mejicanas standing around and chatting with their carts, both frequently glancing over at me with my card in hand. I left the machine and looked down the street. No one. I stood with my hand over the bill, the other poised at the receipt - some way to locate the owner. Then, I needed to fly out to the Rockies right away. I couldn't wait (so I thought). I quickly pocketed the cash I could use and started my transaction.

I was intending to buy some miso soup to-go at the place across the street. Then fly away to cash in on my future, here in this Declaración de la Independéncia I signed on the Dieciséis de Septiembre in order to buy a pre-fab 2-bedroom, 2-bath house - or boat, should Global Warming exceed The Enlightenment as it's perched on the edge of a cliff over-looking the Pacific. Perfect. Until The Deluge. I'm buying it. And, tossing my offerings to Yemaya. I also decide to buy two orders of bbq pork buns - comida prohibida. But, done. They are the most like home: my mother and grandmother having worked as cooks and housekeepers for wealthy Chinese families. No one makes them like they do at home: the overflow bags in the freezer, the steamer left on the stove as a monumental sculpture to a perpetual hunger. These, could be saw-dust, or worse, could be gristle and fat in a gooey wrap; deadly. These are a well-kept secret. Perfect. I start to read my paper, one of the stack, an article about new clamp-downs on the homeless. The Homeless, that metonymic shift that's the net of the not-the-aristocracy of San Francisco.

I lucked out, I think, as I go in my wallet to pay. Guiltily. i don't want to look at the folded bill in my pocket - or the receipt which I, somehow, know is made out just for 20 dollars. It is. The last 4 numbers are recorded there. "Bad karma," I thought to myself as I walked to the Chinese Sushi place. I was walking across the intersection where no one gives a damn. "Best to get rid of it." I thought to order 2 orders of pork buns as penance.

The young/old/middle-age - younger than me - couple take seats at the sushi bar in front of me. I bristle. I have a plane to catch, and a take-out order to wait on, as the waiter takes their order first. They can't decide what they want. I was about to complain, to be unusually assertive, when I heard her say, "How much for the wonton soup?" "$6.50." She reaches into her pocket after a look to her partner, and pulls out a folded $20. "We'll split it." The waiter is as nice as a waitress in the Deep South. He serves them hot tea ("no charge") and patiently makes culinary suggestions for two divided by half. He throws in two bowls of rice. He is so polite to them, like a grandmother. He knows them?

I know this hunger. Intimately. I would have just ordered a bowl of rice and tea. Maybe veggies if I were flush. I study them. No drugs. No alcohol. They love each other. And the woman looks and sounds just like my idol, Memphis Minnie/Kid Douglas. Dead ringer. Uncanny. And I know what the universe wants me to do; how to change my bad karma. I walk over to them, thinking how much they look like Kid and her man in an after-gig cafe same as this 1920's place, untouched save for the red walls; them, swiveling on the stools deciding on the next full meal. Counting. Thinking how much that snap-shot of them there in my head resembles a news foto of Katrina survivors. Counting the coins in their hands. I wait until the waiter leaves and we're alone.

"Excuse me." I reach into my pocket. The slim and tall man looks over at me for the first time, reading my mind, and straightens up.

"I found this." I slip out the still-folded twenty. The man starts to shake his head - no, it isn't mine and I'm not going to lie about it - when I look at him and continue. "It was in the ATM. It isn't mine. I needed to use the machine, so I took it." I look at her, "And, frankly, it's bad karma. It's not my money. But, I couldn't help over-hearing you just now. And it seems like that's what this money is for, to maybe buy somebody some lunch or dinner, maybe for someone like you." And I hand her the bill. "Maybe spread it around."

They smile. They smile. And their smiles are so radiant and clear. And I don't want to say anything more or maybe my smiles would flush to sea water. "Besides," I tell them, "I know what it's like to be hungry and down to my last twenty." I can't croak out any more. A chorus of "thank you"s begins and accompanies my words for the man who seems so sweet. "Don't thank me. Thank whomever left it in the machine and whatever led us to here." "Oh, thank you, Jesus!" The woman holds the bill to her heart and then up to the rain-clouded sun as I once saw a Yucatec Mayan woman in Isla Mujeres do when I was the first sale of the day.

The waiter comes out with bowls of steaming rice and a smile. I hope they order more. Make him an extra surprise sale for the day. He's on the phone as I gather my things and go next door to the world's most excellent panadería where the recipes for La Señora's tamales blatantly cross three borders y tres o cuatro culturas. When I come back, the waiter is bringing bowls and a special smile and a plastic bag for me. This time, I notice, he ties the bag exactly as they do in the Yucatan.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Really, thank you so much!"

"Thanks to El Mundo, and the power of listening."

Spread it around.


