PEOPLE MAKE HISTORY, PEOPLE MAKE CHANGE

Is anyone going to invite former President Carter to observe the upcoming elections in DC?  When I read the Washington Post I wonder if they are describing the city I live in. All of a sudden Bowser is surging ahead in the polls and Evans is fading. It sounds a tad like Egypt and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood. Can simple organization win an election? If Bowser or Gray can mobilize their base they win? It has nothing to do with their character or their views. OK - so who do you believe Morsi or Gray? 

The latest poll has Andy Shallal in 4th place - with Evans. How is this possible?  Andy must be doing something right. In a short span of a few months he has become a candidate to reckon with. He is "haunted" however by mainstream  media that prefers an easy race between Gray and Bowser. Why do people believe Andy can't win? 

Just make history on April 1st. Vote for Shallal and then listen to the pundits on April 2 explain what they don't know and never did. It's spring -anything can happen. You just have to make it happen. You Gotta Believe! People make history, people make change.

FATIMA

My friend Fatima Argun will be having an art exhibit on April 3rd from 6-9 pm at 1701 Q Street, NW.

DAVID MURA

INTERVIEW OF DAVID MURA BY E. ETHELBERT MILLER:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nftROeSq6n8

David Mura's The Last Incantations - On Sale March 31

His new book of poetry is now available now for pre-order

 

Publication Reading: David Mura with friends Alexs Pate, Ed Bok Lee, Bao Phi, Julianna Hu Pegues

Co-sponsored by The Loft
Friday, March 28 at 7pm 

The Loft / Open Book

1011 Washington Ave South

Suite 200

Minneapolis, MN 55415

For more information, RSVP on Facebook

Reading at Subtext Books

Wednesday, May 7 at 7pm

Subtext Books

165 Western Avenue North

St. Paul, MN 55102

Catalogue Copy from Northwestern University Press:

The personal, historical, and artistic are all in dialogue in David Mura’s daring new collection The Last Incantations. In a variety of poetic modes, Mura harmonizes and contrasts multiple voices to form a powerful meditation. Certain poems speak from his experiences as a third-generation Japanese-American and his family’s struggles to prove their “Americanness.” Others speak from the intersections of our multiracial society—an Asian teenager in love with a Somali Muslim girl; an apostrophe to Richard Pryor; poems about a Palestinian American friend, Abu Ghraib, the hapa sculptor Isamu Noguchi. The result is a sustained multifoliate poetry, bursting with elegance, heartache, and truth.

Praise for The Last Incantations:

“David Mura is a maestro of illumination and nuance, an unrivaled craftsman of stanzas that root themselves in music while holding tight to an unflinching narrative. These poems are hallmarks of fervent witness, the work of a bold and unapologetic writer at the height of his powers.”

-- Patricia Smith, author of National Book Award finalist Blood Dazzler

For more events and information on The Last Incantations:

Connect with David Mura on Facebook and Twitter. He also blogs at blog.davidmura.com

We have open precincts that need an Andy volunteer on Election Day. Please sign up by clicking here, and share this graphic with everyone you know! Clicking on it links to our precinct team page.

We also have 2 precinct trainings coming up: 

March 27: Click here to RSVPMarch 30: Click here to RSVP
Thank you for bringing us closer and closer to victory!

-Joy

In the New York Times Book Review section yesterday I saw an advertisement for Martin Duberman's new book -HOLD TIGHT GENTLY: Michael Callen, Essex Hemphill, and the Battlefield of AIDS (The New Press). Duberman interviewed me a couple of years ago when he was working on this book. Essex was a dear friend and one of the most talented individuals I've met in my life. I remember when he was a student at the University of Maryland; he was often on many of my Ascension readings. He designed my wedding invitations back in 1982.

Below is a link to an interview I did with the scholar Darius Bost; a very good conversation about the work of Essex Hemphill:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxfILbV1JTc

I just received my copy of  VOICE MALE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE PROFEMINIST MEN'S MOVEMENT edited by Rob A. Okun. I'm very happy to have two of my essays reprinted in this anthology. One is "Remembering the Loneliness of Fatherhood."

