Yesterday was a busy day. I gave a reading/talk at the ELTE Apaczai Csere Janos High School in the morning. Lunch at Vendiak Restaurant. In the afternoon I went to the the ELTE University's American Institute. Students were outside protesting budget cuts. Sad to see what's happening to educational institutions around the world. I visited a class taught by Dr. Eva Federmayer, a professor of American Literature. One of her students, Miklos Radnoti gave me copies of several of my poems that he had translated in Hungarian. He also gave me a copy of his own book of poems - Clouded Sky.
Around 4 PM a writer from the publication Magyar Narancs interviewed me about my life and poetry. It's always amazing how much people know about your work.
My evening was great! A chance to visit American Corner Budapest. I was interviewed by my friend Erika Solyom ; she's the major reason why I'm here. We had a wonderful conversation before a nice audience. I got a chance to meet Todd Williams, an African American writer who has been living in Hungary for twenty years. Last year he read some of my poems at a program sponsored by the American Corner Budapest. I invited him to write for E-Note - so look for his work. He's a very funny guy...
OK...two more days of events. I'm tired but resting well.
E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
BERT IN BUDAPEST
I spent the evening walking along the River Danube last night with my friend Erika. We had dinner at The Central Coffee House; a lovely place that opened back in 1887.
Today I have to give a morning talk at the ELTE Radnoti Miklos High School. This evening I will be at Irok Boltja having a discussion with Hungarian poet Andras Gerevich.
Will post pictures soon.
Today I have to give a morning talk at the ELTE Radnoti Miklos High School. This evening I will be at Irok Boltja having a discussion with Hungarian poet Andras Gerevich.
Will post pictures soon.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
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Friday, February 22, 2013
The Northeastern Humanities Center and Darryl’s Corner Bar &
Kitchen
Presents
A Celebration of
Words and Music with
Poets and Activists
E. Ethelbert Miller
and
Becky Thompson
With Jazz Drummer Bruce
Owen
Wednesday, March 6,
2013
6 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Hosted at
Darryl’s Corner Bar
and Kitchen
604 Columbus Avenue
Boston,MA02118
(617) 536-1100
604 Columbus Avenue
Boston,MA02118
(617) 536-1100
For Questions
Contact
Erika Koss at the
Northeastern Humanities Center
nuhumanities@neu.edu / 617-373-4140
OH, NO! ONTARIO
THEN:
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/12500/can-the-ontario-theatre-be-saved/
TODAY:
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/12500/can-the-ontario-theatre-be-saved/
TODAY:
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| ONTARIO THEATER photo by Ethelbert |
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
THE SCHOLARS
In March my new show The Scholars will appear on UDC-TV
Here is the link for the first show, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxfILbV1JTc
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NBA
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| STEPHEN CURRY |
Only two players I'm really following in the NBA right now.
Jeremy Lin and Stephen Curry. These guys are having very good seasons. It's just a matter of time before Spike Lee and Jay-Z are sitting in the front row watching, clapping and laughing. Everyone loves a bandwagon. How come poets don't get good seats at the games? Is it my hair or name?
Should I make movies or try to sing?
POETRY NEWS FROM ANNE BECKER
Poetry
Events Late February/Early March 2013
Thurs. Feb. 21 (7:30pm)
Third Thursday Reading Series, hosted by Martin FitzPatrick, features
Barbara Goldberg, David Keplinger and TP poet laureate Merrill Leffler. Takoma Park
Auditorium, 7500 Maple Ave., Takoma Park, MD 20912. For more information: sarad@takomagov.org. (March 21, Melanie McCabe, Carolyn
Cecil, Chloe Yelena Miller and Elisavietta Ritchie read.)
Thurs. Feb. 21 (6-7:30pm) The
Creative Arts Empowerment Group is proud to present: Artistic Expression
Hour. Poets, singers, musicians
and dancers are invited to showcase their talents at Long Branch Library, 8800 Garland Ave.,
Silver Spring MD 20901. Each
artist will have 5 – 7 mins. to perform.
(Acoustic music only.) Meets every other Thursday. For more information, contact C. East,
(240) 938-8990 or careergirl64@yahoo.com
Mon. Feb. 25 (7-9:30pm) Writing A Village, free
monthly poetry workshop led by Anne Becker, poet laureate emerita of Takoma
Park. “Comrades of the word,” near
and far, of all levels of experience, are welcome. Bring a poem and ten copies
to share with the group. Hydrangea
Room, Takoma Park Community Center, 7500 Maple Ave. For more information email:
annebeck48@gmail.com. (Next meeting March 25. Please note that because of holidays
these sessions are on the fourth Monday of the month.)
