Gwendolyn Zepeda Feb. 9

Gwendolyn Zepeda, author of the recently released book, “Houston, We Have a Problema,” will be the featured speaker at the monthly meeting of the Society of Latino and Hispanic Writers of San Antonio, Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be at the Barnes and Noble (San Pedro Crossing) located at 321 NW Loop 410. Free. New members are invited to attend.

Sandy Garcia at First Friday

The following note is from Sandy Garcia, a member of the Society's Leadership Council:

I'll be at King Willies for 1st Fri Feb 6, showing art work. Come out and see me if you get a chance.

Sandy.

"King Willie's"South Alamo across from Rosario's

Natalia Trevino Update

The following feature article comes from "La reVista," an online magazine published by Northwest Vista College--One of the Alamo Community Colleges.

Natalia Trevino was an early supporter of the Society and we wish her our best in all her endeavors. Please join me in congratulating Natalia on the selection.

Instructor's Poems Receive Accolades

Assistant professor of English Natalia Trevino has been selected as a finalist for the prestigious Dorothy Sargent Rosenburg Poetry Prize for 2008.

The contest gives cash prizes for poems that celebrate the human spirit. Natalia's submissions include, "It Was The Chef Who Finally Explained," which was inspired by NVC's own Roberto Rodriguez, instructor of Spanish; "Well, God," a poem about her grandmother in Mexico; and "Afterlife," a lament written after she learned her father had cancer.

Additionally Natalia's short story, "The Weigh Station" was accepted to be performed at the Mexican American Studies conference called "A Tribute to the Dream of 1969."

The presentation will take place on Friday, Feb. 6 at 10:30 a.m. in the OLLU Library Community Room.

Awaken the Sleeping Poet

The following message is from Floyd L. Lamrouex:

Awaken the Sleeping Poet

We start a new year,

Thursday, January 29, at 7 p.m.

Featured readers:Valerie Martin BaileyandSteve Johnson

At 8 p.m. we have open mic.

Remember, open mic is where anyone

from the audience can participate

and read their own (or someone else's) poetry.

Where:Northwoods Barnes and Noble (281 & 1604)

18030 Hwy 281 North

Take the Henderson Pass Exit.

Bring yourself; bring a friend; bring a poem!

Floyd L. Lamrouex

lamrouex@sbcglobal.net

210-656-3131

February Guest Speaker

Gwendolyn Zepeda, author of the recently released book “Houston, We Have a Problema,” will be the featured speaker at the monthly meeting of the Society of Latino and Hispanic Writers of San Antonio, Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be at the Barnes and Noble (San Pedro Crossing) located at 321 NW Loop 410. Free. New members are invited to attend.

Quinones Book Signing

I want to make sure everyone remembers that John Quinones will be having a book signing at the Barnes and Noble, San Pedro Crossing, tomorrow, Wednesday, January 28 at 7 p.m.

According to Debra Castanon, the bookstore's Community Relations manager, Barnes and Noble will be handing out letter line tickets starting at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Photo from the ABCnews.go.com website

Sandra Cisneros at OLLU

News Release from Our Lady of the Lake University:

Author Sandra Cisneros gives free public lecture at OLLU on Jan. 27
Award-winning writer is University’s official writer-in-residence

SAN ANTONIO (Jan. 9, 2009) – Award-winning author Sandra Cisneros will give a lecture at Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009 in Thiry Auditorium. Her presentation is titled “Tell Me A Story Even If It’s A Lie.” The event is free and open to the public.

Cisneros has long been a friend to OLLU and has embraced the University even more strongly after a devastating fire last summer destroyed the historic Main Building that stands at the center of campus. As part of her support, Cisneros currently serves as writer-in-residence at the University, which has recently expanded its offerings for aspiring writers. In 2007, OLLU added a concentration in writing to its master’s program in English and last year, the English Department began the visiting writers program, which welcomes author Carmen Tafolla this semester.