(And, p.s., if you lost some cash in an ATM, let me know the time and location, and the last 4 digits of your card number. And, thank you. And, if you were trying to get cash to settle a score, hey, pues, it's your own bad karma, Ese.)

c/s

And, More On Brit Birt On A Fractured Friday

(not really, but, yeah, sure thing - another MySpace bulletin serendipitously sent at the same time as the last, which I'll share with you on a Fractured Friday)

From Rob:
Date: Oct 18, 2007 10:13 AM


please repost this if you find it even the least bit insightful


----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
From: Brainsturbator Dot Com
Date: Oct 18, 2007 10:01 AM

Two highly synchronous articles wound up in my inbox this morning. I will not argue with the Universe -- I will simply pass them along to you. As I have mentioned before, I am of the opinion that the only real "war" happening, here on Earth in 2007, is obscenely wealthy elites engaged in population control. The only way to maintain their lifestyle is by violently repressing literally everyone else on the planet.

I know that's dark. I know that's pessimistic. Have you ever been caught in the middle of a bar fight? Personally, this has happened several times and now I have a very attuned sense of impending violence. I don't think it's "pessimism" to state facts, especially when it's not a prophecy I'm making. This is already underway, and here's to excellent articles for the sake of perspective and brainfood:

The Billionaire Criminal Class

Via Counterpunch.

What do Brazil, Mexico, Russia and the USA have in common?

A rapidly expanding billionaire class.

Rampant poverty.

And a distressed middle class.

That's the take of Pulitzer prize-winning New York Times reporter David Cay Johnston in a soon to be released book--Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You with the Bill) (Portfolio, December 2007).

In it, Johnston seeks to afflict the comfortable top one tenth of one percent of Americans--the 300,000 men, women and children who last year made more money than the bottom 150 million Americans.

The Urban Future of War

Via Asian Times Online.

"We think urban is the future," says James Lasswell, a retired colonel who now heads the Office of Science and Technology at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. "Everything worth fighting for is in the urban environment." And Wayne Michael Hall, a retired army brigadier general and the senior intelligence advisor in Schattle's operation, has a similar assessment, "We will be fighting in urban terrain for the next hundred years."

Last month, in a hotel nestled behind a medical complex in Washington, DC, Schattle, Lasswell, and Hall, along with Pentagon power-brokers, active-duty and retired US military personnel, foreign coalition partners, representatives of big and small defense contractors, and academics who support their work gathered for a "Joint Urban Operations, 2007" conference. Some had served in Iraq or Afghanistan; others were involved in designing strategy, tactics, and concepts, or in creating new weaponry and equipment, for the urban wars in those countries.

Over the course of the conference, this representative of one of the world's best known weapons manufacturers will suggest that members of the media be shot to avoid bad press and he'll call a local tour guide he met in Vietnam a "bastard" for explaining just how his people thwarted US efforts to kill them. But he's an exception. Almost everyone else seems to be a master of serene anodyne-speak. Even the camo-clad guys seem somehow more academic than warlike.

In his tour de force book Planet of Slums, Davis observes, "The Pentagon's best minds have dared to venture where most United Nations, World Bank or Department of State types fear to go ,,­ [T]hey now assert that the ,,®feral, failed cities' of the Third World - especially their slum outskirts - will be the distinctive battlespace of the 21st century." Pentagon war-fighting doctrine, he notes, "is being reshaped accordingly to support a low-intensity world war of unlimited duration against criminalized segments of the urban poor".

But the mostly male conference-goers planning for a multi-generational struggle against the global South's slums aren't a gang of urban warfare cowboys talking non-stop death and destruction; and they don't look particularly bellicose either, as they munch on chocolate-chip cookies during our afternoon snack breaks in a room where cold cuts and brochures for the Rapid Wall Breaching Kit - which allows users to blast a man-sized hole in the side of any building - are carefully laid out on the tables. Instead, these mild-mannered men speak about combat restraint, "less-than-lethal weaponry", precision targeting, and (harking back to the Vietnam War) "winning hearts and minds".

I definitely recommend reading the entire article.

Fractured Friday Flicks: Brit Birt Fractures Foot of One of the Masses, And Drives

Never thought I'd be doing this, but, hey, it's a laugh on the day of closing when you're waiting for the cash to clear the banks. Sabes? That kind of morning. This made me laugh. This comes from one of my MySpace buddies (visit me there if you can never get up my whole blog page for a slow dial-up - I messed up my template and don't know how to recode it to show fewer entries on the page) at www.myspace.com/lornadeecervantes.com") who sent out a mass bulletin that his brother texted him at 4:25 this morning with this message: "Brit Birt just ran over me!"

Note: There's another video that starts up right away afterwards, kinda shows how to treat the masses with class.

