Podcasts about beyond baroque

David St. John joins Kevin Young to read “Picking Grapes in an Abandoned Vineyard,” by Larry Levis, and his own poem “The Shore.” St. John is the author of many poetry collections and the recipient of honors including the Rome Fellowship and an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the O. B. Hardison Prize from the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the George Drury Smith Award from Beyond Baroque. He's also the editor of “Swirl & Vortex,” a volume of collected poems by the late Larry Levis, forthcoming in 2026. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Welcome, dear listeners, to the finale of Season 6. Our literary journey has taken us through the works of novelists and poets, exploring the depths of Literary Fiction. And for our closing episode, we have a special guest - Chuck Rosenthal, acclaimed author of Awake For Ever in a Sweet Unrest. As we delve into the premise of his latest book, we are transported into a world of love, longing, and artistic passion. Through this enthralling conversation with Chuck, we not only unravel the complexities of his main character Beatriz but also gain insight into the lives of 19th century romantic literary giants. Get ready for an educational and fascinating finale that will leave you yearning for more. Tune in to our upcoming season, where I will recite my poetry from all of my published works. Season 7 is aptly named "Inspire Me," promising to ignite the soul and capture the imagination. Each episode will be a journey through words, painting pictures of raw emotion and thought-provoking ideas. So, sit back, relax, and let yourself be inspired by the power of language and the artistry of poetry. Awake For Ever in a Sweet Unrest. Deep within the hidden library of Los Angeles' iconic poetry venue, Beyond Baroque, all modern electronics mysteriously fail. There, 19-year-old Beatriz encounters Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley, who promises a magical adventure back to 19th-century Europe. There, Beatriz meets literary legends John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, and Lord Byron, experiencing the romantic landscapes and dangerous exploits of their world. As she navigates this liminal space, Beatriz discovers the power of poetry and art, and the courage to find her own identity. Rosenthal, an acclaimed author, brings historical figures to life, offering a deeply intimate tale of passion, creativity, and self-discovery. Awake For Ever in a Sweet Unrest is perfect for anyone who has ever lost themselves in the magic of a hidden library.   Chuck Rosenthal was born in Erie, Pennsylvania. He attended Allegheny College, Bowling Green State University, SUNY Buffalo, and the University of California, Davis, where he earned several advanced degrees in English, Sociological Theory and philosophy. He earned a Ph.D. in English and American literature with emphasis in creative writing and narrative theory from the University of Utah. Rosenthal is the author of fourteen novels: the Loop Trilogy: Loop's Progress, Experiments with Life and Deaf, and Loop's End; Elena of the Stars; Avatar Angel, the Last Novel of Jack Kerouac; My Mistress Humanity; The Heart of Mars; Coyote O'Donohughe's History of Texas; Ten Thousand Heavens; The Legend of La Diosa; You Can Fly, a Sequel to the Peter Pan Tales; The Hammer the Sickle and the Heart, Trotsky and Kahlo in Mexico; and Let's Face the Music and Dance a hybrid novel. He has published a memoir, Never Let Me Go, and a travel book, Are We Not There Yet? Travels in Nepal, North India, and Bhutan (Magic Journalism), as well as a second book of Magic Journalism, West of Eden: A Life in 21st Century Los Angeles. Rosenthal published two books of experimental poetry, Tomorrow you'll Be One of Us (sci-fi poems with Gil Wronsky and Gronk, illustrator) and The Shortest Farewells Are the Best (noir poems, also with Gail Wronsky). They also wrote and directed the sci-fi play, People of Earth, This Is Your Last Warning, performed at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. Rosenthal has written a book of animal philosophy, How the Animals Around You Think, the Semiotics of Animal Cognition. He's published in numerous journals, and read and lectured at universities and on television and radio throughout the U.S. as well as in Mexico, Argentina, India and England. Please check out his website: https://chuckrosenthal.com/  

In 1932, Paulina Peavy (1901 – 1999) attended a séance at the home of Ida L. Ewing in Santa Ana, California, where she claims to have met a UFO named Lacamo, a spirit from another world. From that moment forward Peavy, a university-trained artist, painted with a brush that “moved on its own.” In order to better channel Lacamo's energies, Peavy also constructed and wore masks when she painted, occasionally signing her works with Lacamo's name alongside her own. Peavy's entire life was dedicated to promoting her worldview and various philosophies through drawing, painting, sculpture, text, and film. Her works on paper depict the artist's individualized visual cosmos using shapes that resemble energy beams, solar systems, and procreative organic shapes signifying genitalia, ova, fallopian tubes, sperm, and fetuses. Peavy's life and work were constantly evolving to reflect her belief in mankind's evolution to an androgynous one-sex through contact with aliens. Laura Whitcomb is a surrealist scholar and the director of Label Curatorial, which focuses on lesser-known artists and movements of the West Coast. She has worked at the Gala - Salvador Dalí Foundation at the Dalí Theatre Museum in Figueres, Spain, while also contributing essays for exhibitions at the Dalí Museum in Florida. She is also a focused scholar of artists who engage hermetic traditions in their art practice. "Paulina Peavy: Etherian Channeler" in 2023 (D.A.P.) is edited by the adjunct LACMA curator Dr. Ilene Susan Fort and focuses on the channeler artist Paulina Peavy, whom Whitcomb curated at Beyond Baroque in 2021 and for the Andrew Edlin gallery in 2023. Label Curatorial focuses on sound art and light artists. Studying the inceptive roots of what became Los Angeles's most notable home-grown movement, she presented a Light and Space installation of Peter Alexander, Laddie John Dill, and Larry Bell at the official re-opening of the Brand Library and Art Center in 2014. In 2022, she curated "Luminaries of Light and Space" at LAX Airport, produced by Dublab, which included these artists along with Robert Irwin, De Wain Valentine, Fred Eversley, Helen Pashgian, Hap Tivey, and Gisela Colon. Whitcomb has two books forthcoming through Label Curatorial, highlighting artist and poet-run galleries from 1949-1965 and artists of the Beat era who continued surrealist lineages while exploring the occult. Paulina Peavy (1901 - 1999) 82 Modern Art, n.d. Mixed media 7.75 x 10 x 0.5 inches Paulina Peavy (1901 - 1999) Phantasma 59, c. 1980s Acrylic on canvas board 24 x 30 inches Paulina Peavy (1901 - 1999), Untitled, c. 1937 - 1939, Oil on panel, 72 x 48 inches

Jack Skelley is a writer and a poet that has been publishing books since the 1980s. His career began in the early '80s in LA when he worked at the Venice-based literary and arts center Beyond Baroque. Beyond Baroque was put on the map by Dennis Cooper who created a scene around it that included late poet and performance artist Bob Flanagan, the late conceptual artist Mike Kelley, the hilarious late poet Ed Smith, Guggenheim Fellowship winning poet Amy Gerstler, painter and novelist Benjamin Weissman, and Jack himself. The crux of this conversation revolves around the publication of Jack's new book, The Complete Fear of Kathy Acker, which was released by Semiotext(e)in May. Jack started writing the book in the 1980s, and as such follows a protaganist named Jack as he traverses the Los Angeles art world of the eighties that Jack himself was indeed a part of. The figure of the late writer Kathy Acker who provides the book's namesake only actually appears briefly in the novel but her method of postmodern literary collage is assumed as a means for Jack to deconstruct the signifiers of the Los Angeles dream factory and the formation of mass culture as the protagonist flits from book readings to punk rock shows to art openings to misbegotten sexcapades. It's a weird and thrilling novel. Jack and Adam here discuss this new book, Los Angeles, Kathy Acker, locating an avant-gardist sentiment in pop culture, the problematization of male heterosexual desire in literature, fictionalizing historical figures, Mike Kelley, SST records, punk rock, and much more. SOUNDTRACK Black Flag "White Minority" Blasphemy "Ritual"  Mike Kelley, Violent Onsen Geisha, and Paul McCarthy "Upstairs" Eddie Crisis Group "Killer"  Lawndale "March of the Melted Army Men"   LINKS Jack at Twitter: @JackSkelleyJack at Instagram: @HelterSkelley Purchase the Complete Fear of Kathy AckerJack interviewed by Hobart Pulp

In this episode we are joined by Nathanael Philip Mosher, talking all things performance. Nathanael is a comedian, poet, singer-songwriter, and aspiring human being. His love of words has led him from poetry to stand-up, singing to songwriting, all while continuing his love for the effervescent glow of poetry through performance and spoken word. As a poet, Nathan's poetry journey began at age 7 when he was chosen out of his third grade class to read a poem about the school janitor who was leaving after 20 years of service. The poem read, “You help us not slip. You help us not trip…” and so on. Thus, his penchant for rhyming and rhythm was born. At age 10, he was chosen by his 5th grade teacher to enter the Young Storytellers program where his play about a man becoming king of the Martians was acted by “Phil of The Future” star, Ricky Ullman. He continued to write poetry, entering in local workshops such as the historic Beyond Baroque poetry theatre in Venice, California, and eventually the California State Summer School for The Arts at Cal Arts, where he earned notable distinction of becoming a California Arts Scholar. At the California State Summer School for the Arts, which features notable alum such as James Franco, Zac Efron, and Katherine McPhee, he learned his passion for sharing personal stories.  At age 16, he began writing jokes, took to the stage, and began honing his craft at the age of 17 before he was even allowed into comedy clubs. While attending UCLA he took advantage of the burgeoning comedy scene, running shows in lecture halls, theatres, coffee shops, classrooms, and even parking lots, while continuing to perform nightly in the larger LA area. While at college, Nathan also performed around town, even getting a fake ID to perform at bars and comedy clubs. His voracious DIY work ethic compelled him to organize a variety of out of town tours, bringing his trademark informal yet, spellbinding words to stages in London, New York, Boston, D.C., San Francisco, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and as a semi-finalist in New York's NBC Stand Up for Diversity Showcase. Mosher's inherent ability to hustle while fostering his craft has elevated him to more recently work with respected acts like Maria Bamford, Ali Wong, and Jo Koy. During his senior year, he proudly signed to the prestigious management company 3Arts Entertainment which works alongside notable clients Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, and Amy Poehler. We want to hear from YOU and provide a forum where you can put in requests for future episodes. What are you interested in listening to? Please fill out the form for future guest suggestions here and if you have suggestions or requests for future themes and topics, let us know here! @theatreartlife Thanks to David Zieher who composed our music.