Cisneros has collaborated with OLLU throughout the years, including her participation as keynote speaker at OLLU’s annual Literary Festival and hosting her Macondo Writing Workshop for outstanding writers each summer at OLLU. Cisneros, a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (known as the “genius grant”), has written several award-winning books, including the novel, The House on Mango Street, which is required reading in middle schools, high schools and universities across the country. This year, the novel – first published in 1984 – is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its publication in the United States with a national book tour and the release of a special edition of the book.

Current projects in the works for Cisneros include a collection of fiction titled Infinito, as well as a children’s book, Bravo, Bruno, and a book about writing titled Writing in My Pajamas.

Gemini Ink: Black History Month Event

Gemini Ink kicks-off San Antonio’s Black History Month with
Black and Blue: 400 Years of Struggle and Transcendence

WHAT: Gemini Ink’s Dramatic Readers Theater will present Sterling Houston’s Black and Blue: 400 Years of Struggle and Transcendence, a popular repertory piece pairing traditional jazz and blues with documents from the American slavery era.

WHEN: Monday, February 2, 7 pm

WHO: Born in San Antonio, Sterling Houston (1945 – 2006) was an award-winning African American writer who spent 30 years in theater as an actor, composer, and playwright. He performed and lectured across the country, working with prominent theater practitioners such as Charles Ludlum and Sam Shepard. His work is known for its sharp social commentary and clever theatricality.

Kicking off Black History Month in San Antonio, Black and Blue an hour-long snapshot of the African-American odyssey that includes excerpts from The Ballad of Henry Box Brown, Houston’s play detailing the true story of the man who escaped slavery in the South by shutting himself in a box and arranging to be mailed to freedom, Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail;” and songs by Fats Waller and others. Several historical documents are also included, such as a San Antonio ordinance defining punishment for slaves caught out after curfew.

The performance features actors and musicians Bett Butler, SkudR Jones, Danielle King, and Ron Wilkins. It is presented annually in memory of its author, Sterling Houston.


WHERE: McAllister Auditorium in San Antonio College, 1300 San Pedro

INFO: The event is free and open to the public.

Gemini Ink is the only literary arts center in San Antonio and South Texas. We nurture readers and writers through community-based workshops, performances, and other literary events. For more information visit www.geminiink.org or call 210.734.9673.

Poetry Venue Change

Guadalupe Coffee will be moving for one night Tuesday, January 20 to The Heights
9315 Broadway

For more Information:
Carl Rush
210-291-3983
carl.h.rush@gmail.com

New Work by John Phillip Santos

From Bihl Haus Arts:

Before you head out to an Inaugural Ball on Jan. 20th, come by Bihl Haus Arts at 6:30 pm. Have we got something special in the works for you!

New Works in Performance By
JOHN PHILLIP SANTOS & NORMAN RENE AVILA
Reading by Santos & Gallery Talk by Avila
Tues., Jan. 20, 6:30-8:00 pm
@ Bihl Haus Arts, 2803 Fredericksburg Rd.

Bihl Haus Arts presents a collaborative performance of new work by two long-term friends—artist Norman René Avila and author John Phillip Santos—on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 6:30 pm. Santos will read an excerpt from his new book The Farthest Home is in an Empire of Fire, a Tejano Elegy (forthcoming from Viking/Penguin) selected specifically to complement the exhibition of Avila’s New Work on Paper and Canvas by a Mutt Cubist, which continues at Bihl Haus Arts through Feb. 7th.

John Phillip Santos recently returned to his hometown of San Antonio, Texas, after 21 years in New York. He was (and remains) a freelance filmmaker, producer, journalist, and writer whose work focuses on issues of media, culture, and ethnic identity. His articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, among numerous other publications. He has also produced over 40 documentaries for CBS and PBS, 2 of them nominated for Emmy Awards. In 1997, Santos joined the Ford Foundation as an officer in the Media, Arts, and Culture Program, where he handled the Media Projects Fund and worked with new media technologies, especially as they pertain to developing countries.

