E- NEWS

I'm reaching a comfort level after doing a second ON THE MARGIN show (WPFW) yesterday. My guests were Anna Thorn (Upshur Street Bookstore) and Grace Ali (ofNote Magazine). Next week I plan to do a program on Zora Neale Hurston. I've spoken with Hurston biographer Valerie Boyd and might have her call in from Atlanta and join studio guests Michele-Simms Burton and Michon Boston.

I need two guests for every show. This will help maintain a conversation format and structure and not a straight interview.

I now have a mailbox at WPFW.  In the mail yesterday were 2 books:

FATHER LINCOLN: The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln and his boys - Robert, Eddy, Willie and Tad by Alan Manning.
I'M FROM NOWHERE by Suzanne Myers

I'll be sure to mention the Lincoln book in June prior to Father's Day.

My next guest on The Scholars will be the visual artist William Dunlap. I'm reading his book over the weekend. I already have a few questions.

I have 3 books that I recently borrowed from the public library that I have to read:

VOYAGE OF THE SABLE VENUS by Robin Coste Lewis
THE NEW JIM CROW by Michelle Alexander
BOLIVAR by Marie Arana

I started reading Alexander's book after waiting several weeks for the public library to let me know it was in. It seems many people in the city are reading this book about our criminal justice system.

So what's going on? 
Voter Spring?  The collapse of both major political parties? Is this the political revolution?
Imagine Sanders against Trump...
Where is the middle ground?  One man's fast is another man's slow. Throw tolerance out the door.
How would the winner govern?  Imagine all three parts of the government run by Republicans.
Would this send people to the streets?  Backlash is a whip against progress. Woman being told what to do...gay marriages made void and camps for Muslims? I rise some days feeling like a slave trying to imagine Canada and having no clue where Africa is.

Congratulations to the finalists for the 2016 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction:  James Hannaham Delicious Foods Julie Iromuanya Mr. and Mrs. Doctor Viet Thanh Nguyen The Sympathizer Elizabeth Tallent Mendocino Fire Luis Alberto Urrea The Water Museum The winner will be announced on April 5th, 2016. The PEN/Faulkner Award Ceremony & Dinner May 14th, 2016  |  7:00 PM The Folger Shakespeare Library Tickets $100 This year's PEN/Faulkner Award Dinner will feature specialty cocktails by One Eight Distilling, representing the nation’s capital with exceptional small batch craft spirits.

The last few days I read work by Rowan Ricardo Phillips. I borrowed his books HEAVEN and GROUND from the library. I was impressed by " Nothing of A Blue Remains" which is the collection HEAVEN.

March 6, 2016

The Point of Buddhism

Most people, myself included, want to get some benefit from something. But in Buddhism, what we’re actually trying to do is to become released from the suffering that comes from wanting to get something. —Mark Unno, "The Buddha of Infinite Light and Life"

VOICE MALE

2 new poems published in Voice Male:http://voicemalemagazine.org/2016-spring-poetry/

 

Call for Proposals:  

The Marion S. Barry Bronze Statue
Public Art Commission

This project is commissioned by the Executive Office of the Mayor (EOM) in partnership with the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) and the Marion Barry Commission.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Pursuant of a commemorative statue, the partnering entities request for Regional Artists or Artist Teams to develop a permanent public art installation in the form of a life-sized bronze statue in the likeness of the Honorable Marion S. Barry, to be sited at the John A. Wilson Building in March 2017. Alternatively, Artists and/or Artist Teams are encouraged to recommend an alternative interior or exterior site that is owned and operated by the District of Columbia Government for the permanent display of the bronze statue.  Therefore, potential sites include, but are not limited to, the John A. Wilson Building, The Reeves Municipal Center, One Judiciary Square, etc.

For full details on the application process, please click here.

Application Deadline is Monday, March 28, 2016 at 11:59 PM EST. 

 

About the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities

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The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities provides grants, professional opportunities, education enrichment, and other programs and services to individuals and nonprofit organizations in all communities within the District of Columbia. The Arts Commission is supported primarily by District government funds and in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

  

Celebrating "One Life: Dolores Huerta"

Tuesday, March 8, 7:00 PM - rescheduled from January 23rd
CELEBRATING “ONE LIFE: DOLORES HUERTA”

To celebrate the landmark exhibition “One Life: Dolores Huerta,” 21st Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry Juan Felipe Herrera and poets Arlene Biala and Diana García will read work in response to the exhibition. Co-sponsored by Letras Latinas, literary initiative at the University of Notre Dame's Institute for Latino Studies, Library of Congress Hispanic Division, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and Smithsonian Latino Center.