The celebrated author, poet, singer, and L.A. cultural historian is the co-founding publisher and editor at Punk Hostage Press and a true Hollywood Punk Rock luminary. A founding member of the all-star Ringling Sisters collective, she also collaborated and performed with the Dickies, the Flesh Eaters, the Lame Flames, and Pink Sabbath. During her time bartending at the famed Cathay de Grande and David Lee Roth’s Zero Zero after-hours club while living in the notorious Disgraceland apartment with Pleasant Gehman and Belinda Carlisle, Iris saw just about every sort of debauchery under the sun. The Troubled Men are transfixed. Topics include neighbors, a barn burner, Paul Newman, “The Long Hot Summer,” Kirstie Alley RIP, the Stalker Files, a Macron visit, a retiring police chief, an STD comeback, Al Capone, a t-shirt redesign, Beyond Baroque, Pacoima, a chop shop childhood, Van Halen as a house band, a Valley girl, the LA De Da column, the Whisky a Go Go, a punk boyfriend, the Slab Lab, “The Daughter of Bastards,” a Carrie Snodgress favor, Carlo Nuccio, Raji’s, Dave Alvin, orphanage benefit shows, poetry chapbooks, Dave Catching, Gary Eaton, Lou Adler, getting signed, spoken word records, “Two Blocks East of Vine,” the artistic journey, Top Jimmy, the Mentors, El Duce stories, a bender, the US Festival, new book releases, Black Flag at Southport, the Circle Jerks at Tipitina’s, Stories Bookstore, John Doe, persistence, and much more. Intro music: "Just Keeps Raining" by Styler/Coman Break Music: "60 Watt Reality" by the Ringling Sisters Outro Music: "56 Reasons" by the Ringling Sisters Support the podcast: Paypal or Venmo Join the Patreon page here. Shop for Troubled Men’s T-shirts & tanks here. Subscribe, review, and rate (5 stars) on Apple Podcasts or any podcast source. Follow on social media, share with friends, and spread the Troubled Word. Troubled Men Podcast Facebook Troubled Men Podcast Instagram Iguanas Tour Dates René Coman Facebook GR8 ESCAPE BAKING COMPANY Promo Code:TROUBLED15 Iris Berry Facebook Iris Berry Instagram Punk Hostage Press Iris Berry Books on Amazon

Rich Ferguson, Mary Kerr, and S.A. Griffin are the guests for a roundtable discussion of Beat literature and the new anthology Beat Not Beat: An Anthology of California Poets Screwing on the Beat and Post-Beat Tradition (Moon Tide Press). Pushcart Prize-nominated poet Rich Ferguson has shared the stage with Patti Smith, Wanda Coleman, Moby, and other esteemed poets and musicians. Ferguson was selected by the National Beat Poetry Foundation, Inc. (NBPF), to serve as the State of California Beat Poet Laureate (Sept. 2020 to Sept. 2022). He is a featured performer in the film, What About Me? featuring Michael Stipe, Michael Franti, k.d. lang, and others. His poetry and award-winning spoken-word music videos have appeared in numerous anthologies and festivals, and he was a winner in Opium Magazine's Literary Death Match, L.A. Ferguson is the editor of an anthology of CA poets entitled Beat Not Beat (Moon Tide Press).  Mary Kerr is an Independent Producer of documentaries on the California Beat Era. Her films include The Beach (1996), Venice West and the LA Scene (2011), and San Francisco's Wild History Groove (2011). S.A. Griffin, co-editor of Beat Not Beat and The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Firecracker Award) and Carma Bum progenitor lives, loves and works in Los Angeles. In 2010 he created The Poetry Bomb, a former Vietnam era practice bomb converted into an art object filled with over 900 poems from around the world in an effort to inspire civil disagreements culminating in The Poetry Bomb Couch Surfing Across America Tour of Words. Named Best Performance Poet by the LA Weekly, in 2011 he was the first recipient of Beyond Baroque's Distinguished Service Award. His most recent book, Pandemic Soul Music (Punk Hostage Press), will be on bookshelves December 2022. Husband, father and USAF Vietnam era veteran. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Launched in 2011. Books. Literature. Writing. Publishing. Authors. Screenwriters. Etc. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch @otherppl Instagram  YouTube Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Eric sits down with the wonderful author Lynne Thompson where they discuss her childhood, family roots and fascination with African American history. How she transitioned from being a lawyer, to eventually following her dream to write and become a poet. They discuss how Thompson was recently appointed Poet Laureate for the City of Los Angeles and the many activities she has done in that role; to promote literacy for Angelinos! They discuss her writing process; her use of sound and rhythm and how she has been influenced by renowned musicians and artists such as Miles Davis and William Pajaud. Lynne shares inspiring words of wisdom to writers.. and even recites one of her beautiful poems.. “The House of Many Pleasures! For more visit: www.ericsperspective.comGuest Bio: Lynne Thompson is the 2021-2022 Poet Laureate for the City of Los Angeles. The daughter of Caribbean immigrants, her poetry collections include Beg No Pardon (2007), winner of the Perugia Press Prize and the Great Lakes Colleges Association's New Writers Award; Start With A Small Guitar (2013), from What Books Press; and Fretwork (2019), winner of the Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize. Thompson's honors include the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Award (poetry) and the Stephen Dunn Prize for Poetry as well as fellowships from the City of Los Angeles, Vermont Studio Center, and the Summer Literary Series in Kenya. Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, Poetry, Poem-A-Day (Academy of American Poets), New England Review, Colorado Review, Pleiades, Ecotone, and Best American Poetry, to name a few. A lawyer by training, Thompson sits on the boards of the Los Angeles Review of Books and Cave Canem and is the Chair of the Board of Trustees at Scripps College, her alma mater. She facilitates private workshops, most recently for Beyond Baroque, Poetry By the Sea Conference, Moorpark College Writers Festival, and Central Coast Writers' Conference. Thompson is a native of Los Angeles, California, where she resides.About Eric's Perspective: A podcast series on African American art with Eric Hanks — African American art specialist, owner of the renowned M. Hanks Gallery and commissioner on the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; offers his perspective on African American art through in-depth conversations with fellow art enthusiasts where they discuss the past, present & future of African American art.For more on Eric's Perspective, visit www.ericsperspective.com#ERICSPERSPECTIVE #AFRICANAMERICAN #ART SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/2vVJkDn LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2B6wB3USpotify: https://spoti.fi/3j6QRmWGoogle Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3fNNgrYiHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/2KtYGXv Pandora: https://pdora.co/38pFWAmConnect with us ONLINE: Visit Eric's Perspective website: https://bit.ly/2ZQ41x1Facebook: https://bit.ly/3jq5fXPInstagram: https://bit.ly/39jFZxGTwitter: https://bit.ly/2OMRx33 www.mhanksgallery.comAbout Eric Hanks: African American art specialist and owner of the renowned M. Hanks Gallery, Eric Hanks is one of the leading representatives of Black artists, promoting and selling their works nationally to individual and museum collections, publishing exhibition catalogues, teaching art appreciation classes, and writing articles and essays appearing in prestigious art books and various other publications. 

John Bleasdale talks to Lynne Sachs, the Memphis born, Brooklyn based filmmaker on the eve of a season of her works being streamed on the Criterion Channel. Since the 1980s, Sachs has created cinematic works that defy genre through the use of hybrid forms and collaboration, incorporating elements of the essay film, collage, performance, documentary and poetry. Her films explore the intricate relationship between personal observations and broader historical experiences. With each project, she investigates the implicit connection between the body, the camera, and the materiality of film itself. Over her career, Sachs has been awarded support from the Guggenheim Foundation, the NYFA, and Jerome Foundation. Sachs has made 40 films (including Tip of My Tongue, Your Day is My Night, Investigation of a Flame, and Which Way is East). Her films have screened at the Museum of Modern Art, Wexner Center, the Walker, the Getty, New York Film Festival, and Sundance. In 2021, Edison Film Festival and Prismatic Ground Film Festival at Maysles Documentary Center awarded Sachs for her body of work. Sachs is also deeply engaged with poetry. In 2019, Tender Buttons Press published her first book Year by Year Poems. In 2020 and 2021, she taught film and poetry workshops at Beyond Baroque, Flowchart Foundation, San Francisco Public Library, and Hunter. www.lynnesachs.comAfter comprehensive career retrospectives at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2020 and the Museum of the Moving Image in 2021, the Criterion Channel is delighted to announce that director Lynne Sachs' films will join the Channel in October 2021 along with a newly recorded director interview exploring her works. Sachs will be making her the Criterion Channel debut with seven earlier works followed by her latest feature, Film About a Father Who, recently released theatrically by Cinema Guild and receiving its exclusive streaming premiere with the Criterion Channel. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/writers-on-film. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Lynne Sachs is a Memphis born, Brooklyn based filmmaker. Since the 1980s, Sachs has created cinematic works that defy genre through the use of hybrid forms and collaboration, incorporating elements of the essay film, collage, performance, documentary and poetry. Her films explore the intricate relationship between personal observations and broader historical experiences. With each project, she investigates the implicit connection between the body, the camera, and the materiality of film itself.Over her career, Sachs has been awarded support from the Guggenheim Foundation, the NYFA, and Jerome Foundation. Sachs has made 40 films (including Tip of My Tongue, Your Day is My Night, Investigation of a Flame, and Which Way is East). Her films have screened at the Museum of Modern Art, Wexner Center, the Walker, the Getty, New York Film Festival, and Sundance. In 2021, Edison Film Festival and Prismatic Ground Film Festival at Maysles Documentary Center awarded Sachs for her body of work.Sachs is also deeply engaged with poetry. In 2019, Tender Buttons Press published her first book Year by Year Poems. In 2020 and 2021, she taught film and poetry workshops at Beyond Baroque, Flowchart Foundation, San Francisco Public Library, and Hunter.  Lynne's films are now available on the Criterion Channel. STEPHEN VITIELLO (MUSIC):Electronic musician and sound artist Stephen Vitiello transforms incidental atmospheric noises into mesmerizing soundscapes that alter our perception of the surrounding environment. He has composed music for independent films, experimental video projects and art installations, collaborating with such artists as Nam June Paik, Tony Oursler and Dara Birnbaum. Solo and group exhibitions include MASS MoCA, The High Line, NYC, and Museum of Modern Art.  ALEX WATERS (PRODUCER):Alex Waters is a media and music producer. He  has written and produced music for podcasts such as The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza, as well as for other independent artists. Alex lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two cats and enjoys creating and writing music independently and in collaboration with others. You can reach him with inquiries by emailing alexwatersmusic12@gmail.com.