Wed. Feb. 27 (7:00 pm) Maritza Rivera, Richard Epstein and Fred
Foote from the Warrior Poetry Project will read at Kensington Row Bookshop,
3786 Howard Avenue, Kensington MD 20895. 301 949 9416. An open reading will
follow. Free.
Wed. Feb. 27 (7:30pm)
Small is Beautiful, a bi-weekly poetry workshop in the Petworth
neighborhood; the focus is on revision and feedback. We may be adding a
Thursday night option on 'off' weeks, pending interest. Contact Jon Barrows at iamgreenfire@gmail.com for more
details and to be added to the email list.
Mon. March 4 (7:00 pm)
Café Muse features
Jehanne Dubrow and Molly Patterson.
Paul lip plays jazz guitar. Friendship Heights Village Center, 4433
South Park Ave., Chevy Chase, MD 20815. Open mic follows. (April 1, Michelle Chan Brown and
Joanna Pearson read.)
Sun. March 10 (6 pm) Rose Solari and James J. Patterson will read
at IOTA Club and Cafe, 2832 Wilson Blvd. in Arlington, VA. Rose reads from her new novel, “A
Secret Woman” and James from his book of essays, “Bermuda Shorts.” Open reading will follow. For more
information, contact miles3855@aol.com or (703) 256-9275. (April 14, Lyn Lifshin and Chris Conlon
read.)
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
For myself I never found need of more than four or five hours' sleep in
the twenty-four. I never dream. It's real sleep. When by chance I have
taken more I wake dull and indolent. We are always hearing people talk
about 'loss of sleep' as a calamity. They better call it loss of time,
vitality and opportunities.
- Thomas Edison
- Thomas Edison
Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco: 'I Finally Felt Like I Was Home'
February 18, 2013 Blanco, who read his poem
"One Today" at Obama's second inauguration, is the first immigrant,
Latino and openly gay poet chosen to read at an inauguration. He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that while he was on the podium, "I really embraced America up there like I never had before."
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
AN E-NOTE ONE QUESTION INTERVIEW
THE QUESTION:
WHAT IS THE INNOCENT CLASSROOM?
THE ANSWER FROM ALEXS PATE:
WHAT IS THE INNOCENT CLASSROOM?
THE ANSWER FROM ALEXS PATE:
The
Innocent Classroom: is one in which the teacher has reached (or is
committed to reaching) a point of empathetic connection with each of her
or his students. In the Innocent Classroom the teacher is able to see
each child's goodness and consequently is able to lead each child to
engage with academics in a positive, innocent way. That is, the student
is encouraged to engage with their school work free of the negative
stereotypes and expectations (guilt) that are so often used to to
describe them. Obviously each child is different and the work a teacher
has to do to free a child's goodness is relative. But, in the Innocent
Classroom, teachers have received the training that makes this possible
and have the capacity to change the lives of many more children, more
quickly. The training a teacher receives in Constructing the Innocent
Classroom, in the end, functions much like a new computer operating
system that resides in the background.
This
may seem utopic but I believe that our children do and will respond
differently (and better) to teachers from whom they can clearly discern
an authentic capacity to care about them. In my early implementations
of this concept I have discovered that while most teachers feel that
connection and want to express it, the demands of the system and
sometimes personal limitations, make this difficult. But I maintain
that authentic, empathetic relationships can be established with each
child, in spite of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The Construction
of the Innocent Classroom leads teachers through a process of
sharpening their skills at accomplishing this. Early anecdotal results
have been surprisingly and overwhelmingly positive. There are teachers
reporting rather quick transformation in some students.
A
point: The Innocent Classroom is not a cultural competency or
diversity program. While these programs are important it is the
individualized nature of the IC and the fact that while race and culture
are important there's another level of relationship, one that is based
on the reality of each child, that makes this idea unique.
The
Construction process is too complicated to go into here. Suffice it to
say that teachers come to understand that there are gaps in the way the
system prepared them to be teachers. We help them reconceptualize the
teacher-student relationship into one that serves the child more
effectively and allows teachers to achieve their goals in the classroom.
MORE ABOUT PATE : http://aalbc.com/authors/alexsdpate.htm
THE E-BOX: AN OFFER ONE CAN'T REFUSE
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The next E-Box is sitting at the table and ready to go. This box of books will be shipped to Cameron Jones in Tampa, Florida. Many of the items included in this E-Box are photography books. This E-Box is special - it comes from Cameron's Godfather.
