since joining fb this year...

I've been terrible about maintaining this blog.

True.

The last time the country had to think this hard about Wichita

Was the White Stripes song "7 Nation Army"

1970 Jet Magazine

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters:

This year we launched a volunteer-run radical education project for Pennsylvania prisoners called Address This! Our goal was to bring a transformative collective learning resource to people living in solitary confinement and/or maximum security facilities throughout the state, who more often than not have no access to other resources or programs.

Although the costs for this program are quite low – only $40 per person for a six-month course! – we need your support by January 1st to keep this program going!

 Please write Address This! in the "Designation Field" when you donate. 

With 200 participants a year (100 each semester), our annual budget is roughly $8,000/year for costs including course readers, dictionaries, shipping/postage costs, xeroxes and other materials. This is why we’re appealing to you to help fund this important work! We need 200 people to give $40 in order to make the next two semesters of 2013 possible. If you are unable to give the full $40 yourself, find a friend and each give $20! 


Students in enrolled in Address This! currently have the option of registering for one of the following five classes: Black Social Movements from Civil Rights to Hip Hop; Art and Social Movements; Transformative Justice; Latino History and Contemporary Issues; Control and Resistance: The US Prison System and its Oppositions.

And every month, here’s what happens:

• Volunteers send participants materials divided into thematic units. 
• Participants reflect and respond to those materials, guided by discussion questions.
• Participants’ responses are transcribed by a team of volunteers, combined into a single document, and then circulated to other prisoners who are taking the course.

Reflecting upon receiving these responses, one participant wrote: “I enjoy seeing other people’s views, especially when someone digs below the surface – speaking forward with honesty, real feeling and emotions, not being afraid to share their real life experiences, pain, trauma, strengths, weaknesses and hopes.”

While the U.S. Prison system seeks to break existent ties of affinity and community through policies of isolation, censorship and silence, Address This! alternately works to contribute to the rebuilding and enlarging of those alliances and support networks. In the words of co-founder Robert Saleem Holbrook, our aim is to “invoke critical thinking in the hopes that the participants in the course will emerge from it with a new outlook on their lives and their present situation, believing that they can change not only themselves but also their circumstances.”

This is why we’re appealing to you for help funding this vital work by January 1st! Again, it will take only 200 people giving $40 each to insure that hundreds of PA prisoners have access to these classes in 2013!

 Please write Address This! in the "Designation Field" when you donate. 

We heartily welcome your support in this endeavor. In fact, we can’t do it without it!

In struggle and solidarity,

The Address This Team!

P.S. Don't forget to write Address This! in the "Designation Field" when you donate. 

Also, if you would like to receive a special thank you gift in return, email us at addressthispa@gmail.com with your physical address.

the poetry.

art can still be contoversial (who knew?)

When the silencers make the noise louder... the irony is clear and concentrated. 

The University of Wyoming uninstalled the art below because energy officials and state representatives were offended and threatened to cut funding.

Oh UW, despite it all I love you, but you, like the rest of us, need to work on your energy dependency issues.

High Country News article

New York Times article

Casper Star Tribune article

rain day reading

New and old articles by Rebecca Solnit on the always solid Guernica website: http://www.guernicamag.com/

"Our Words Are Our Weapons"

"Men Explain Things to Me"

Rebecca Solnit and David Graeber

scarier than Halloween will ever be

Recommended Reading:

The recent Mother Jones cover story by Shane Bauer: "No Way Out"
 article on solitary confinement

 On Saturday, I went with friends to "Terror Behind the Walls," a longstanding annual haunted house at the infamous Eastern State Penitentiary here in Philadelphia. As we stood in line, we had a discussion about whether or not we would be scared, about how fear might set in. We contemplated temporary, seasonal employees with stage make-up facial wounds and how they might lunge from a corner in the dark, and I tried to keep myself from thinking too much. I figured I could handle a "zombie" whispering in my ear, but I wasn't sure I could silence the raw irony of the location; the event itself.

Thousands of people paying $40-$100+ each to walk through a world changing model prison that operated for 140 years and have themselves "scared" in the name of fun.