A. Razor has experienced a second birth and an allowance of past and present works to converge. Razor gives us silhouettes of words dancing under dim street lights and first-hand experiences in the grips of self-destruction. He shows us the beauty there is after the vultures circle. ~ O.R. Buy Now Puro Purismo https://punkhostagepress.com/puro-purismo/ https://www.amazon.com/Puro-Purismo-Razor/dp/194021310X A. Razor was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1963, and brought to California at the age of one. Raised with a strong desire to read and write, but an even greater desire to survive his circumstances, which has aided his experience and longevity so far. He began writing and publishing in Los Angeles, around 1980 in various underground zines and publications. Expanding outward from there, he was discovered by Drew Blood Press, Ltd. in 1984, where he published 11 chapbooks up to 1995. He has read his work at many readings and spoken word events over the years and been published in many types of publications, ranging from those that are considered reputable to those that are of ill repute. He has fought hard to live and express his art in many different ways and in many different places. He became a member of the Hollywood Institute of Poetics in Los Angeles, CA in 2009. He has participated recently in the Poets In Prison panel at Beyond Baroque and the 2011 ALOUD reading series held at the Downtown Los Angeles Public Library. In 2012 he teamed up with Iris Berry to launch Punk Hostage Press, on which he released six titles of his own work and edited 10 more titles from as many writers, Danny Baker, Iris Berry, C.V. Auchterlonie, Carolyn Srygley-Moore, Rich Ferguson, Dennis Cruz, Frank Reardon, Alexandra Naughton, SB Stokes and Hollie Hardy. He collaborated on book cover designs with graphic artist Geoff Melville for many of these books. His writing has always explored the world that he has sought to be a part of and to rebel against at the same paradoxical moment. He has traveled extensively, seeking and enduring everything from homelessness and imprisonment to serenity and peace. _factsheetfive https://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc20329.htm Books by A. Razor: Better Than A Gun In A Knife Fight , Drawn Blood: Collected Works on D.B.P.,Ltd. 1985-1995, Small Catastrophes in a Big World, Beaten Up Beaten Down, Half-Century Status , Days of Xmas Poems, and Puro Purismo --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/socialyetdistanced/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/socialyetdistanced/support

Social Yet Distanced: In The Streets With A. Razor Part II A. Razor was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1963, and brought to California at the age of one. Raised with a strong desire to read and write, but an even greater desire to survive his circumstances, which has aided his experience and longevity so far. He began writing and publishing in Los Angeles, around 1980 in various underground zines and publications. Expanding outward from there, he was discovered by Drew Blood Press, Ltd. in 1984, where he published 11 chapbooks up to 1995. He has read his work at many readings and spoken word events over the years and been published in many types of publications, ranging from those that are considered reputable to those that are of ill repute. He has fought hard to live and express his art in many different ways and in many different places. He became a member of the Hollywood Institute of Poetics in Los Angeles, CA in 2009. He has participated recently in the Poets In Prison panel at Beyond Baroque and the 2011 ALOUD reading series held at the Downtown Los Angeles Public Library. In 2012 he teamed up with Iris Berry to launch Punk Hostage Press, on which he released six titles of his own work and edited 10 more titles from as many writers, Danny Baker, Iris Berry, C.V. Auchterlonie, Carolyn Srygley-Moore, Rich Ferguson, Dennis Cruz, Frank Reardon, Alexandra Naughton, SB Stokes and Hollie Hardy. He collaborated on book cover designs with graphic artist Geoff Melville for many of these books. His writing has always explored the world that he has sought to be a part of and to rebel against at the same paradoxical moment. He has traveled extensively, seeking and enduring everything from homelessness and imprisonment to serenity and peace. Buy Now Puro Purismo PUNKHOSTAGEPRESS.COM PURO PURISMO Books by A. Razor: Better Than A Gun In A Knife Fight , Drawn Blood: Collected Works on D.B.P.,Ltd. 1985-1995, Small Catastrophes in a Big World, Beaten Up Beaten Down, Half-Century Status , Days of Xmas Poems, and Puro Purismo --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/socialyetdistanced/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/socialyetdistanced/support

A. Razor. American, West Coast Outlaw Poet, Desert Farmer. Dedicated Punk Hostage. (Part I of III) The descriptors can be many for one who defies description.  We have known Razor for a long while.  Short minutes it seems, and if you know him, you know that any discussion is prone to lean a long way around to where it should be, but always pointing at the right side of things because it is the Way.  If you don't know him, this book will make it really easy. See here:Punk Hostage Press Today, a simple discussion of old days, good and bad times, friendships and the real led us down a path that editing will only dilute. So we split it up instead, Smaller bites pre-digested so you don't have to. Just enjoy the ride. Wait for the sequels. It's just like real life. Or Star Trek Movies ... The BIO: A. Razor was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1963, and brought to California at the age of one. Raised with a strong desire to read and write, but an even greater desire to survive his circumstances, which has aided his experience and longevity so far. He began writing and publishing in Los Angeles, around 1980 in various underground zines and publications. Expanding outward from there, he was discovered by Drew Blood Press, Ltd. in 1984, where he published 11 chapbooks up to 1995. He has read his work at many readings and spoken word events over the years and been published in many types of publications, ranging from those that are considered reputable to those that are of ill repute. He has fought hard to live and express his art in many different ways and in many different places. He became a member of the Hollywood Institute of Poetics in Los Angeles, CA in 2009. He has participated recently in the Poets In Prison panel at Beyond Baroque and the 2011 ALOUD reading series held at the Downtown Los Angeles Public Library. In 2012 he teamed up with Iris Berry to launch Punk Hostage Press, on which he released six titles of his own work and edited 10 more titles from as many writers, Danny Baker, Iris Berry, C.V. Auchterlonie, Carolyn Srygley-Moore, Rich Ferguson, Dennis Cruz, Frank Reardon, Alexandra Naughton, SB Stokes and Hollie Hardy. He collaborated on book cover designs with graphic artist Geoff Melville for many of these books. His writing has always explored the world that he has sought to be a part of and to rebel against at the same paradoxical moment. He has traveled extensively, seeking and enduring everything from homelessness and imprisonment to serenity and peace. Books by A. Razor: Better Than A Gun In A Knife Fight , Drawn Blood: Collected Works on D.B.P.,Ltd. 1985-1995,  Small Catastrophes in a Big World, Beaten Up Beaten Down, Half-Century Status ,  Days of Xmas Poems, and Puro Purismo --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/socialyetdistanced/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/socialyetdistanced/support

On today's July 5th, 2021 episode, you'll also hear from painter Sandy Rodriguez. Her paintings on amate, the ancient bark paper, have been central to our work. You'll hear Sandy talk about how she creates colors and dyes through ancient methods and the meanings behind how she uses colors. Also, Project 1521 writer Sara Harris is a master gardener. You'll hear some of that knowledge in this piece she read during a Project 1521 reading at the Beyond Baroque in 2020. Thank you for listening to this podcast. This episode was produced by Darren J. de Leon and Adolfo Guzman-Lopez.

Writer and Writing Coach Molly Thornton on How To Create Your Writing Life Molly Thornton is a multi-genre writer and writing coach. Her writing has appeared in The LA Times, They Said collaborative writing anthology, The Seattle Globalist, Lavender Review, baldhip magazine, and more. She is a Lambda Literary Fellow and 2020 City of West Hollywood Pride Poet. Molly coaches clients in creative writing and teaches regularly online and at literary centers including Hugo House, Beyond Baroque, and the LA LGBT Center. Her weekly class The Write Moves changes the experience of writing from chore to creative dance party. Connect With Molly LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mollythorntonwrites/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/molly__parton Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/molly__parton/

Pete's back and he joins Elias in interviewing Fred Dewey, author of The School of Public Life and a political/cultural activist. In the aftermath of the Rodney King riots, Fred helped lead a decade-long effort to establish neighborhood councils, now about one hundred, for the City of Los Angeles. Until 2010, he was director of Beyond Baroque, a poetry and cultural center in Venice CA, where projects included bringing segregated neighborhoods into dialogue through poetry. Over the last decade, Dewey has conducted free, public working groups in California and across Europe, at community centers, squats, schools, art spaces, and other sites, using the writings of Hannah Arendt. His Portable Polis, in 2017, met at ten sites across Berlin with Arendt texts on the purposes of each. He is based in LA and Brussels.