Tribute to Lucille Clifton
Thursday, Feb 21, 7:00pm
New York, NY
BLESSING THE BOATS:
A Tribute to Lucille Clifton
New York, NY
BLESSING THE BOATS:
A Tribute to Lucille Clifton
The public is invited to attend a celebration of Lucille Clifton's life and work on the occasion of BOA's posthumous publication of her Collected Poems. Welcomed by Tonya Foster and introduced by co-editor Michael Glaser, 13 world-class poets will read in tribute: Sherman Alexie, Tina Chang, Toi Derricotte, Michael Dickman, Timothy Donnelly, Cornelius Eady, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Nick Flynn, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Marie Howe, Dante Micheaux, Sharon Olds, and Tracy K. Smith.
The mezzo-soprano Alicia Hall Moran will perform her original compositions based on Clifton poems.
Co-Sponsored by The Center for the Humanities at The Graduate Center, CUNY; the Academy of American Poets; BOA Editions; Cave Canem Foundation; the MFA Program at Hunter, CUNY; and Poets House.
Admission is free.
Proshansky Auditorium
The Center for the Humanities
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue
MELISSA TUCKEY
I was at The Coupe (3415 11th Street, NW) this morning for breakfast with poet Melissa Tuckey. I ordered the chorizo scrabble and some orange juice. Next to my plate was Tuckey's new book Tenuous Chapel recently selected for the 2012 ABZ First Book Poetry Prize by Charles Simic.In his foreword Simic has this to say about Melissa:
The poems were short, often cryptic and yet striking. If the hope of any poem is to render experience in a fresh, unsettling way, she has that gift. She likes to disorient us, pull the rug from under our expectations, and to do so quickly and decisively, so we catch our breath in astonishment and delight.
I plan to take Tenuous Chapel home this evening and step into Melissa's world. I've known this wonderful woman since her days at George Mason where she earned her MFA. She is the co-founder of Split This Rock, the important organization that celebrates poetry of witness and provocation. Melissa is another person who defines herself as a literary activist. Hopefully more people will join our ranks.
This morning Melissa and I discussed ways to promote her new book. I pulled from my bag a recent article in The New York Times - "Silver Becomes her, In a Show's Portraits" by Ruth La Ferla. Here is the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/booming/silver-becomes-her-in-a-shows-portraits.html?_r=0
I laughed with Melissa and told her how stunning I thought Amy Hempel was when I saw her walking across the Bennington campus in Vermont. That was when I was a Core Faculty member at the Bennington Writing Seminars; so I take Melissa's picture, making this morning a silver moment.
The poems were short, often cryptic and yet striking. If the hope of any poem is to render experience in a fresh, unsettling way, she has that gift. She likes to disorient us, pull the rug from under our expectations, and to do so quickly and decisively, so we catch our breath in astonishment and delight.
I plan to take Tenuous Chapel home this evening and step into Melissa's world. I've known this wonderful woman since her days at George Mason where she earned her MFA. She is the co-founder of Split This Rock, the important organization that celebrates poetry of witness and provocation. Melissa is another person who defines herself as a literary activist. Hopefully more people will join our ranks.
This morning Melissa and I discussed ways to promote her new book. I pulled from my bag a recent article in The New York Times - "Silver Becomes her, In a Show's Portraits" by Ruth La Ferla. Here is the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/booming/silver-becomes-her-in-a-shows-portraits.html?_r=0
I laughed with Melissa and told her how stunning I thought Amy Hempel was when I saw her walking across the Bennington campus in Vermont. That was when I was a Core Faculty member at the Bennington Writing Seminars; so I take Melissa's picture, making this morning a silver moment.
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| MELISSA TUCKEY photo by Ethelbert |
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Breaking from Newsmax.com
Israel to Award Obama Prestigious Medal During Visit
Israel will award President Barack Obama the country's Presidential Medal of Distinction during his upcoming visit. Israeli President Shimon Peres' office said Monday that Obama will be recognized for his "unique and significant contribution to strengthening the State of Israel and the security of its citizens."
Obama is scheduled to visit Israel in March — his first as president.
Obama has often had a tense relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Jewish state's West Bank settlement policies and the lack of peace process with the Palestinians.
But Peres and the committee behind the award noted Obama's overall friendship and backing of the Iron Dome missile defense system.
Israel's Presidential Medal of Distinction is comparable to the France's "Legion of Honor" or the "Order of Canada."
© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
FROM BELL TO BERT
I came across this statement yesterday and thought it was very funny:
I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not toanswer when they call.
I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not toanswer when they call.
Monday, February 18, 2013
This picture taken by Stephen Crowley appeared on the front page of The New York Times last Friday.