Santos was the first Mexican-American Rhodes scholar to study at Oxford. He holds degrees in English Literature and Language from Oxford University and in Philosophy and Literature from the University of Notre Dame. He is a recipient of the Academy of American Poets Prize at Notre Dame and the Oxford Prize for fiction. Santos is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. Santos' 1999 family memoir, Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation (Viking / Penguin), was a finalist for the National Book Award. In 2006 it was selected for the "One Book, One City" reading program in San Antonio. Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation is a beautifully crafted work--a haunting prose poem to a city, a region, and a people, interwoven with Mexican mythology, Chicano folk tales, family stories, and dreams.

The reading and collaborative performance complements perfectly Avila’s new mixed-media drawings on common manila envelopes that dominate the exhibit. The warm orangey tones of this manila ground, which vary from envelope to envelope depending upon the brand, illumine the drawings from within. Repeating elements—swirls, eyes, bits of landscape, bull’s tails--remain fresh from drawing to drawing due to Avila’s brilliant maneuvering of multiple marking tools. Each tool produces different kinds of marks, and Avila exploits this to the fullest.

We hope to see you on the 20th at 6:30 pm, then off to the Ball with you!

Kellen

Accounts Opened!

Yesterday I opened operating and foundation accounts for the Society of Latino and Hispanic Writers of San Antonio!

The accounts were opened with the proceeds from our event at Barnes and Noble, San Pedro Crossing--thanks Debra--and a generous donation from a member who wishes to remain anonymous.

Please note that as an official 501 (c) 3, contributions to the Society are tax deductible!

Thanks again to our anonymous donor!!

Gemini Ink Presentation

From Gemini Ink:

The long awaited debut -- featuring a reading and reception -- of Jerry Winakur's Memory Lessons: A Doctor's Story is set for next Thursday at the Health Science Center. The book, published by Hyperion, was spurred by Winakur's 2005 essay "What Are We Going to Do With Dad?" which stirred responses nationwide after excerpts were aired on National Public Radio. Winakur is a longtime Gemini Ink board member and former president of the board, as well as a former faculty member and student in the University Without Walls. Congratulations, Jerry!

When: Thursday, January 22, 6 - 7 pm, reception and booksigning to follow

Where: UT Health Science Center San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, Room 3.102 (next to the Briscoe Library), click here for a map.

For more information: Call 210.567.0795

This event is presented by The Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics and Pasteur Medical Associates.

John Quinones

Image from l.yimg.com


I invite everyone to join me at Barnes and Noble, San Pedro Crossing, to see John Quinones speak and sign books on Wednesday, January 28 at 7 p.m. Barnes and Noble will be handing out letter line tickets starting at 9 a.m., that morning.

John Quinones will be signing his recently released book, Heroes Among Us: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Choices.

Meeting Re-Cap

Thank you to everyone who attended last night's monthly meeting of the Society of Latino and Hispanic Writers of San Antonio! We had 21 members in attendance and the presentation by Anita Gilbert, author of "Maria and the Stars of Nazca / Maria y las Estrellas de Nazca,"was informative.

Here is our schedule for the next three months:

Feb. 9 -- Gwendolyn Zepeda, author of the recently released "Houston, We Have a Problema." Publisher is Grand Central Publishing

March 9 -- Major General Freddie Valenzuela, U.S. Army (Ret.), author of "No Greater Love: The Life and Times of Hispanic Soldiers." Publisher is Ovation Books.

April 13 -- Cinco Minutos With You

Monday's Meeting

Just a quick note to remind you to attend the monthly meeting of the Society of Latino and Hispanic Writers of San Antonio on Monday, January 12, at the Barnes and Noble, San Pedro Crossing, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

This month's guest author comes to us from Denver, but she spent her youth in San Antonio and calls the Alamo City home. Please join me in welcoming Anita Jepson-Gilbert. Here is her bio, taken from the Colorado Poets Center website:

Anita Jepson-Gilbert is currently an ESL Instructor at the Community College of Denver and TESL Instructor at Front Range Community College in Longmont. She is an officer in the Columbine Poets of Colorado poetry society and a member of the Denver Woman’s Press Club and Children’s Writers and Illustrators Association.