"The last time I saw Holly Prado, whom I’d known forty years, we were part of a group performance of Song of Myself at Beyond Baroque. Now we have her experiment in the long poem, Weather, a single, book-length poem in the larger tradition of Whitman’s personal epic, presenting the account of a voyage, lasting from fall 2015 to fall of 2018, through the inner seasons of a mythically conscious woman’s Los Angeles.  "In a more specific tradition, Prado’s work is in the line of Diane Wakoski, Anais Nin, Diane DiPrima, Lyn Hejenian, and other women who have written with wisdom and courage about their resonantly three-dimensional inner lives. Sadly, it is her last book; but a near-compensation is, it is her best. Farthest and deepest in reach, a modernist collage orchestrated by a expressive hand, the poem is open enough to be entered virtually anywhere, yet organically shaped by a mature mythic awareness to have narrative momentum and coherence. Beautifully turned phrases, sentences, and lines abound. An example: "Out in the huge autumn sky, / leonid meteors give us their message: Don’t think too much / of your human pursuits. Don’t think you won’t be / dissolved in everything wilder than you. Enter / your myths with your open-palmed hands on your knees." “Dissolved in everything wilder than you” — that is the state of feeling and vision Prado’s imagination makes available to us. It is also the promise all real poetry makes: that our veil of pursuits be lifted, that we see the wild truth." —James Cushing, joined in conversation and readings by Harry E. Northup and Phoebe MacAdams.

Opening a new space in the Bendix building, Gallerist Juri Koll talks about his inaugural show, a retrospective of LA Artist Gloriane Harris. He also discusses the upcoming 2020 edition of the Fine Arts Film Festival at Beyond Baroque and other noteworthy art news.