I love it. The photo caption was "Who's the New Kid?" President Obama was in Georgia talking about the need to expand preschool. Notice the young black child next to him holding a magnifying glass. Will he be the next president? What a beautiful example of teacher as role model. I love the warmth in this photo. It's priceless. Obama continues to inspire.
O THERE YOU ARE!
What are people talking about? Obama is always in the black community. I saw him on U Street the other day...
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| Photo by Ethelbert |
BUSBOYS AND POETS (14th Street)
When all the bookstores are gone where will the poets go? Where will they meet and laugh?
Since Thomas Sayers Ellis was not around I decided to do the documenting last week. When I saw Derrick Brown and Alan King talking and holding Randall Horton's new book - I knew this was a Harlem Renaissance moment. Call me VanderBert with camera. Below is history still in motion.
Black men keepin on.
Since Thomas Sayers Ellis was not around I decided to do the documenting last week. When I saw Derrick Brown and Alan King talking and holding Randall Horton's new book - I knew this was a Harlem Renaissance moment. Call me VanderBert with camera. Below is history still in motion.
Black men keepin on.
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| DERRICK BROWN AND ALAN KING photo by Ethelbert |
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| CHARLES JOHNSON |
Two years ago I created the E-Channel - a project that consisted of interviewing the novelist Charles Johnson everyday for a year. Some projects are difficult to end. Charles recently sent me a note we both felt was important to share with others. Here it is:
As a father and a husband, my duty is protect my wife and children (and now
grandchild) from danger. I don't focus on negativity, but I'm ever alert and
mindful about things that might potentially harm them. Here is an old Buddhist
formula:
(1). Support the good that exists.
(2). Work to bring the good that can be into existence.
(3) Eliminate the evil that exists.
(4) Work to prevent the evil that might exist from manifesting
itself.
I'm
not a Pollyanna. And while I do trust in God, I think God helps those who help
themselves. One of my favorite phrases is, "Life is God's gift to you. What
you do with it is your gift to Him." (He IS keeping your c.v. updated for
you.) What sort of gifts are we all preparing to express our gratitude and
thanksgiving for the brief but precious gift of a human life, which Buddhists
remind us is so hard to achieve? I think Saul Bellow got it right twice, first
when he said in the early 70s that we live in an amusement society; and,
secondly, in Humboldt's Gift when he wrote that the only religion modern
people have is the pursuit of pleasure.
We really must learn to place selfless duty before desire.
THE E-CHANNEL:http://ethelbert-miller.blogspot.com
Obama Seeking to Boost Study of Human Brain
By JOHN MARKOFF
The Obama
administration is planning a decade-long scientific effort to examine
the workings of the human brain and build a comprehensive map of its
activity.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
COMING ATTRACTIONS
2013 Jazz Festival
This June I'll be sitting down and interviewing two wonderful jazz musicians:
Nicholas Payton and Nasar Abadey.
Below is a link to their websites. The Payton interview will take place June 5th at Busboys and Poets (14th Street, NW).
Abadey and I will be sitting down together on June 12th at the Hill Center on Capitol Hill.
WWW.NICHOLASPAYTON.COM
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| NICHOLAS PAYTON |
WWW.NASARABADEY.COM
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| NASAR ABADEY |
FEAR OF A BLACK PRESIDENT?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agI6OceAP5U
It's very interesting to go back and look at the above video.
What does it tell us about Obama and race?
Does one campaign with poetry but govern with prose?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agI6OceAP5U
It's very interesting to go back and look at the above video.
What does it tell us about Obama and race?
Does one campaign with poetry but govern with prose?
Paul Ortiz, Truthout: A
budding coalition of immigrants and African-Americans - modeled on the
outstanding community- and labor-organizing example of Culinary Workers
Union Local 226 - is potentially the largest progressive force in
America - one capable of transforming the trajectory of US history.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
AWP:
Friday, February 15, 2013
GET ON THE BUS
The Howard University Post Office has those lovely new Rosa Parks stamps. Purchase some. A nice way to promote Black History Month and the US Postal Service.
| Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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Thursday, February 14, 2013
JAZZ WILL FLOOD YOUR HEAD AND HEART
THIS IS WHY NOAH NEEDED A LARGER ARK
http://www.jazzonthetube.com/
http://www.jazzonthetube.com/
DEMOCRACY AT WORK
I watched the White House Fireside Hangout to discuss Obama's State of the Union Address this afternoon. The format and questions were excellent. Very informative. The White House (and other organizations ) should do more of this.
On a regular basis every citizen should visit the White House site: www.whitehouse.gov
On a regular basis every citizen should visit the White House site: www.whitehouse.gov