You can obtain this book by going to : www.interlinkbooks.com

One can also subscribe to the magazine: www.voicemalemagazine.org

Just back from the Virginia Festival of the Book. A chance to spend time with my friend Kate who was kind enough to get me to Charlottesville, Virginia and back. This was a road trip more than a reading. We came back to DC with the wonderful Lolis Eric Elie in the backseat. Here is a link to his website: www.lolisericelie.com

Lolis, Kate Damon and Ethelbert. Photo by Bob Deans

Kate Damon. Photo by Ethelbert

NEWS FROM NAOMI AYALA

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=2202#m23381

This Sunday and Monday at Bowery Poetry: Amiri Baraka Praise Day 6:30pm Mon. March 24th The loss of Amiri Baraka (1934-2014) cannot be expressed in words, but that won't stop us from trying. FREE We will be led at this Gathering by Dr. Antoinette Ellis-Williams, Professor, Women & Gender Studies at New Jersey City University and Director of the Lee Hagan Africana Studies Center, who will discuss Baraka's life and legacy. Dael Orlandersmith and Bob Holman will read Baraka's work, and there will be a chance for everyone to read a poem by or for at the Amiri Baraka Praise Day. How Did I Get Here? 11:00pm Mon. March 24th A reconstruction, reinvention, recapitulation, and celebration of the iconic 1984 Talking Heads concert film, Stop Making Sense. Come experience this cult crash course in masterful absurdity with all the driving musical energy, crackling lyrics, and raw theatricality of the original.  Featuring lead vocals by Salty Brine, music direction by Ian Axness, and a band that will make you bounce till you ache. Thirty years later... just across the street from the ghosts of CBGBs... we still can't seem to face up to the facts... $12 in advance/$15 at the door.

Women Writers in Bloom 3:30pm Sun. March 23rd This event kicks off the Salon’s Spring 2014 Series at Bowery Poetry for Women’s History Month and showcases the diverse and powerful voices of Salon poets! JP Howard curates. $10  Shorts! 8:30pm Sun. March 23rd Shorts by video artists from Portugal, Turkey, Israel, New York, and beyond. Curated by Luiggi Cazzaniga.  $10  See the full calendarHERE. The Poet in New York - Old School SLAM! 9:00pm Mon., March 24th Bob Holman hosts a SLAM in the original, old-school style he made famous at the Nuyorican in the '90s. Come with a poem to share! Or just to enjoy!  $10

What's an E To Do?

So glad it's Friday. I need to complete work on a number of projects. Time to close things out.
April and May will be a time for major Spring cleaning.
Yesterday I found a lovely letter the poet PhilipLevine sent me two years ago. I'm going to frame it.

Just a few more pages of BREAK IT DOWN by Lydia Davis to read.

NAOMI AYALA

Photo by Ethelbert

Beloved Naomi standing on her street with a copy of her new book - CALLING HOME: Praise Songs and Incantations.

Tune in Thursday morning at 9:00 when we begin with This Day in History, and then we look at cultural diversity in children's literature. Last week in the New York Times'Sunday Review, an opinion piece by children's book author Walter Dean Myers was published, titled "Where Are the People of Color in Children's Books?" To answer the question, we talk to: Dr. Charles Johnson, National Book Award-winning novelist and scholar, who co-authored (with his daughter Elisheba) the children's book Bending Time: The Adventures of Emery Jones, Boy Science Wonder; Tonya Bolden, award-winning author of over twenty books for young readers and adults, includingSearching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America; and Deborah Taylor, School and Student Services Coordinator for the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore. At 10:00 we look at Live Young Blood, a compelling and edgy documentary that travels deep into Baltimore's urban communities that are wrestling with ways to transform a culture of violence. We talk with filmmakers Bobby Marvin Holmes andJustin Gladden, as well as Kimberly Armstrong, who lost her son to the streets and who is featured in the film. Live Young Blood will be featured at the Baltimore Creative Alliance on Sunday, March 30 at 4pm. Stay tuned at 10:30 when fitness trainer and activist Chauncey Whitehead joins us to talk about his upcoming community walk with Baltimore's own Ernestine Shepherd, the world's oldest competitive body builder, which will be filmed by CNN this Saturday.   Email or post on the The Marc Steiner Show Facebook page  with your questions and comments!  Listen from 9-11 am on WEAA 88.9-FM or online at weaa.org. All shows are available as podcasts at www.steinershow.org and on iTunes.  Join the conversation by calling 410-319-8888, tweeting @marcsteiner, and emailing steinershow@gmail.com. For questions & show ideas call: (443) 475-0554.