Sophie Kim is a playwright, filmmaker, LGBTQ activist and the Los Angeles County Youth Poet Laureate. She just finished her senior year at Harvard-Westlake School in Southern California and will be attending Harvard University in the fall. Read more about Sophie. Read more about The Passionistas Project.   FULL TRANSCRIPT Passionistas: Hi and welcome to the Passionistas Project Podcast. We're Amy and Nancy Harrington and today we're talking to Sophie Kim a playwright, filmmaker, LGBTQ activist and the Los Angeles County Youth Poet Laureate. Sophie just finished her senior year at the Harvard-Westlake School in Southern California and will be attending Harvard University in the fall. So please welcome to the show. Sophie Kim. Sophie Kim: Hello. Passionistas: Thanks so much for being here. We're so excited to talk to you. Sophie Kim: Thank you. Passionistas: Sophie what are you most passionate about? Sophie Kim: I mean I think I do a lot of different things like slam poetry I've really been interested in that. A lot of filmmaking documentary filmmaking, playwriting, poetry in films. But I think that I feel like all those things kind of bring together like using artist as activism. For example, I identify as queer and I came out in like eighth grade to my family and friends and from there I kind of realized, oh this is something that I really care about and that I feel like I can really talk about through art specifically. Because I think that like especially with some activists like topics sometimes it's hard to like engage people in conversation because it's like maybe talking about like harassment is really difficult or talking about your own experiences maybe you're still trying to figure your own your own identity out. And like you're not super like you're not ready to like kind of talk to a whole big group yet which is like cool. I think that with art it's really fun and kind of easier to bring people to the table. Plus it's just there's so much freedom. Like you don't have to limit yourself in any way because art is just there's so much diversity in it. So I think that that's something that I'm really interested in is like using art as a way to bring about change and just kind of have like conversations with other people. Passionistas: And you obviously have not limited yourself. You do so many things. Let's start by talking about when you started writing poetry and why you were drawn to that form of expression. Sophie Kim: I started out writing like short stories like as an elementary schooler. But I think I started really getting into poetry in middle school when I was reading and watching these slam poets and just written like poets that just write words to be read on the page. And I was kind of realizing that there's so much freedom and there's really no kind of limit to what you can say in poetry. I think I was kind of realizing like this is such a cool art form and you can say so much with it depending on your audience. And I think also one of the reasons why I got into slam poetry in particular was actually because I did 'Shades of Disclosure" which was like a show that was at the Scarlet Theater in Los Feliz. And it was essentially I'm in a writing group with other LGBTQ writers. So it was like a show that we created with our own monologues about like the AIDS crisis and LGBTQ history pretty much up until the 2016 presidential election and then beyond. So we were talking about like all these different issues. And it wasn't poetry it was like performed more theater monologues. But I think like doing that first and kind of being able to be on stage and performing for like complete strangers as opposed to like my friends also really got me into slam poetry because I realized like having an audience and being able to kind of speak like the stuff I was writing as opposed to just like giving it to someone on the page that was super exciting. Passionistas: In June 2018 you won the title of the Los Angeles County Youth Poet Laureate for your civic engagement, writing and performance. So talk about what that means to you and what that actually means. Sophie Kim: The Los Angeles County Youth Poet Laureate position. It's a program of Urban Word Los Angeles which is actually a branch of Urban Word in New York. And that's a that's a program for youth who are really interested in slam poetry and civic engagement. And it basically supports like youth who are interested in those things and a lot of other organizations I think like Beyond Baroque, the L.A. Public Library, a lot of different organizations. And the award is basically given for not just like writing and performance but also social justice activism. Yeah. And when I got received it in June I was like, "What? Sorry? Who?" So part of it is doing performances like with organizations. But another big part of it is actually I'm going to have a book of my original poetry published in June, June twenty ninth. Is the official day. I'm very excited about that. So that was is really cool that I'm working on right now is kind of figuring out like how I'm gonna put together a book of poetry because I've never written a book of poetry. And something else I've really been able to do over the past few months is perform at different like, I performed for the L.A. County Commission on Human Relations which is they're working in Los Angeles specifically around human rights issues. And I was able to perform at an award ceremony when they were actually commemorating all these other L.A. activists. So I was kind of being like wow like you know role models. We're gonna celebrate them with a poem. That was really fun and kind of stuff like that. I think it's been really fun to do so far. Passionistas: Are there common themes that run throughout your poems? Sophie Kim: Well there's a lot about LGBTQ identity. A lot of the stuff that I write is kind of to make issues that I deal with as an LGBTQ person or as like my friends do a little bit more nuanced. For example, I wrote this poem called "Queerphobia: or, love, restricted," which I actually performed at the L.A. Los Angeles County as poet laureate ceremony. And that one is essentially about how like I is a person who identifies as queer was kind of feeling not just like judgment like from outside the LGBTQ community but also within it. And that was a situation that a lot of my friends found themselves in as well. Something I'm really interested in exploring is how there's not one way to be LGBTQ or like be received as whatever you identify as. And other stuff that I kind of write about I think is sort of like kind of this like uncertainty about the world or like what I like want to see in the world. So like for example, this poem that I wrote actually about gun violence. And it was kind of inspired by my feelings about what happened at the shooting at the Florida nightclub Pulse in June 2016. Which essentially like it was 50-some like people who were there were killed and there there's like 40-some others who were injured and that was like at a gay nightclub. But also it was there having something called Latin night. So it's like mostly like not just LGBTQ people but like LGBTQ people of color. When I heard that news and I read it like the news on my phone I was like Oh my God. Like this is really scary. And I think I wrote a poem sort of about how uncertain the future can seem and how it's seeming more uncertain sometimes because that poem that I wrote about gun violence and not just gun violence as it exists like oh stuff like this happens but the fact that stuff like this could happen in the future as well. I was kind of trying to explain this feeling of just not feeling safe anymore in concert venues or just like places that used to be places of community and comfort. So just kind of about like how fast the world is changing if that makes sense. Passionistas: Will the book have a central theme? Is it new stuff old stuff? Sophie Kim: It's definitely work in progress but I think that definitely I'm kind of finding that there's a lot of things that I'm super interested in exploring around like what's happening the world today. I think LGBTQ things are always something that I kind of come back to because there's always... I feel like there's always more to explore because I feel like the cool thing about identity is that it's not static. You know I think if you ask someone like what do you think you about today maybe you'll be maybe like me. For example if I asked myself that I'd be thinking about like oh how can we help LGBTQ homeless youth. Or like how can we push back against like really binary like notions of how people can present themselves like in their clothing and stuff. So I think a lot about identity is really interesting to me. I write stuff that's a lot of based on current events and stuff like a really like alarming news article or headline I'll be like Oh that scene that sounds like a poem. It sounds weird but I'm kind of looking forward to or kind of anticipating like this stuff that's going to go down in the next couple months in terms of like how our society is reacting to things and how different minority groups are kind of being treated and are fighting back for themselves. And I think that's really going to inspire my writing as well. Passionistas: So you've also been inspired to work on a number of short films. So tell us about your first short "From AIDS to Advice: LGBTQ Plus Seniors Tell Their Stories." Sophie Kim: So I made it as actually My Girl Scout Gold Award project over two summers. I essentially finished the final edits this year and I started showing it. Actually I had a showing at the L.A. LGBT Center recently which was super exciting. It's interview based. So like I interviewed like I think 25, 20-something LGBTQ senior citizens and 10 of their final stories kind of comprise the film. So it's very based on people's like actual stories and how they were kind of perceiving events. And at the showing that I had at the L.A. LGBT center some of the seniors who had been in the film were actually in attendance. And it was super exciting because we've got to do like a Q & A with them and it's kind of like continuing the legacy of that film and bringing the people to the stage. The reason why I kind of made the film in the first place and I chose LGBTQ senior citizens in particular was that I was doing a lot of LGBTQ activism kind of at school stuff like kind of having presentations about like LGBTQ history month or like poetry month for like LGBTQ poets. And I was kind of realizing that in school and kind of just generally I didn't know a lot about a LGBTQ history or like I'd learn about something like some historical figure in history class. I'd just kind of Google them and then be like wait they're gay. Why you didn't tell me that. They'll be exciting for me, of course. But also kind of disappointing cause you know maybe that person made a lot of contributions or something to LGBTQ history but that wasn't seen as relevant to the greater history which is you know something I was taught to fight back against. Or like I kind of talked about stuff like the AIDS crisis for example isn't really viewed through an LGBTQ history lens. It's viewed through more like a political lens. This is an effect of the Reagan administration not so much this as the experiences of like tons of people. I think that was definitely something I want to talk about not just saying that like LGBTQ history isn't something that we learn but also that it's it's important. And that it doesn't just affect LGBTQ people. It's like history is history. And I wanted to have people kind of be able to speak for themselves. And LGBTQ seniors and senior citizens in general, I just feel like that wasn't a group that I really was hearing from even as a person who does a lot of activism. I feel like as a young person when I was making this I was in high school. And I was thinking you know I really don't, most of the people I'm talking about activism with are like my friends and like people who are pretty close in age with me. And I was like there's a whole there's all these other experiences being had by people that I really want to hear about and I think other people would want to hear about. So that's sort of why I chose the topic. Passionistas: Is there something that you learned that was sort of the most profound thing that you learned while making the film? Sophie Kim: I think I realized that something that's super important and that can sometimes be something that we lose sight of when we're trying to do things like end homophobia or like you know gain equal rights. These really big things that we're thinking about is just to kind of listen to individual people. There's such a great power in just listening to people. I mean it wasn't just about like making a film and be like Okay we're going to edit this and it's going to happen. It was really about processing our own traumas and our own kind of thoughts about our own identities and selves when we're doing those interviews. At least I kind of felt like that was happening. And I kind of realized trying to find me as like a younger LGBTQ person I'm trying to find my place in the LGBTQ activism movement and an activist movements in general. And I was kind of thinking you know as a young person there's so much that I can do to be a listener and just to kind of say well you know these are things that I can take and I can uplift these you know LGBTQ senior citizens and their stories. So I think just the value of just kind of listening and slowing down and realizing like there is a big movement and you're part of it or you can be part of it. But there's also like individual people in front of you and they're really important. Passionistas: Tell us about your next film "Playas de Tijuana" and what it's about and what drew you to that subject. Sophie Kim: So it's a short film that's actually a based on a poem that I wrote and performed in it. So I took a trip actually with this organization called Peace Works Travel. Essentially what they do is they have these digital storytelling trips. So like we traveled to the Mexico-U.S. border, we traveled to San Diego and then we traveled to Tijuana and the border while there. And we spent like I think it was like five days there just kind of interviewing people asking them what are your experiences like living here you know. Maybe some people have been deported. What was it over there expenses there? We talked to them in order to make these films and to kind of raise awareness of like you know these are people's voices because especially with all the kind of negative media about like oh like you know all this like anti-immigration stuff just kind of this news that was really very reductive and kind of talking about like all immigrants like there are like one thing or like all refugees like there are one thing. What we were really trying to do with those films was to kind of dispel that idea. And again like kind of what I say about my other film to kind of get people to slow down and really listen to people's stories and kind of think about when you talk about something like blocking people from entering the country or like wanting to you know detain people like a lot of them at once or something like that. You know you're talking about real people. What I did was I kind of went to these interviews and asked people these questions. And then what I did was write a poem. I was trying to like synthesize all this stuff that I've been thinking about and kind of my reactions and other people's reactions in our group. And I think something that I really talked about that I was really interested in talking about because I was acknowledging that this is my voice that kind of dominates the whole thing. You know as opposed to other films that I made that are more other interviewees people's voices talking was that I was kind of speaking from a place where I was realizing that I was an outsider. And that I was kind of coming, I was coming in from like America and California kind of traveling there for like five days days and then leaving. And that's you know that's just how it was. And I was talking to people but at the end of the day I was going back to my own home where I didn't necessarily you know I wasn't suffering from these problems that these other people were dealing with everyday. And my poem kind of talks about that how you know exploring this idea of what kind of activist am I? And what am I really doing for this cause? It doesn't have answers. I actually I kind of I say you know "I'm leaving with the tourists goodbye." And that's something that I'm really interested in exploring. That I was really interested in talking about after this experience. Because we kind of talked about how there's a difference between being a traveling tourist. And I kind of felt like despite kind of our best efforts and despite my best efforts I knew that I was because of the shortness of the journey and kind of the fact that like you know I was only able to talk to all these incredible people for maybe like an hour half an hour. I was still kind of a tourist. I knew there was a lot that I still didn't know about these people stories and a lot I couldn't relate to. And that doesn't mean that you know for activism to act to do activism for other people you don't have to like be exactly like them. I mean we need allies. But I was really interested in exploring and kind of asking myself like what are you doing here. You know why are you here? And by extension kind of asking the people who would be watching the film who would be my classmates and my teachers and parents of them kind of asking us all collectively like you know what can we do for causes that we weren't born into. Like I feel like I've been born into the LGBTQ cause that I am LGBTQ. But other things you know that have not been part of my life. I'm trying to figure out how I can help those causes we're immune. Passionistas: We're Amy and Nancy Harrington. And you're listening to the Passionistas Project Podcast and our interview with Sophie Kim. To watch a video of Sophie reciting her poem " Queerphobia: or, love, restricted " at the Los Angeles County Youth Poet Laureate awards ceremony go to PopCulture.Passionistas.com/Sophie Kim. And now here's more of her interview with Sophie. What are the LGBTQ issues that are most important to you and maybe you and your friends? Sophie Kim: I think that's something that I've actually been kind of exploring a lot through poetry and that I also wrote about in my poem " Queerphobia: or, love, restricted " was kind of this idea of Oppression Olympics. A lot of the stuff that I've been getting like for myself and from my friends other activists that I known, that I really love it can get exhausting when it seems like some as we're all fighting each other and saying you know I'm more oppressed than you essentially. And of course like we're not all of an on an even playing ground that's like what activism is like predicated upon. Is that like there's all these different levels and complexities and we're all not just like given an equal opportunity or viewed equally. That's just the truth. But that's sort of what people who have more power would want us to do and like to self-destruct ourselves and kind of divide ourselves. Like you know we're doing that work by ourselves which is not good. Of course there's sort of this thing. I don't know if people really call it this now but it's called like Call Out Culture and basically it's where as activists and American as and myself as well can be very unforgiving when people we don't know might say something like insensitive or might not like know about every single issue that affects the group for which they're advocating at a given moment. That I think that kind of scares a lot of people away from activism you know and I've kind of felt to myself in some circles it's like it's a little bit like you know you have to be perfect activist all the time. And people are not perfect. So how can you be a perfect anything? Doesn't make any sense. But I think in activist circles I think that's something that I feel like we  — and when I say me like me and my friends because you know that's who I know — are kind of still dealing with is this idea of being able to grow and change together. Of having trust. I think that's sort of the main thing because it's like we're talking about these ideas and we're talking about our issues and struggles and stuff and how we want to make the world a better place for ourselves and a better place for our friends and for people we don't know but that deserve to live and have a good time. And kind of talking about how trust and realizing that we're fighting for each other you know we're not fighting against each other at the end of the day kind of realizing how important that is to keep in mind. I think is something that at least I found that as an activist and LGBTQ activist and just an activist in general I really care about. Passionistas: Is there something that we as podcasters, the media or just society in general. Is A question that we should be asking the LGBTQ community that we're not? Sophie Kim: I think first of all something that I've really. And this is not just me this is comes from having a lot of friends who this is really important to in a lot of role models little mentors. But I think pronouns. And what I mean by that is she, he, a lot of people use this pronoun pronouns a lot of people use they or like other those are not the only three. There's like other pronouns that people use to identify themselves with. And I think that while sometimes in some spaces like you'll go and they'll have you write name tags I'll be like Oh put your pronouns here. Or like sometimes people will have like a little pronoun button that they like wear events and stuff. I think that in most places and especially places that are not really activist-focused which is where we mostly spend our lives. In most of those spaces where people aren't really thinking about stuff like that. They're kind of just wants to like other stuff asking for pronouns or acknowledging that people use other pronouns and you might assume they do based on their physical appearance is not at all seen as important. Talking to a lot of my friends about pronouns and stuff that it's important to them not just to kind of have is like oh you know like we want to be more diverse or we want to be more accepting not just kind of as a action to kind of you know appear more accepting or something but to actually acknowledge that people have experiences are different than your own and things that they parts of their identity are different from your own that you might not have realized. Passionistas: So you've accomplished so much so far what's been the biggest challenge for you and how did you overcome it? Sophie Kim: Knowing that I only speak for myself and I think my teachers you know who I trust to kind of talk about my writing with my friends are really good about this asking me like, "Is your writing speaking for you or are you trying to speak for something you don't necessarily totally understand? Is your writing assuming anything essentially?" For example, I write about gun violence. Like I wrote about a poem essentially where I imagined that I was in a gay nightclub and that there were shooters there and like kind of those last moments of what I would be feeling like. And how I feel thinking about how that could happen to me as it did happen for so many people at the Pulse nightclub and so many other people we don't hear about. But you know I was talking to my teacher and I was kind of thinking over to myself like but I've never been in that situation. Like I've never been to a gay nighclub, first of all. And I've also never been in a situation where people are shooting at me. You know that's just kind of. That's totally made up from what I imagine you know from movies and films I've seen, news articles I've read. And to an extent that's kind of you know that's that's fabricated. So kind of thinking about how I can write about these things and kind of get people to engage in talking about things like gun violence and how that affects the LGBTQ community specifically. But also also recognizing where I'm kind of less qualified or I kind of maybe should have more experience before writing about those things I think has kind of been challenged seriously to think about. Well I think this is the biggest challenge that I've faced is kind of thinking about how to bring people in. And I think you know I think I kind of thought about that along with my film. Especially because that one is very it's very historical but I also wanted to kind of have it be dynamic and have it be a conversation. Not like I'm telling you stuff. But like you know this is interesting and you're listening to these people but you can also you can have your own opinions. You know you can kind of say well this what I think about that person. And having creating things that are not just accessible and relatable to the group that they're about. You know because when I write stuff it's like I'm not just perform for LGBTQ audiences. Like that's just not how it is. I want to like reach people who kind of have different ideas and different thoughts and might react to what I'm writing or creating differently. Just kind of a challenge that I've been really thinking about lately and that I always kind of think about what I'm creating stuff is how can I bring people into this issue that they might have not thought about? But not in like a condescending way and like a come here come here and we will have fun and learn and talk to each other kind of way. And not learn like I'm teaching you a thing like we're talking and like listening and absorbing and sitting there and feeling stuff. Passionistas: What's been the most rewarding part of what you do? Sophie Kim: I think for me personally I perform that poem that I keep talking about "Queerphobia: or, love, restricted." I perform at the classic slam which is the biggest use poetry classic festival in the world and that's put on by the Get Lit Players which is a program for youth. There is this huge audience and it was kind of like this this auditorium style where it's like it's almost like an amphitheater. It's kind of like things the rows stuck up really high and you're looking up and they're like all these people and you're like Oh my God. And I'd written this poem and it's a very accusatory poem. It's like you know this is what society has taught you to think. You know this is how society is wrong and we should maybe not do that. I performed the poem and it was it was scary. I didn't know how people would react to it. This is my first time performing it and it was also kind of scary because I didn't know if people would just kind of shut it out. You know it wouldn't really be anything new that people hadn't heard before. But I think at the end I heard from a lot of people and I kind of felt it when I was there. Was that people were like thank you for speaking to this because I relate to it. People my age have come up to me and said like oh you know like I have a friend who wants to come out to their parents were like you know their parents are kind of not really accepting. Can I get a copy of your film to show to them? And I'm just like crying now. You know it's like that's what I that's what I want my work to do I want it to go beyond myself and to help people who aren't as privileged is me. Because I'm super privileged. It's kind of this feeling that you can kind of free yourself a little bit. I mean I think that we all have baggage that we just get it towed around everywhere. I think being able to write about that stuff and just kind of say it is just pretty liberating. And when you find other people that can kind of talk to you about it and say like I feel you. Like you know there's this weight that's been lifted off me and like in this room we're kind of created this place where we could all listen and just kind of feel a little closer for a little but even though we're strangers. I think that's really wonderful. Passionistas: What advice would you give to a young girl that wants to be an activist and maybe even more specifically an artist activist? Sophie Kim: So I guess only art part — something really weird about our society is that we kind of have this tendency to categorize stuff as like good or bad. And also furthermore to kind of categorize it as like more mainstream or more experimental. And like I know why people do it because there are standards of art that have like been accepted for centuries or generations. So like by definition something that doesn't fit into that you would put in experimental because you're just making other category for yourself. But I'm not a fan of categories. So I think that what I'd say if you want to be an artist and do activism is to not feel like you have to create art that fits a certain, fit certain parameters and not to create art that you're like this is good or like this is except or this is. This follows the tradition of art that's come before me. If that kind of means that you have to betray your vision and what you want to say. Because a lot of my friends who do a lot of visual art and do a lot of film that you wouldn't show at like the Arclight. They wouldn't be on the Oscars on the red carpet at the Oscars because their work doesn't fit into this narrow category that's being seen as acceptable mainstream. But their art is great. You know and it's it pushes, it pushes the boundaries of what we think. And it's you know it asks questions and it's very, it's very brave and it's making changes. And I think that as an artist I'd say don't feel like you have to conform to what others think is good. Don't feel like you have to compromise just because of what other people think. It's just like a good life thing. It's hard to do but you know just nothing. And for being activist knowing that you have a support system. And that I'm say this from a place where I have a lot of support. So this is what I believe. But it might not be what everyone believes. But I think that what I've found is that there are always people who will support you or who will care and understand what you're going through. And even if they don't, they'll want to support you through it. Of course this is speaking from my perspective. What I found is that yeah. You know there are tons of there are literally thousands and millions of people who don't want people like me to exist. You know I know that's true. But I've been able to find people who do and who are you know maybe they're maybe they're like literal like my family members maybe their teachers or friends you know people that have kind of found. But that even with all the opposition, there are people who will love you for who you are. And I think that's really, I think that's really important to remember as an activist. It's easy to get burned out. It's easy to get discouraged and it's easy to feel like you know it doesn't matter but it does matter. And I think for being girl what I'd say is that essentially that like this idea of what a proper woman or proper girl should do — and I'd like to think that we're a little bit past this and don't need this advice but I still kind of think it's relevant — is that standards for womanhood and for being and for like girlhood and being girl and acting like a girl will you know and your role and the sort of stories you should tell the kind of person and the kind of personality you can have and how you can go through the world and your path that you can take to the world. This idea that that's all based on gender like biological sex is just stupid. It's stupid. I said it. I still think that there is just so much stuff that's still ingrained in us about like how you should move through the world as a certain gender or assigned a certain gender. And I think that is really detrimental. Maybe this isn't the case for everyone. I really hope not. But I still think that you know societal attitudes are hard to dispel. So I'd just say like just be yourself and essentially just if you feel like you know limited by anything like people who are saying like oh you know you can't raise your voice or oh like you should be more polite or whatever just like don't do that if you don't want to. Why should you do that? Passionistas: What's your secret to rewarding life? Sophie Kim: I think remembering that just like people are good and that there's so much good in the world. I think that's why I think about a lot of times especially when I'm like read the news and be like oh my god like things are going really bad. You know that can be really depressing. And I think that especially social media and the fact that a lot of us are really like engaged and tapped into the world all the time. You know that kind of can build up. But I think that you know something that I really think is true is that while there is so much sadness and so many terrible things in the world and things that not just terrible terrible things but like things that you can't control as like your own person like you're just one person you're not like a nation. You're just living your life. I think that remembering that we can, we do have the power to make moments of like this community or this happiness, moments that we can empower ourselves and remind ourselves that like we matter. It's hard to remember sometimes that fact when there's so much stuff going on and so many big movements and protest marches that you know it's almost like you feel a little bit less like an individual a little less, less significant. Just remembering that they're poetry books or movies or you know cool music on the radio and just that there is good. You know it's sort of the thing we're like if you like someone's is one negative thing to you and you remember it for like a much longer time than if someone says like ten compliments to you, like we just focus on the negative sometimes. But remembering that the positives are there and the good stuff is there. Passionistas: Thanks for listening to the Passionistas Project Podcast and our interview with Sophie Kim. Since we interviewed Sophie, she's finished her first book "Sing the Birds Home," available June 29. To preorder your copy visit her website at TheSophieKim.com. And be sure to subscribe to the Passionistas Project Podcast, so you don't miss any of our upcoming inspiring guests.