Dang, like a dog in the road! She didn't even stop to say, "excuse me." ExCUse me?! "That's ta teach ya to wear your juaraches!"

jajaja

http://www.tmz.com/tmz_main_video?titleid=1258411987

One of the Good Things About The Mission is the Food...

and one of the bad things about The Mission is the food. Food poisoning! Wiped me out, yesterday and today. It's enough to turn me back to vegan. Oh well, too many culinary treasures abound and their aromas awaft.

A Thought For the Holiday - Genocide...

"Genocide, it's so modernist!"

LitQuake Poem - "A Mission Moment"

You can't do it all. Especially when one is a bloody hermit. But I tried to do some. I went to the LitQuake crawl through the Mission last night: 200 poets in about a dozen venues over three or four hours. Although, most were on Valencia which, as most locals know, is about a half a world away from the Mission. But, still. Also, the events could have used more (some?) actual Mission poets. Maybe next year, as the Mission Poetry Center gains momentum. Still, very nice event. I started up Valencia, around the 700 block then worked my way down. The readings were packed and hot, very tropical if not suitably "tropicál". I'm not the type to bar crawl on a Saturday night, but it was very strange to roam around at night with herds of people looking like they just got off the tour bus. It was kind of cool, though, with all the women, kinda like a Take-Back-The-Night-March. Besides, some of the best bookstores in town are on Valencia; here, near where I was born on 19th near the corner of Valencia. And, I went especially to see certain poets: my old Poets-In-The-Schools fearless leader, John Oliver Simon reading translations at my favorite Valencia gallery & artesanias shop, Encantada. I also especially wanted to hear my blog buddy and hay(na)ku queen, Eileen Tabios read/perform along with Joseph Lease, a poet I've admired for a while now but had never met. They were both great and well worth the venture out. (Although, Eileen tore a page out of her book at the end of a poem, "the editing, the editing, the editing," which still disturbs the old book maker in me. "She tore a page out of her book!") I missed Oscar Bermeo, though. And Antonio Hernandez. Oh well, next time. Next time.

At Eileen's event, Small Press Distribution, the sponsor, had a cool angle. For writing and leaving of a poem, you could take a free book. The first book in my hand at random was the new Neruda anthology edited by Mark Eisner of Red Poppy here in the Mission/Valencia. Long in the making and much anticipated, I was originally asked to contribute, but flaked out some where along the line of moves and changes - regretfully. (Next time) But I loved having a copy right there in my hand. Next book I saw was Joseph Lease's book with the great title, "Broken World," so I immediately snatched that up, took my little slip of paper and a sheet of yellow ledger and sat down and wrote this poem. Then, I couldn't resist, I copied it into my notebook, and went up to exchange it for the anthology. I tried to buy Lease's book, but no exchange of money that night, so I got both for one poem. Can't beat that. Besides, I got a new poem out of the night. What more can you expect from a lot of good readings?

Poetry On!
-------------

A Mission Moment

(A LitQuake Poem)


Words exude
from the lips of jasmine.
Mission moon
hidden in an avenue
of stars, the shine
left alive in the street --
a map to vision and
a loaf of breath,
an easy drift of song,
the tight squeeze
between love and vowels.
An aroma of growth
in the opalled puddles.
Your dream or mine?
Your poem or the fine
wine of tomorrow
and sage, winter
and age.


Lorna Dee Cervantes
10/13/07

Vernon Bellecourt Passes

forwarded from MySpace:
*PLEASE PRAY FOR THE FAMILY OF VERNON BELLECOURT*
*Send your comments to American Indian Movement's Myspace



Vernon Bellecourt
(WaBun-Inini)

SERVICES

MONDAY
October 15, 2007
5:00 PM
ALL NATIONS CHURCH
1515 East 23rd Street
Minneapolis, Minnesota

TUESDAY
October 16, 2007
Circle of Life School
White Earth, Minnesota

WEDNESDAY
Funeral
White Earth, Minnesota

For further information contact Clyde Bellecourt at 612-251-5836

Donations needed and accepted


AIM Leader Vernon Bellecourt Dies at 75
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Vernon Bellecourt, a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement who fought against the use of American Indian nicknames for sports teams, died Saturday his brother said. He was 75.

Bellecourt died at Abbott Northwestern Hospital of complications of pneumonia, according to Clyde Bellecourt, a founding member of the militant American Indian rights group.

Just before he was put on the respirator, Vernon Bellecourt joked that the CIA had finally gotten him, his brother said.

"He was willing to put his butt on the line to draw attention to racism in sports," his brother said.

Vernon Bellecourt — whose Objibwe name WaBun-Inini means Man of Dawn — was a member of Minnesota's White Earth band and was an international spokesman for the AIM Grand Governing Council based in Minneapolis.

Clyde Bellecourt helped found AIM as a militant group in 1968 and Vernon Bellecourt soon became involved, taking part in the 1973 occupation of the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. He was present only briefly during the 71-day standoff with federal agents, serving mostly as a spokesman and fundraiser, Clyde Bellecourt said.