Sound+ Conference

March 27-29, 2014

CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION

Increasingly, and across a broad variety of fields, a conversation has been unfolding about the sounds that produce, surround and absorb “text.” Work on cultural sites ranging from the jazz of the Harlem Renaissance, to the resonance-chamber of Shakespeare’s Globe, to the audio compression format of the MP3, to the acoustic torture at Guantanamo Bay, has begun to challenge models in which text is understood as a predominantly visual, linguistic construct. Scholars of literature, rhetoric, composition, media studies, science and technology studies, art and culture studies, architecture, philosophy, political economy, the practice of politics and other fields have demonstrated the limitations of conceiving of text in purely discursive terms. This work has helped re-direct attention to the voice, to performance, and especially to listening practices that impact how we understand cultures, contexts and objects previously analyzed through approaches that privileged the eye.

This conference brings together leading scholars who have helped to reconceive the relationship between sound and text. Emphasizing the interdisciplinary nature of sound studies and the importance of research on the ways in which experiences of sound are culturally produced, Jonathan Sterne has written, “Sound studies should be a central meeting place where sonic imaginations go to be challenged, nurtured, refreshed and transformed.” “Sound+” offers a space to pursue this goal. As work on soundscapes, audio technologies and acoustic ecologies continues to open up new ways of thinking about the sonic dimensions of literature, this conference invites scholars from a range of fields to address the following questions: What happens when text is mediated through acoustic environments? How does sound become categorized as literary? How do writing and sound thread together in areas such as theater, opera, jazz, film, hip-hop, poetry, performance art, and digital literatures? How does writing encode or remediate sound, and how is literature shaped by acoustic technologies from voice to byte? How does sound reshape the politics of literature, and how are political acts distributed between text and sound?

The conference will involve participants in workshops, panels, lectures, and a poster session.

To see  the complete schedule, visit: http://www.english.umd.edu/SoundPlus

Registration is free but required: http://www.english.umd.edu/soundplus/registration

For more information, please contact Zita Nunes: znunes@umd.edu

Speakers include: 

Jonathan Sterne (Art History and Communication Studies, McGill University & Microsoft Research New England Social Media Collective)

Fred Moten (English, University of California Riverside)

Shannon Collis (Art, University of Maryland)

Tsitsi Jaji (English, University of Pennsylvania)

Karen Ordahl Kupperman (History, New York University   

Krista Ratcliffe (English, Marquette University)

Jenny Stoever-Ackerman (English, SUNY Binghamton)

Carter Mathes (English, Rutgers University)

Scott Trudell (English, University of Maryland)

Emily Thompson (History, Princeton University) 

Mounya Elhilali (Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University),

Kari Kraus (iSchool & English, University of Maryland)

Jonathan Z. Simon (Biology/Engineering/NACS/CSSL, University of Maryland)

Wes Folkerth (English, McGill University)

Yopie Prins (English and Comparative Literature, University of Michigan)

Tanya Clement (School of Information, University of Texas at Austin)

Jentery Sayers (English, University of Victoria)

Zita Nunes

Associate Professor and Director,

Center for Literary and Comparative Studies

Department of English

3116 Tawes Hall

University of Maryland

College Park, MD 20742

301-405-3801

http://www.english.umd.edu/academics/clcs

ANDY GOES TO NORTHAMPTON, MASS

TIME FOR A PROGRESSIVE MAYOR 

IN WASHINGTON, DC!

A N D Y  S H A L L A L

 Friday, March 21st, 7 PM

Home of Sut Jhally
60 B Masonic Street, Northampton

Please join us to learn about 

Andy’s exciting Mayoral Campaign 

                                  (andy4dc.com)

Pizza and salad dinner • Spirited conversation

Skype visit with Andy!

Andy is a dear friend and colleague, and 

a man imbued with integrity, 

a big heart, and a visionary mind. 

We’re raising money for his campaign. 

We hope you'll join us.

Come and be inspired by this dear man -

a dedicated agent of positive social change.

Anas “Andy” Shallal is an Iraqi-American activist and entrepreneur. He is best known as founder of several Washington, DC area cultural cafes- bookstores/performance venues, Busboys and Poets. A multi-million-dollar company, Busboys employs more than 530 people who receive good wages, opportunities for advancement, health insurance and paid sick leave.Widely respected in progressive circles around the country, Andy organized the 2009 Inaugural Peace Ball and is a member of the board of directors of the Institute for Policy Studies. 