This week's guest, Ammiel Alcalay, is a poet, translator, critic, scholar, and activist who teaches at Queens College and The Graduate Center, CUNY. Along with Anne Waldman and others, he was one of the initiators of the Poetry Is News Coalition, and he organized, with Mike Kelleher, the OlsonNow project. Most recently, through The Graduate Center's Ph.D. Program in English and the Center for the Humanities, he launched Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative, a series of student- and guest-edited chapbooks of archival texts emerging from the New American Poetry, one of the premier initiatives in graduate-level primary research about poets and poetry, situated in an American university . Alcalay's books and publications include Scrapmetal (Factory School, 2006); from the warring factions (Beyond Baroque, 2002), a book-length poem dedicated to the Bosnian town of Srebrenica; Memories of Our Future: Selected Essays, 1982-1999 (City Lights, 1999); After Jews and Arabs: Remaking Levantine Culture (University of Minnesota Press, 1993); and The Cairo Noteboooks (Singing Horse Press, 1993). His translations include Sarajevo Blues (City Lights, 1998) and Nine Alexandrias (City Lights 2003) by the Bosnian poet Semezdin Mehmedinovic; Keys to the Garden: New Israeli Writing (City Lights, 1996); and a co-translation (with Oz Shelach), of Outcast by Shimon Ballas (City Lights, 2007). Alcalay spearheaded the writing of Za Sarajevo (For Sarajevo), the first English writing about first-person accounts of Sarajevo during the siege, which included an essay by journalist Zlatko Dizdarevic and an interview with filmmaker Ademir Kenovic.

Quentin Ring is the Executive Director at Beyond Baroque, a literary arts center in Venice, CA. To celebrate National Poetry Month, Beautiful Hollywood host, Melanie Camp, chats with Quentin discovering how poetry can change your life. Plus, find out more about the Wednesday Night Workshop which has run continuously since 1969 and is where the likes of Patti Smith, Tom Waits, and legendary Los Angeles band X have all honed their craft. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/beautiful-hollywood/support

We are taping the show live tomorrow, May 19th, at Beyond Baroque in Venice Beach California! Audience members get a chance to stump us with pieces the hosts will have to analyze on the spot. Come by at 1pm, and bring ideas for art works from before 1950. It's FREE. This event was created by Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND), and is part of their Frame Rate series. https://nomadicdivision.org/exhibition/frame-rate/

Too Tough To Survive - Manhattan Murder Mystery; Theory - Finally, Mags and Wire; Big City Dreams - Tha Archivez, Bathroom Song - Manhattan Murder Mystery; Geeknotes: 01/15 - Fundraiser for Puerto Rico Solidarity Brigades @ Lagunitas Brewing Company, Chicago, 01/19 - What Can I Do? (a poets' debate) @ Beyond Baroque, Venice, 01/20 - Women's March SF (and Nationwide) @ Civic Center, Cube of Truth @ The Corner of Powell and Geary, SF; Practice - Load Test 2; Don't Give Up The Dance - Skylight Motion Picture