He was active in the campaign to free AIM activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents during a shootout in 1975 on the Pine Ridge reservation.

He was also involved as a negotiator in AIM's 1972 occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington as part of the Trail of Broken Treaties caravan.

In recent years, Bellecourt had been active in the fight against American Indian nicknames for sports teams as president of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media.

He was arrested in Cleveland during the 1997 World Series and again in 1998 during protests against the Cleveland Indians' mascot, Chief Wahoo. Charges were dropped the first time and he was never charged in the second case.

After Wounded Knee, Vernon Bellecourt became a leader of AIM's work abroad, meeting with presidents such as Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his brother said. He said they plan to list them as honorary pallbearers.

Clyde Bellecourt said his brother had been in Venezuela about four weeks ago to meet with President Hugo Chavez to discuss Chavez' program for providing heating assistance to American Indian tribes. He fell ill around the time of his return, Clyde Bellecourt said.

San Francisco Nights: A Prelude

It's fall in The City and I've fallen into The City of my birth, City of Mirth. The stubborn sun, a willful wind, and this, the gum splats on the streets, we, writers.

I've returned. it was never really home so I can go home again. I've come to the base of this hill, the corner of living and working, and working at living.


(foto by JavierLuis)

Readings, Spoken Word Performances (October)

UPDATED 10/3
-------------------
The good ole San Francisco Bay Area, where there's a poetry reading every night. Maybe I'll see you there.

Don't forget - I'll be reading Saturday, October 6 at El Tecolote, 2-5pm and on Saturday, October 20, at Project Artaud, 7:30 pm for the 30th Anniversary Gala Benefit for Precita Eyes, my step-mother's mural arts center.

Readings, Spoken Word Performances
I'd like to go to:

Oct. 3

• Cristina Garcia reads from her novel, A Handbook to Luck, McLaren Room 250, Lone Mountain Campus, 2800 Turk Boulevard, SF, free, 7:30 (415/422-6066)

• Open mike follows featured reader every wednesday night, Sacred Grounds Cafe, 2095 Hayes, at Cole, SF, sign up 7:00, reading 7:30 (415/387-3859, www.sacredgroundscafe.com)

Oct. 4

• Poetry reading by A.D. Winans and George Tsongas, hosted by Mark Schwartz, Beat Museum, 540 Broadway Street, SF, donation, 7:30

Oct. 5

• SF Zine Fest presents exhibits by San Francisco's unique community of artists, independent publishers, and poets, The Women's Building, 3543 18th Street, SF, 2:00-8:00

• The de Young Poetry Series presents a reading by renowned poet Jorie Graham, curated by Paul Hoover, de Young Museum, Koret Auditorium, Golden Gate Park, SF, $12/$8 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco members, including museum admission, 7:00-8:30 (415/750-7634, rbaldocchi@famsf.org)

Oct. 6

• Acción Latina Presents:
El Tecolote Literary Series
October 6, 2 - 5 pm
El Tecolote Office - 2958 24th St., SF

Lorna Dee Cervantes

Ina Cumpiano

Margot Pepper

Hosted by Alfonso Texidor, Cesar Love and Eva Martinez

• Litquake presents Off the Richter Scale, Day One: "Hot Off the Press: Fresh First Books," with Emily Mitchell, Matt Richtel, Kaya Oakes, Colby Buzzell, Jessica Fisher, Austin Grossman, Kiara Brinkman, 11:00 a.m.; "Around the World in 60 Minutes," hosted by Olivia Sears, Center for the Art of Translation, with Ishmael Reed, Anita Amirrezvani, Peter Orner, Tess Uriza Holthe, Bharati Mukherjee, Marissa Handler, Siddharth Shangvi, noon; "Poet Palooza" with Jack Hirschman, Diane di Prima, Carolyn Miller, Tung-Hui Hu, Chana Bloch, Camille Dungy, D.A. Powell, 1:00; "Gritty City: Where the Pavement Meets the Page," with Eddie Muller, Lisa Grey-Garcia, Rachel Howard, Justin Chin, Kim Addonizio, Kate Braverman, 2:00; San Francisco Main Library, Koret Auditorium, 100 Larkin Street, SF, free (www.litquake.org)

• Sterling James celebrates twenty years in Bay Area radio with a benefit party for Youth Speaks, live performances by Martin Luther, DJ Wisdom, Jennifer Johns, Youth Speaks, Broun Fellinis, hosted by Sterling James, The Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF, $20, 9:00-200 a.m. (www.ticketweb.com)

Oct. 7

• Litquake presents Off the Richter Scale Day Two:

"Sunday Storytime," with fiction writers Ann Cummins, Alejandro Murguia, Sara Houghteling, Juvenal Acosta, Gayle Brandeis, Holly Shumas, Adam Johnson, 3:30; San Francisco Main Library, Koret Auditorium, 100 Larkin Street, SF, free (www.litquake.org)

• Arroz Con Palabras
Come have some delicious and sensational comida criolla (Puerto Rican food for the Latino illiterate) and listen to spoken word and live music, bring your instruments, maracas, congas, barriles, clave, guitar and your voice for an exquisite jam session at...