One of the co-founders of Think Local First, a DC organization to help independent entrepreneurs implement programs that will boost growth 

and promote a fair, sustainable local economy, Andy was awarded the Champions of Democracy Award in 2010 by DCVOTE for his activism in support of voting rights for District residents.

We hope to see you on Friday evening the 21st!

Thanks for all you do,

Adi & Rob

Please RSVP to:

adibemak@gmail.com 413.687.8436 

rob@voicemalemagazine.org; 413.687.8171

THE VOTE

So I voted yesterday for Andy Shallal to be mayor of DC.  I was one of 500 people. Around 158 voted the day before. With these low numbers anything can happen. Look for some candidates to bus to the polls old black people. There are many people to vote for - it's not just a race for mayor.
I'm certain the average voter won't know half of the people on the ballot. I saw a name of a person I thought had died a few years ago. Kiss my lips if this isn't Mississippi....

Writing Has Nothing To Do With Love

In the short story they leave the diner

and walk to her small apartment. Toast

and eggs sleep next to the cold cups

of coffee near two plates.

In the play they never leave the table.

They keep interrupting each other

like hands touching too much too fast.

She said there were parts of her that

were hungry and confused.

In the novel he never explains

how he feels about her. It’s complicated.

There are other characters.

He has a wife.

In the poem each line ends with fucking.

Every stanza is a room. She unlocks

the door to her apartment- the size of

a sonnet.

In the memoir they are married.

He remembers the day he left her

to have breakfast with a friend

who lived in a small apartment.

It was the end of literature and

the beginning of lunch.

-         E. Ethelbert Miller

ETHELBERT DANCING WITH HIS BLACK CATS

Photo by Ethelbert

ANDY NEWS: Start voting for Shallal starting tomorrow.

The winter weather will prevent us from gathering at 4:30pm today for voter outreach. Instead, we are returning to the original plan, meeting at One Judiciary Square tomorrow at 8:30am. I hope you will join us to encourage early voting. Please click here to RSVP. Our campaign has received dozens of calls from supporters who are using this snow day to reach out to voters with the help of our virtual phone bank. To get started, log in to our website as a volunteer and see our Quick Start Guide which contains directions and scripts. We are calling wards 1, 4 and 7 today, so relax in a warm place and join us! We have also had an overwhelming response from supporters ready to represent our campaign in their communities as Precinct Captains on April 1. If you would like to help us get out the vote, please click here to sign up. Thank you for all that you do. All the best, Andy Paid for by the Committee to Elect Andy Shallal, PO Box 73512, Washington, DC 20056, Treasurer Robin Weiss. A copy of our report is filed with the Director of the Office of the Campaign Finance. This email was sent to Emiller698@aol.com. To stop receiving emails, click here. Click Here To Contribute› You can also keep up with Andy Shallal on Twitter or Facebook. We believe in our community and invite you to join the movement by logging in to our volunteer center or making a donation. We also encourage you to contact us anytime.

The World is Going to Hell and I am Printing Yellow! ©2014 Miriam Mörsel Nathan | Stanza IV | Etching   April 6 - May 31, 2014 Opening Reception  Sunday, April 6 2 - 6 pm  Artist Talk:  Tea with Myrtis Art Salon Sunday, May 18,  2 - 4 pm Registration required  $20  per person The World is Going to Hell and I am Printing Yellow! is the affirmation of ten women artists who hold firm to their conviction to create objects of beauty in the face of a changing world and the challenges of daily life.  They seek refuge in the joy of art making; and offer the color yellow as a metaphor for exploring notions of self-preservation and empowerment as they make their imprint in ceramics, paintings, photography and prints.  Susan Goldman  |  Sujata Gopalan  |  Anita Jung  |  Barbara Kerne  Bridget Sue Lambert  |  Kathryn Maxwell  |  Miriam Mörsel Nathan  Eve Stockton  |  Patricia Underwood  |  Judit Varga Galerie Myrtis 2224 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland  www.galeriemyrtis.net miriammorselnathan.com

Fukushima

A metaphor for everything wrong with the world:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/world/asia/unskilled-and-destitute-are-hiring-targets-for-fukushima-cleanup.html?e