What Books Press is proud to present two new books of LA poetry-- Mirage Industry, by Carolie Parker and The " She" Series: A Venice Correspondence, which is a braided collaboration of poems by Sarah Maclay and Holaday Mason.  Mirage Industry Mirage Industry is a collection of poems suggested by the social landscape of Los Angeles. A fairly reckless experiment in rearranging the natural world to serve human needs, the city borrows from a broad inventory of cultural models, adopted with a heavy dose of fantasy and inaccuracy. Whether breathing fire or air, the poems issue from this freewheeling approach to building place, combining random methods of composition with more formal structures. Mirage Industry draws on the author’s practice in the visual arts, her background in comparative literature and her experiences teaching humanities and art history. Carolie Parker has a background in visual arts and foreign languages. She was recently a MacDowell Fellow in poetry and a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome. Her work has come out in The Denver Quarterly, Now Culture, River Styx and Trickhouse. She teaches humanities and art history at LA Trade Tech College in Central Los Angeles. The "She" Series: A Venice Correspondence This collaboration, The “ She” Series: A Venice Correspondence, is a unique exploration of the mysterious feminine aspects of human experience which “unfolds between the poetic voices of Holaday Mason and Sarah Maclay, revealing a multifaceted universe—almost painfully private—where “She” appears as a dream-like composite of sexuality, longing, awareness and courage” (Mariano Zaro). Sarah Maclay is the author of Music for the Black Room (2011), The White Bride (2008), Whore (2004), all from U of Tampa Press. A 2016 COLA Fellow and 2015 Yaddo resident, she’s also received a Pushcart Special Mention and the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry. Her poems and criticism appear in APR, The Writer’s Chronicle, FIELD, The Best American Erotic Poetry: From 1800 to the Present, Ploughshares, Poetry International, where she’s long served as Book Review Editor, and many other spots. A native of Montana, graduate of Oberlin and VCFA, she lives in Venice, California, teaches poetry and creative writing at LMU, and conducts Mini-Master Classes at Beyond Baroque. Holaday Mason is the author of The Red Bowl: A Fable in Poems, (Red Hen Press) 2016, The “She” Series: A Venice Correspondence (collaboration with Sarah Maclay, What Books Press, fall 016), Towards the Forest, 2007, Dissolve, 2011 (New River Press, University of Minnesota) & two chapbooks. “The Weaver’s Body”, was finalist with honorable mention for 014 Dorset Prize & her chapbook “Transparency” was finalist for the Snowbound 2015. Pushcart nominee, widely published, co- editor of Echo 68, poetry editor of Mentalshoes.com, she is also a fine art photographer & a psychotherapist since 1996. 

The Walled Wife (Red Hen Press) A woman is buried so a church will rise. Nicelle Davis’ The Walled Wife unearths from the long-standing text “The Ballad of the Walled-up Wife,” a host of issues that continue to plague women in the contemporary world: the woman’s body as sacrifice; the woman’s body as tender or currency; the woman’s body as disposable; the woman’s body as property; the woman’s body as aesthetic object; the woman’s body unsafe in the world she must inhabit, and in the hands of the people she loves. By unearthing “this fucked-up story,” found in a centuries-old folktale (The Ballad of the Walled-Up Wife) Nicelle Davis’ poems remind us that narratives, like the individuals and cultures that produce them, are imperfect structures. However, through her intelligent and effective use of craft and voice, and the heartbreaking vulnerability with which she engages the perspectives within and without the story, Davis avoids simple replication; she does not “rebuild a corrupt structure.” Rather, she exhibits in The Walled Wife the powerful and expansive possibilities of narrative. This collection makes space (in the narrative, and thus in the reader, and thus in the culture) for so much—for remorse from the builder, for sorrow from the husband, but mostly for this sacrificed woman to be angry, to feel betrayed, to be avenged, to tend to her inner life in the hours of her death, to speak her truth, and insist on her humanity. These poems allow the wife to mourn her stolen life, and as we mourn with her, they enrich our possibilities for empowerment and empathy in the narratives of our lives.  A poetry reading for ugly bridesmaid dresses. Poetry readings, refreshments, photo ops, and an ugly bridesmaid contest competition. Moderated by Juicee Courture.  Nicelle Davis is a California poet, collaborator, and performance artist who walks the desert with her son J.J. in search of owl pellets and rattlesnake skins. She is the author of four poetry collections including her most recent, The Walled Wife, from Red Hen Press. In the Circus of You is available from Rose Metal Press, Becoming Judas, is available from Red Hen Press and her first book, Circe, is available from Lowbrow Press. Her poetry film collaborations with Cheryl Gross have been shown across the world. She is currently working on the manuscript/play, On the Island of Caliban which was recently workshopped by The Industrial Players. She has taught poetry at Youth for Positive Change, an organization that promotes success for youth in secondary schools, MHA, Volunteers of America in their Homeless Youth Center, and with Red Hen’s WITS program. She currently teaches at Paraclete High School.  photo by Sascha Vaughn, Dress by Pavlina Janssen Jackie Bang’s work has appeared in ZYZZYVA and The Alaska Quarterly Review and most recently their piece, "Rent Easy" in The Los Angeles Poetry Circus Chapbook. They are currently at work on Dinner Bait, a book length end-of-love story set in a New Orleans of adjunct teaching and sex work ten years after Katrina. They are working also on a related psych, folk, blues erotica record with their partner in poetry performance Caspar Sonnet. Both works engages the possibility for species transformation in the human response to climate change through high stakes eroticism as metaphor. Jackie Bang lives and teaches in the IE. Alexis Rhone Fancher’s poem, “when I turned fourteen, my mother’s sister took me to lunch and said:” was chosen by Edward Hirsch for inclusion in The Best American Poetry of 2016. She is the author of How I Lost My Virginity To Michael Cohen and other heart stab poems, (Sybaritic Press, 2014), and State of Grace: The Joshua Elegies, (KYSO Flash Press, 2015). Alexis is published in Rattle, The MacGuffin, Menacing Hedge, Blotterature, Slipstream, Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles, Chiron Review, Hobart, and elsewhere. She is poetry editor of Cultural Weekly.   Photo by Baz Here Ashley Inguanta is a writer and photographer who is driven by landscape, place. She is the author of three collections:The Way Home (Dancing Girl Press), For The Woman Alone (Ampersand Books), and Bomb (forthcoming with Ampersand Books in 2016). Her work has appeared in PANK, The Rumpus, The Good Men Project, Bartleby Snopes, Adrienne: A Poetry Journal of Queer Women, OCHO, Corium Magazine, the Rough Magick anthology, and other literary spaces. Ashley is also the Art Director of SmokeLong Quarterly. Currently she is working with musician Sarah Morrison, creating a series of projects and performances that combine music, visual art, and language. Jennifer Bradpiece was born and raised in the multifaceted muse, Los Angeles, where she still resides. She has her Bachelors in Creative Writing from Antioch University. When not rescuing Pit Bulls, she tries to remain active in the Los Angeles writing and art scene: she has interned at Beyond Baroque, and often collaborates with multi-media artists on projects. Her poetry has been published in various journals, anthologies, and online zines, including 491 Magazine, The Mas Tequila Review, and Redactions. She has poetry forthcoming in Rip Rap Journal and The Whiskey Fish Review among others. 

Reconsolidation: Or, it’s the ghosts who will answer you (Penny Ante Editions)Memory assists perception, grounding our understanding of those around us and those who have left their traces through time – but how reliable is memory really? Memory is malleable, shaped and shifted through consolidation and reconsolidation. Consolidation is the neurological process that stores memories after an event’s occurrence; reconsolidation refers to a process whereby consolidated memories later become unstable, causing false or loose recall. Reconsolidation: Or, it’s the ghosts who will answer you is a lyrical montage born out of the eternal loss of a loved one. Powerfully crafted during grief’s inertia, Janice Lee elegantly weaves the present with recollections of a tenuous past, arresting memory’s flexible and vulnerable position in the lifelong process of mourning. A eulogy for a loved one – pure and honest –Reconsolidation is a poetic search for a lost connection.Praise for Lee"Janice Lee is a genius" - Eileen MylesJanice Lee is the author of Kerotakis, Daughter, Damnation, and The Sky Isn’t Blue which will be out in 2016. She currently lives in Los Angeles where she is Editor of the #RECURRENT Novel Series for Jaded Ibis Press, Assistant Editor atFanzine, and the Executive Editor at Entropy. Will Alexander works in multiple genres. In addition to being a poet, he is also a novelist, essayist, aphorist, playwright, philosopher, visual artist, and pianist. He is approaching 30 books published, and is a Whiting Fellow, a California Arts Council Fellow, a PEN Oakland recipient, as well as an American Book Award winner, and is presently Poet-In-Resident at Beyond Baroque.

Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond (Beyond Baroque Books)Join us for a special evening with four poets from one of our favorite local publishers."What is this aesthetic? I’d call it offhand if that didn’t sound dismissive. Perhaps a better word is “self-aware.” This is how Lummis refers to it in her introduction, which cites, as emblematic, Florence Weinberger’s “The Light Gatherers,” with its stirring image of those who “poke around the blasted pieces / for traces of what newspapers call ‘human remains’ / … Impossible to get it all.”...That sensibility — of poetry as observation, of poetry as piecing together, of poetry as a way to see beneath the surfaces of a city that still, to some extent, defines itself by surfaces — is central to Wide Awake. It is both a diverse collection and a consistent one, a framing of voices, all trying to make sense of not Los Angeles in the abstract, but on the most concrete, experiential terms.Lummis is an ideal guide for this endeavor — poet, anthologist, long-time L.A. literary booster — although perhaps the most essential aspect of the book is her generosity. As with its predecessor, 1997’s Grand Passion: The Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, her intent here is not to showcase any particular school or aesthetic, but rather the range of Southern California poetry.Praise for Wide Awake"There is little myth in Wide Awake, just a set of personalities, perspectives: the poets of Los Angeles. Like L.A. itself, the book is a shifting landscape, formal and informal, collective and individual. The conversation it provokes insists we ask the most fundamental questions: Who are we? How do we live here? What is the essence of our engagement with this place?" - David Ulin, LA Times Book CriticS.A. Griffin lives, loves and works in Los Angeles. Editor, The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Firecracker Award), Mr. Griffin has been appeared in many poetry zines and anthologies including the upcoming Cross-Strokes edited by Neeli Cherkovski and Bill Mohr. In 2014 he released his newest collection of poetry Dreams Gone Mad With Hope on Punk Hostage Press. Since 1985 he has been touring extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada with poetry performance super groups The Lost Tribe, White Trash Apocalypse and The Carma Bums. From April-June of 2010 he toured the United States with his Poetry Bomb, “Elsie”. Named Best Performance Poet for The LA Weekly by Wanda Coleman, in 2011 he honored to be the first recipient of Beyond Baroque's Distinguished Service Award. On his blog talk radio show Onword he has had the real honor and privilege to interview many world class poets and writers including three time Poet Laureate of the United States Robert Pinsky, beat poet and writer Hettie Jones and Elizabeth Bishop, editor Poet Laureates of The United States. In 2014 he edited and published Michael Lane Bruner's Natural Geographics (Rose of Sharon Press) and most recently had the privilege to edit Scott Wannberg's newest book The Official Language of Yes for Perceval Press scheduled for release in August 2015. Father, husband and Vietnam era vet; he is owned by two beautiful cats.Suzanne Lummis studied poetry at CSU Fresno, and has been a longtime teacher for the UCLA Extension Writers' Program. Open 24 Hours received the Blue Lynx Poetry Prize, and she's had poems in The New Yorker, The Antioch Review,Ploughshares, Hotel Amerika. Together with her students she wrote, The Poetry Mystique: Inside the Contemporary Poetry Workshop (2015). She's the 2015 recipient of Beyond Baroque's George Drury Smith Outstanding Achievement in Poetry Award. And she's one of the Nearly Fatal Women.Harry E. Northup has had ten poetry books published, including Where Bodies Again Recline.  Harry was an original member of the Wednesday night poetry workshop that began in early 1969 at Beyond Baroque.  Northup received his B.A. in English, at CSUN, where he studied verse with Ann Stanford.  He is a founding member of Cahuenga Press and is married to the poet Holly Prado.Holly Prado's eleventh book, Oh, Salt/Oh, Desiring Hand, was published in Fall, 2013 by Cahuenga Press. She's been an active part of the Los Angeles poetry community since the early 1970s. Poet Holly Prado was born in 1938 in Lincoln, Nebraska. She received a B.A. from Albion College in 1960. After graduating, she moved to Los Angeles, where she remained to become an active, influential member of the Southern California literary community as a poet, educator, and regular participant in live poetry readings and literary events. She married actor and poet Harry Northup in 1990.

Shtick around for the jokes, folks… Suzanne Whang, standup comedienne and longtime host of Home & Garden TV’s House Hunters and House Hunters International, returns to State of the Arts to not only share the trials and joys of her life on stage in Cracked Open: Let Go & Gook at Beyond Baroque in Venice, CA; but her much publicized bout with breast cancer. Journalist, jazz enthusiast and filmmaker Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn talks about her first full length documentary But Can She Play? which focuses on the lives and music of female sax and brass players. The Live Arts Calendar features Art written by award-winning playwright Yasmina Reza (God of Carnage) at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, CA. Whang shares an embarrassing moment on stage. Sponsored by Breakdown Services (http://www.breakdownexpress.com/)

Strange Cargo Nine alumni of the PEN Center USA's Emerging Voices fellowship who have been published in the Emerging Voices anthology Strange Cargo will read from their selected pieces. Janet Fitch (White Oleander), who wrote the anthology's introduction, will introduce the event! PEN Center USA's Emerging Voices is a literary fellowship program that aims to provide new writers, who lack access, with the tools they will need to launch a professional writing career.  Over the course of the year, each Emerging Voices fellow participates in a professional mentorship hosted Q&A evenings with prominent local authors, a series of Master classes focused on genre, and two public readings. Janet Fitch is the author of the novels White Oleander and Paint It Black.  Her short stories have appeared in anthologies and journals such as Los Angeles Noir, Black Clock, Room of One's Own, and Black Warrior Review. She teaches creative writing in the MPW program at USC, and is writing a novel set during the Russian Revolution. Natashia Deón is a 2010 Bread Loaf Scholarship recipient, PEN Emerging Voice Fellow, Highlights Foundation Scholarship recipient, and award-winning screenwriter. She is penning her debut novel, The Spinning Wheel, a dark journey of three outcast women who, on the eve of the Civil War, are fighting the battle of their lives. Deón is a California native, practicing attorney and the first generation of her family to be born outside of East Tallassee, Alabama, since American slavery. Cara Chow was a 2001 Emerging Voices Fellow. "Fall Dance" will appear in the novel Bitter Melon in Spring 2011, published by Egmont USA. A native of Hong Kong, Cara grew up in the Richmond District of San Francisco, where this story is set. She currently resides in the Los Angeles area with her husband and son. Davin Malasarn is a writer and microbiologist from Sherman Oaks, California. In 2008, he was an Emerging Voices Fellow, a finalist in Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Contest, and first runner-up in Opium Magazine's 500-Word Memoir Contest. Two of his stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes. His fiction has appeared in The Los Angeles Review, Rosebud, Night Train and other literary journals, and he is a staff editor at SmokeLong Quarterly. Pireeni Sundaralingam was born in Sri Lanka and is co-editor of Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian American Poetry (U. Arkansas Press, 2010).  Her own poetry has appeared in journals such as Ploughshares, World Literature Today and The Progressive, as well as anthologies such as W.W. Norton's Language for a New Century: Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond (2008). It has been translated into 5 languages and been published in Sweden, Ireland, England, and the U.S. A cognitive scientist, Pireeni has given papers on the connections between the human brain and poetry at MOMA (New York), the Exploratorium (San Francisco) and Studio Olafur Eliasson (Berlin). She was a PEN Emerging Voice Fellow in 2003. Monica Carter lives in Los Angeles, California, and is a 2010 Emerging Voices Fellow. Her work will appear in the forthcoming issue of Pale House II. She is the owner and curator of her own website dedicated to international literature, Salonica World Lit. Ms. Carter is working on Eating the Apple, a psychological novel set in Manhattan in the 1930s. Marytza Rubio is a writer from Santa Ana, California. She was a 2008 Emerging Voices Fellow and received a Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholarship in 2010. She writes about Latinas, voodoo and animals. http://www.marytzakrubio.com/ Sylvia Sukop writes about art, faith, community and other good causes. Her memoir, Difficult Light, is framed by the death of her youngest brother, Alex, within an intentional community of organic farmers in eastern Washington. The memoir grew out of an extensive series of photographs documenting Alex's life and is in part a meditation on the role of photography in intimacy, loss and memory. A first-generation American raised in rural Pennsylvania, Sylvia is a graduate of Bucknell University and of NYU/International Center of Photography, and a grateful recipient of the 2009 Emerging Voices Fellowship. She co-founded MMIX Los Angeles Writers with her EV cohort in 2009, and is a contributing writer to Flaunt and Exposure magazines and the political blog The Huffington Post. Denise Uyehara is an award-winning performance artist, writer and playwright whose work has been presented in London, Tokyo, Helsinki, Vancouver and across the United States. She is the recipient of numerous recognitions of excellence which include a mid-career COLA Fellowship from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and funding from the Asian Cultural Council. She was also a Poets & Writers "Writer on Site" at Beyond Baroque and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her book Maps of City and Body: Shedding Light on the Performances of Denise Uyehara (Kaya Press) documents her recent works. Uyehara is a frequent lecturer at the University of California, Irvine and a founding member of the Sacred Naked Nature Girls. She was a PEN Emerging Voice Fellow in 1999. http://www.deniseuyehara.com/. Mehnaz Turner was born in Pakistan and raised in southern California. She was a 2009 Emerging Voices Fellow.  Her poems have appeared in: The Journal of Pakistan Studies, Cahoots Magazine, The Pedestal Magazine, Asia Writes and An Anthology of California Poets. She is currently at work on her first poetry collection, Tongue-tied: A Memoir in Poems. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS SEPTEMBER 12, 2010.

A Wild Region (Moon Tide Press) and Follow Me Down (Tebot Bach) by Buckley; Now and Then: Collected Poems of Lee Mallory (Moon Tide Press) Join us as two poets published by the local Moon Tide Press read from their recent work! Kate Buckley, a ninth-generation Kentuckian, will earn her MFA from Spalding University in May 2010. She has been widely published and anthologized, her poems most recently appearing in Bellingham Review, North American Review and Shenandoah. She is the author of A Wild Region (Moon Tide Press, 2008) and Follow Me Down (Tebot Bach, 2009). Her recent honors and awards include the Gabehart Prize for Imaginative Writing and the North American Review's James Hearst Poetry Prize, selected by Molly Peacock. Two poems from Kate's second book are currently under consideration for the Pushcart Prize. A professor at Santa Ana College, Lee Mallory co-produces the Factory Readings in Santa Ana and Poetry at Alta in Newport Beach, where he has lived most of his life. He was an acquaintance of the late Charles Bukowski and Kenneth Rexroth, and shared time with poet and pop novelist Richard Brautigan. In addition to his eight volumes of poetry and performance features at almost 100 poetry events, Lee has written over 125 poems which have appeared in such magazines as Konglomerati, Mojo Navigator(e), Invisible City, Wisconsin Review, Beyond Baroque and The Smith. He has also been covered frequently in newspapers and is a marathon runner. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 5, 2010.