MUSIC OF THE WORD/LA PALABRA MUSICAL
Hosted by Avotcja and Eric Aviles

Sunday October 7, 2007
3pm-4:30pm

SOFRITO (Rico Pabon's restaurant)
3451 International Blvd @35th Ave (near Fruitvale BART)
Oakland, CA
510-533-3840

It's FREE!

Featuring....
SPANGLISH SPOKEN WORD PERFORMANCE by
Paul S. Flores

CD RELEASE PARTY also for
Indigo

For more info:

ericaviles@yahoo.com
http://www.Avotcja.com
LaVerdadMusical@yahoo.com

Oct. 8

• Word Dancing features poets Carlos Ramirez and Noemi, open reading follows hosted by Jeanne Powell, It's A Grind Coffee House, 1800 Polk Street, SF, free, 7:00-9:00 (415/928-8904)

• Litquake presents a Porchlight event, "I'd Prefer Not to: Writers Talk About Day Job Hell," with Dave Eggers, Milta Ortiz, Alvin Orloff, Eric Spitznagel, Marta Acosta, Robert Mailer Anderson, Frank Portman, Cameron Tuttle, and Jack Boulware, Swedish-American Hall, 2174 Market Street, SF, $15 tickets available through Cafe du Nord, 7:30 (www.litquake.org, www.cafedunord.com)

Oct. 9

• Litquake presents Lawrence Ferlinghetti signing Poetry As Insurgent Art, The Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, SF, 7:00 (415/863.8688)

Oct. 10

• Reading in the Gallery presents Histories, with poets Norma Cole, Michael Palmer, creative nonfiction author Rebecca Solnit, recent paintings by Amy Trachtenberg, Brian Gross Fine Art, 49 Geary Street, Fifth Floor, SF, 7:00 (amytrachtenberg@mac.com)

Oct. 11

• Acclaimed poet Diane di Prima reads from the new and expanded edition of her classic, Revolutionary Letters, City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, SF, 7:00 (415/362-8193, www.citylights.com)

• National Book Award-winning poet Nathaniel Mackey, Splay Anthem, reads his poetry, accompanied by Hafez Modirzadeh on saxophone, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar Street, Santa Cruz, $11 door/$8 advance, $19.40 with dinner, reserve in advance, 7:00 (831/427-2227)

Oct. 13

• Litquake presents Litcrawl, readings at over thirty venues with over two hundred authors during three hours (6:00-9:00) down Valencia Street in the Mission, SF; 7:00-7:45: New World/New Words: Recent Writing from the Americas, bilingual reading of contemporary Latin American writing, featuring readings by local translators including Elizabeth Bell, Michael Koch, Tom Christensen, Anita Sagastegui, and John Oliver Simon, Encantada Gallery, 904 Valencia at 20th Street; 7:00: F&endash;STOP: Seal Press women authors read, Modern Times Bookstore, 888 Valencia; 8:00-8:45: Small Press Distribution New Lit Generation reading with Joseph Lease, Eileen Tabios, Elaine Kahn, Dennis Somera, Tanea Lunsford, Eli Wolfe aka Pickleman, with a Poetry Trading Post, trade a poem for a free book, Marsh Cafe, 1070 Valencia; see web site for full Crawl schedule (www.litquake.org)

• Great night for all literature fans. Over 30 venues in the Mission in SF will have readings. Pass this on to any of your writer friends in the Bay Area, this is a great event to network at. Also stop by the links page on my personal site and check out a full list of Bay Area Open-mic nights for every day of the week.

www.antoniogfernandez.com

Lit Crawl

More than 200 authors appear in a three-hour literary crawl through the heart of the Mission District. Three phases, each starting at the top of the hour, will carry you through our version of the traditional pub crawl, from bars and cafes to galleries, laundromats, and even a few bookstores. All Lit Crawl events are free; see specific venues for age restrictions.