I've been aware of, and tangentially and directly related to, "prison work" for years now. There are many dedicated, compassionate people who are trying and fighting (from many angles) to combat the current state of incarceration in the U.S. For anyone, surely, the sheer statistics must be frightening.

The number of people incarcerated in the U.S. is staggering: 6 million people are under correctional supervision.

Then compare that to the number from ANY other country in the world: 5% of the world's population, 25% of the world's prisoners

Disproportionate is the all too generous word.


Yes, the tour was scary, and no, I couldn't keep from thinking too much. This is our history. This is what people do to other people--and it is growing, and people are profiting.

I love Halloween. There is something enjoyable about being fake scared. For one, I would much rather be fake scared.


history of solitary confinement

VONA anthology-- yes yes yes forthcoming

cover art by the honorable Damon Locks: DAMON'S WEBSITE

love comes in all sizes

The VONA/Voices workshop is looking for some love, from people who love to read, from people who love to write, and from you, who understands that writers-of-color deserve an opportunity to have serious discussions about their work. 

VONA has been providing workshops for writers-of-color for fourteen years. Join founders and directors, Elmaz Abinader, Junot Diaz, Victor Diaz and Executive Director, Diem Jone in expanding our scholarships and our capabilities to invite more writers and run more workshops.

We ask you to go to our Indiegoo campaign page http://www.indiegogo.com/voicesatvona and show some love. And Love comes in all sizes, big and small.

Nov. 10th Literary Salon

please spread the word...

STILL UNTITLED: A Quarterly Literary Salon
Saturday, November 10th@ Cindergarden
4823 Baltimore Ave
Philadelphia
doors at 6:30
featured readers begin at 7pm sharp
Then, after an intermission, the salon will continue to the open reading portion of the evening.
All are encouraged to bring work of their own or some of their favorite work by others to share
(about 5-10min worth of reading). Names will be placed in the hat and selected until the event
ends at 9:30pm.

If you can, please bring food or drink to share. As always, the event is free, but this time we
will pass a hat to contribute to the travel costs of the featured readers.


Featured readers joining us from Newark and Pittsburgh:

Sara J. Grossman holds an MFA in poetry from Rutgers-Newark. She was the recipient of a 2012 Hedgebrook residency, the 2011 Betty Gabehart Prize in poetry, and fellowships from the New York State Writers Institute and the West Chester Poetry Center. Her poems have been published in Cincinnati Review and Memorious. She is currently a doctoral student in American Studies at Rutgers-Newark, where she works on the development of the American industrial and postindustrial metropolis.

Adriana E. Ramirez is a nonfiction writer and performance poet with
over fifteen years experience in theater, spoken word, and advocacy.
Once ranked the 26th slam poet in the world (iwps 2006), she helped
found and co-hosted the Latino/Indigenous Showcase at the National
Poetry Slam; she now serves as creative director of Pittsburgh Poetry
Collective and slammaster of the Steel City Slam. Her poems and
writings have appeared on the internet, on subway station walls, and
occasionally, on pieces of dead wood. She loves technology and
refreshments—mineral water, limes, and cheap Mexican food. Adriana
lives in Pittsburgh, where she is writing a book about her death
fantasies, Colombia, and the way we tell stories around violence. She
roots for el tricolor in the World Cup and teaches in the English
Department at The University of Pittsburgh.

I'm in the movie--I'm not in the movie

We made the trailer!

Check out the poster in the Sam Ash. Yep.Yep.

http://www.detonatormovie.com/#!trailer

Detonator Trailer from mortar films on Vimeo.

Update: Detonator was great. We thoroughly enjoyed our movie debut. This life is so random at times...

of support and beautiful exceptions

The Leeway Foundation is up there with Hedgebrook in the category of how does this exist?

But damn do I appreciate places of exception.

And, no, not just because I recently received notice of being awarded an Art and Change grant.
art and change announcement

More because of how beautifully The Leeway Foundation does what it does. How it continues to inspire, push and promote an inspiring cadre of artists.

(For example, Michelle Ortiz, who has an art opening on Oct. 17th with her collective, Las Gallas.)
more info on las gallas and the show opening here

The Art and Change grant money will go towards the publication of the VONA anthology, the forthcoming book from my small press, Thread Makes Blanket.

Again and again, thank you Leeway.