Location: Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 8th & F Sts NW, Washington, DC 20004
Contact: (202) 707-5394

Last night I read HEAVEN by Rowan Ricardo Phillips. I like his poem "Nothing Of A Blue Remains."

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

March they said...
But I could never walk away from you.


E. Ethelbert Miller

I received a nice note and package from Merrill Leffler this week. He sent me a copy of Yossel Birstein's And So Is The Bus  Jerusalem Stories.

Leffler also sent me a list of the poems that will be part of the Spring for Poetry in Takoma Park, an urban poetry walk sponsored by the Friends of the Takoma Park Maryland Library. Poster designs are by students at the School of Art and Design, Montgomery College, Takoma Park.

My poem " Car Problems" will be featured with " I Know a Man" by Robert Creeley. I think that's nice.  Many years ago I did a poetry reading in New Orleans with Creeley and Amiri Baraka.

Next week I will be speaking at THE COURAGE TO FIGHT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN conference on the campus of American University. Events will be held at the Katzen Arts Center.
I will be reading poems at 11:50 AM on Saturday, March 5, 2016.

I'm reading THE POETRY OF HEALING by Rafael Campo.  It pulls one back into the AIDS crisis.

Yesterday I interviewed Dean Bernard Richardson (HU Dean of Rankin Chapel) for The Scholars.
It went very well. We had a chance to talk about Howard Thurman and various faith issues.
I think this might be a very popular interview to place on the social media outlet.

I have a meeting at the LOC today. Glad to see Obama nominated Carla Hayden for the head position.  It will be interesting to see what the Republicans do with her nomination.
So much politics...

This morning I wrote to Quincy Troupe and told him to pull the June Jordan essay I submitted.
I decided not to add all the personal stuff about a previous relationships. Let our biographers do that...

Well, the next few weeks will be very busy.  New book, new radio show to begin hosting, travel to LA.  Then a hectic April with book events for the Collected Poems.

So much going on.  Time to get back to my E-Notes. This morning I read the preface (again) of Charles Johnson's THE WAY OF THE WRITING LIFE: NOTES ON CRAFT AND STORYTELLING.  It will be published by Scribner in December 2016. I see this book as being very popular and essential to people who pursue the writing path. Johnson offers good practical advice. Hopefully folks teaching creative writing will recommend this title.

Next week I'll be interviewing Dean Bernard Richardson (Dean of the Rankin Chapel at Howard) for The Scholars (UDC-TV)

A number upcoming readings I need to post and promote.

Hopefully I should have the galleys to my Collected Poems next week.

Soon it will be time to pack for LA.  Yes, I'll be at the AWP Conference.  More later...

Right now reading  OFF THE WALL - Interviews with Philip Whalen.

Just received the latest issue of Sojourners - March 2016.
They published my essay on The Beatitudes.
"The Nakedness of the Open Soul."

Did some FaceTime with Matthew my grandson yesterday. He is one
week old today. The little guy was sleeping when I first saw him. Fun to see
someone checking out the world for the first time.

There is that tendency and desire to unplug from the political
outlet. Listening to the various presidential campaigns it's easy
to understand why it was so difficult to end slavery and so easy to place
Japanese Americans in camps. We tend to be fear/silly during
election time. I fear the pundits are clowns in search of a circus.

While reading the latest issue of The New York Review of Books
I came across this incredible statement:

Once out of bed, we check our phones
221 times a day - an average of every 4.3
minutes - according to a UK study.

THE SAD AND AWFUL NEWS

There is no doubt that thousands of Flint residents will need monitoring,
medical supervision and educational support for many years to come.
Some 8,000 or more children under the age of 6, whose developing 
brains can suffer irreversible damage from exposure to lead, drank
the poisoned water, and some are already showing symptoms.

EDITORIAL 
THE NEW YORK TIMES
FEBRUARY 6, 2016

Too much going on. I need to pace myself.
Looking forward to flying west to pickup a literary award.
More about this next month.

March is also when I become the new host for the radio program - ON THE MARGIN - WPFW.
I've been thinking about radio format and show structure the last few days.

COLLECTED POEMS should be out by late March.
Several readings in the DC area.
The big event will probably be at Marymount University.
Thanks once again to Kirsten Porter for making so many things possible.


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