Phase II: 7-7:45 pm

Elbo Room (21+), 647 Valencia Street
Small Press Fest: Small Presses, Local Lit Mags, Members of Ecstatic Monkey

Upstairs:
Five Fingers Review: Susanne Dyckman, Brian Teare
Instant City: Jennifer Blowdryer, Scott Upper
Manic D Press: Jennifer Joseph, John Longhi
Downstairs:
1111: Hugh Behm-Steinberg, Rusty Morrison
14 Hills: Antonio Fernandez, Jenny Pritchett
Switchback: Harbeer Sandhu, Valerie Witte

Come check it out and bring your friends. Also, stop by and check out my site at
www.antoniogfernandez.com

Oct. 16

• Contemporary Writers Series presents a reading by scholar, activist, and widely anthologized writer of fiction and poetry, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, a member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, New Indians, Old Wars, Mills College, Mills Hall Living Room, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, 5:30-7:00 (www.mills.edu)

• Edwidge Danticat reads from her memoir Brother, I'm Dying, Cody's Books, 1730 Fourth Street, Berkeley, 7:00 (510/559-9500, www.codysbooks.com)

Oct. 17

• Rebecca Brown reads from the re-release of her first novel, The Haunted House, about growing up in an alcoholic family, City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, SF, free, 7:00 (415/362-8193, citylights.com)

Oct. 18

• SFSU Poetry Center presents a poetry reading by Rae Armantrout and David Bromige, The Unitarian Center, 1187 Franklin, at Geary, SF, $5, 7:30 (www.sfsu.edu/~poetry)

Oct. 20

• Precita Eyes Muralists
30th Anniversary
Gala & Extravaganza!
Celebrating 30 Years of Community Mural Art

Featuring Honorary Co-Chairs Mayor Gavin Newsom,
Supervisor Tom Ammiano, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Lorna Dee Cervantes
w/ Steve Cervantes (music)

Saturday, October 20th
6:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Project Artuad
499 Alabama Street
(between 17th street and Mariposa)

Precita Eyes Muralists is celebrating 30 years of community mural arts on Saturday, October 20th, with an all out Extravaganza at the funky & fabulous Project Artaud. The Gala evening will feature a live mural painting performance, an exhibit and silent auction of works by 30 Master Muralists, live music, light refreshments, & much more!

Precita Eyes has created many of the finest public community murals in the country. We have painted more than 450 murals in schools, community centers, parks, and businesses around San Francisco/Bay Area and more than a dozen in other countries in collaboration with children, youth, families and residents that express the diverse voices and visions of the many communities that we have served.

Tickets are available now!

Call/Email to reserve space today!

(415)285-2287
pem@precitaeyes.org
~~~
For more information please call or stop by

Precita Eyes Mural Arts and Visitors Center
2981 24th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94110
(415)285-2287
publicity@precitaeyes.org

Oct. 21

• New location grand opening celebration with poets reading and music, Bird & Beckett Books & Records, 653 Chenery Street, SF, 1:00-8:00 (415/586-3733, www.birdbeckett.com)

Oct. 22

• The Lane Lecture Series presents a colloquium with poet and memoirist Mark Doty, School of the Arts, Heaven's Coast, Stanford University, Terrace Room, Fourth Floor, Margaret Jacks Hall, Building 460, free and open to the public, 11:00 a.m. (650/725-1208, http://creativewriting.stanford.edu)

Oct. 23

• Independent Press Spotlight: New American Writing and KRUPSKAYA are featured, with readings by Norma Cole, Kevin Killian, Brian Teare, and Rusty Morrison, Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia, between 15th and 16th Streets, SF, $5-$15 sliding scale, 7:30 (415/626-2787, www.theintersection.org)

• The Lane Lecture Series presents a poetry reading by Mark Doty, School of the Arts, Stanford University, Cubberley Auditorium, free and open to the public, 8:00 (650/725-1208, http://creativewriting.stanford.edu)

Oct. 24

• Lawrence Ferlinghetti reads from his new book, Poetry As Insurgent Art, City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, SF, 7:00 (415/362-8193, www.citylights.com)

Oct. 25

• Reading series, Native American poets open mike, all welcome to listen, Creamery, New College, Valencia at 19th Street, SF, 7:00 (kshuck@tsoft.com)

Oct. 26

• Screening of Canto a lo poeta: poet songs, a documentary film by Maria José Calderón about La Paya, a deeply rooted style of improvisational singing in Chile, and the singer-poets who keep the tradition alive, question session with the filmmaker follows, La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, $10/$8 students with ID, 8:00 (www.lapena.org)

Oct. 27

• Reading by renowned poet Robert Hass, Time and Materials: Poems 1997-2005, Monterey Peninsula College, Lecture Forum 103, $10, tickets available from the MPC Public Information Office or Humanities Office, BH-102, 7:00 (831/646-4057, or 646-4100)

Oct. 29

• SFSU Poetry Center nocturnes series presents jazz poet Jayne Cortez artistically integreting word and music, appearing as Jayne Cortez and the Firespitters, featuring Denardo Coleman on drums, Al McDowell on bass and Bern Nix on guitar, with opening duo Latasha N. Nevada Diggs, voice-electronics, and Matana Roberts, saxophone, The Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th Street, at 16th Street BART, SF, $10, 7:30 (www.victoriatheatre.org)

Oct. 30

• Poetry Center presents jazz poet Jayne Cortez in conversation with Latasha N. Nevada Diggs, voice-electronics artist, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, SF, free (for details to be announced: www.sfsu.edu/~poetry)

Oct. 31

• Holloway Poetry Readings present a poetry reading by Amiri Baraka and Michael Bigley, University of California campus, Maude Fife Room, Wheeler Hall 315, Berkeley, 6:30 (http://holloway.english.berkeley.edu)


Thanks much to Poetry Flash.

Readings, Spoken Word Performances

This will be a regular feature posted at the Mission Poetry Center blog.

I'd like to go to:

October 6
Acción Latina Presents:
El Tecolote Literary Series
October 6, 2 - 5 pm
El Tecolote Office - 2958 24th St., SF

Lorna Dee Cervantes

Ina Cumpiano

Margot Pepper

Hosted by Alfonso Texidor, Cesar Love and Eva Martinez

October 7
Arroz Con Palabras
Come have some delicious and sensational comida criolla (Puerto Rican food for the Latino illiterate) and listen to spoken word and live music, bring your instruments, maracas, congas, barriles, clave, guitar and your voice for an exquisite jam session at...

MUSIC OF THE WORD/LA PALABRA MUSICAL
Hosted by Avotcja and Eric Aviles

Sunday October 7, 2007
3pm-4:30pm

SOFRITO (Rico Pabon's restaurant)
3451 International Blvd @35th Ave (near Fruitvale BART)
Oakland, CA
510-533-3840

It's FREE!

Featuring....
SPANGLISH SPOKEN WORD PERFORMANCE by
Paul S. Flores

CD RELEASE PARTY also for
Indigo

For more info:

ericaviles@yahoo.com
http://www.Avotcja.com
LaVerdadMusical@yahoo.com

October 13
Great night for all literature fans. Over 30 venues in the Mission in SF will have readings. Pass this on to any of your writer friends in the Bay Area, this is a great event to network at. Also stop by the links page on my personal site and check out a full list of Bay Area Open-mic nights for every day of the week.

www.antoniogfernandez.com

Lit Crawl

More than 200 authors appear in a three-hour literary crawl through the heart of the Mission District. Three phases, each starting at the top of the hour, will carry you through our version of the traditional pub crawl, from bars and cafes to galleries, laundromats, and even a few bookstores. All Lit Crawl events are free; see specific venues for age restrictions.



Phase II: 7-7:45 pm

Elbo Room (21+), 647 Valencia Street
Small Press Fest: Small Presses, Local Lit Mags, Members of Ecstatic Monkey

Upstairs:
Five Fingers Review: Susanne Dyckman, Brian Teare
Instant City: Jennifer Blowdryer, Scott Upper
Manic D Press: Jennifer Joseph, John Longhi
Downstairs:
1111: Hugh Behm-Steinberg, Rusty Morrison
14 Hills: Antonio Fernandez, Jenny Pritchett
Switchback: Harbeer Sandhu, Valerie Witte

Come check it out and bring your friends. Also, stop by and check out my site at
www.antoniogfernandez.com

October 20
30th Anniversary
Gala & Extravaganza!
Celebrating 30 Years of Community Mural Art

Featuring Honorary Co-Chairs Mayor Gavin Newsom,
Supervisor Tom Ammiano, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Lorna Dee Cervantes
w/ Steve Cervantes (music)

Saturday, October 20th
6:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Project Artuad
499 Alabama Street
(between 17th street and Mariposa)

Precita Eyes Muralists is celebrating 30 years of community mural arts on Saturday, October 20th, with an all out Extravaganza at the funky & fabulous Project Artaud. The Gala evening will feature a live mural painting performance, an exhibit and silent auction of works by 30 Master Muralists, live music, light refreshments, & much more!

Precita Eyes has created many of the finest public community murals in the country. We have painted more than 450 murals in schools, community centers, parks, and businesses around San Francisco/Bay Area and more than a dozen in other countries in collaboration with children, youth, families and residents that express the diverse voices and visions of the many communities that we have served.

Tickets are available now!

Call/Email to reserve space today!

(415)285-2287
pem@precitaeyes.org
~~~
For more information please call or stop by

Precita Eyes Mural Arts and Visitors Center
2981 24th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94110
(415)285-2287
publicity@precitaeyes.org

One Struggle In The Mission

Eric Paul, the guitarist in the white jacket, is the son of my housemate, Ernesto Paul. Besides the band with his father, Cruisin' Coyotes, Eric is in the Mission band, One Struggle, who perform in this video. The murals are in Balmy Alley, a longtime project of my step-mother's group, Precita Eyes Muralists. Enjoy!

One Struggle - Oye Mi Canto

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40 Years After the Massacre - No Se Olvida

Thanks: Mictlan Murals
Melinna Teatrina
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Date: Oct 2, 2007 12:28 PM






The Tlatelolco Massacre, also known as The Night of Tlatelolco (from a book title by the Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska), took place on the afternoon and night of October 2, 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City, ten days before the 1968 Summer Olympics celebrations in Mexico City. The death toll remains controversial: some estimates place the number of deaths in the thousands, but most sources report between 200 and 300 deaths. Government sources say "4 Dead, 20 Wounded". The exact number of people who were arrested is also controversial.

The massacre was preceded by months of political unrest in the Mexican capital, echoing student demonstrations and riots all over the world during 1968. The students wanted to exploit the attention focused on Mexico City for the 1968 Summer Olympics. President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, however, was determined to stop the demonstrations and, in September, he ordered the army to occupy the campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the country's largest university. Students were beaten and arrested indiscriminately. Rector Javier Barros Sierra resigned in protest on September 23.

Student demonstrators were not deterred, however. The demonstrations grew in size, until, on October 2, after student strikes lasting nine weeks, 15,000 students from various universities marched through the streets of Mexico City, carrying red carnations to protest the army's occupation of the university campus. By nightfall, 5,000 students and workers, many of them with spouses and children, had congregated outside an apartment complex in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco for what was supposed to be a peaceful rally. Among their chants were ¡No queremos olimpiadas, queremos revolución! ("We don't want Olympic games, we want revolution!"). Rally organizers did not attempt to call off the protest when they noticed an increased military presence in the area.

The massacre began at sunset when police and military forces — equipped with armored cars and tanks — surrounded the square and began firing live rounds into the crowd, hitting not only the protestors, but also other people who were present for reasons unrelated to the demonstration. Demonstrators and passersby alike, including children, were caught in the fire; soon, mounds of bodies lay on the ground. The killing continued through the night, with soldiers carrying out mopping-up operations on a house-to-house basis in the apartment buildings adjacent to the square. Witnesses to the event claim that the bodies were later removed in garbage trucks.

The official government explanation of the incident was that armed provocateurs among the demonstrators, stationed in buildings overlooking the crowd, had begun the firefight. Suddenly finding themselves sniper targets, the security forces had simply returned fire in self-defense.

In October 1997, the Congress of Mexico established a committee to investigate the Tlatelolco massacre. The committee interviewed many political players involved in the massacre, including Luis Echeverría Álvarez, a former president who was Díaz Ordaz's minister of the interior at the time of the massacre. Echeverría admitted that the students had been unarmed, and also suggested that the military action was planned in advance, as a means to destroy the student movement.

In October 2003, the role of the U.S. government in the massacre came to light when the National Security Archive at George Washington University published a series of records from the CIA, the Pentagon, the State Department, the FBI and the White House which were released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. However these claims do not show direct involvement in massacres of the students. Some suggest that the documents just show that the U.S. was concerned with security during the Olympics.

The documents detail:

that in response to Mexican government concerns over the security of the Olympic Games the Pentagon sent military radios, weapons, ammunition and riot control training material to Mexico before and during the crisis.
that the CIA station in Mexico City produced almost daily reports tracking developments within the university community and the Mexican government from July to October. Six days before the confrontation at Tlatelolco, both Echeverría and head of Federal Security (DFS) Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios told the CIA that "the situation will be under complete control very shortly".
that the Díaz Ordaz government "arranged" to have student leader Sócrates Campos Lemus accuse dissident PRI politicians such as Carlos Madrazo of funding and orchestrating the student movement.
In 1993 in remembrance of the 25th anniversary of the events a stele was dedicated with the names of few of the students and persons who lost their lives during the event [1].

In June 2006, an ailing, 84-year-old Echeverría was charged with genocide in connection with the massacre. He was placed under house arrest pending trial. In early July of that year, he was cleared of genocide charges, as the judge found that Echeverría could not be put on trial because the statute of limitations had expired.

Lorna Dee Resigns

Dear all dears,

This is to let y'all, my friends, know that I, Lorna Dee Cervantes, have resigned my position as Associate Professor of English at the University of Colorado in Boulder - a position I have held for 18 years.

I am currently living in San Francisco and teaching one course in Ethnic Studies at SFSU. I have founded the Mission Poetry Center (La Misio'n Poe'tica) near Mission and 30th where I will be conducting Intensive Poetry Workshops and hosting a poetry rereat in Pacifica (poet's house available for rent) as a city and sea experience.

I am available for readings, performances, workshops, lectures, keynotes, book signings, class visits, etc. "Have Poems. Will Travel." (Good time to ask.) Send requests and inquiries to me at my full name, Lorna Dee Cervantes at mac dot com.

Poetry On!

Your friend,

Lorna Dee

"On a mission.
In the Mission.
On Mission."

"Porque La Misio'n tiene una misio'n poe'tica que cumplir."