Jepson-Gilbert is the author of the children's book Maria and the Stars of Nazca / Maria y las Estrellas de Nazca, a bilingual illustrated book about the mysterious Lines of Nazca and the woman who discovered them for the world.

I hope you can attend.

Awaken the Sleeping Poet

POETRY CONTEST!
OVER $1300 IN CASH PRIZE MONEY!!!
THE DEADLINE IS 14 DAYS AWAY!!!

Laurel Crown Foundation's 4th Annual Awaken the Sleeping Poet Festival
Cash awards & trophies and an opportunity toread your poem and/or be published in the Dreamcatcher anthology

The 2009 Festival will be held at the San Antonio Museum of Art (200 W. Jones)on Saturday, April 4, 2009

Texas Poet Laureate, Alan Birkelbach, featured again as emcee

Students (elementary thru high school) - at 10:30 a.m.Adults (including college) - at 1:30 p.m.
We have made a few important changes...
Students may enter free - no entry fee - limit two poems

Adults may enter as many poems as desired at $5 for each entry

Entry Deadline: January 24, 2009(This is NOT a postmark deadline - it is an "in-hand" deadline. Your entry must be received by January 24th)

You may download an entry form from our Website at http://www.laurelcrown.org

All poets: Send a separate entry form with each poem enteredAdults: Pay with one check if you send multiple entries. Make check or moneyorder payable to: Awaken the Sleeping Poet
Send your entry or entries and fee, if applicable, to:Awaken the Sleeping Poet2207 Parhaven Dr.San Antonio, Texas 78232

CONTEST RULES:• Open to poets who live or work within a 65 mile radius of San Antonio.• Separate entry form required for each poem submitted, but pay all fees with ONE check or money order• Students (high school, middle school, elementary school): Only two entries allowed (no entry fee)• Adults (includes college) : enter as many poems as you like, but a $5 entry fee is required for each poem• Poems must be unpublished and the poet’s original work. You retain copyright. • Poem Length: no more than 28 lines and 7 spaces (spaces also take up room on a page). • Line Length: approximately 60 characters. Longer lines are broken at the editor’s discretion. If breaking long lines results in the poem being more than 28 lines, it will be disqualified. For instance, if your poem is 28 lines, but one line has to be broken, it becomes 29 lines and is ineligible.• Typed in English. Words or brief phrases in other languages will be accepted. If the phrase is in a language other than English or Spanish, please translate the phrase.• Adults are asked to submit a brief biographical sketch (6 lines or less) to be used if your poem is published in the Dreamcatcher anthology. These bios will be edited as needed for space considerations• Send this form with two (2) copies of your poem. Name in upper left hand corner of first copy and no name on second copy. Type your category in upper left hand corner of both copies.

OTHER INFORMATION• Cash Award Winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd place in each category) will be posted on our Website on February 2, 2009 and will be published on our Web site as soon as possible on or after that date. Cash winners will also be published in the anthology. Cash Award winners will received a letter of notification and an acceptance form, which must be returned before March 18, 2009. Cash winners are expected to read their poems at the Festival and accept their cash awards and trophies. If a winner cannot attend, he/she must send a representative to read the poem in order to receive the cash award and trophy. • Honorable Mention Winners will be invited to read their poems at the Festival and will be published in the anthology. Those who receive Honorable Mentions will receive a letter of notification and an acceptance form. The acceptance form must be returned before March 18, 2009.• Other Poems of Merit. Only cash award winners and honorable mention poems will be read on the program; however, other poems of merit will be published in the Dreamcatcher anthology. These poets are not required to attend the festival, but we hope you will attend and join in the fun because we want you to enter again next year and perhaps be winner. Think positively and keep writing poetry.


THE DREAMCATCHER ANTHOLOGYNo poet is required to purchase a Dreamcatcher in order to participate in this Festival. It is produced as a way of honoring your poetry and giving you the opportunity to have your poetry published. We publish a quality book that you can be proud to have on your bookshelf or give to your family and friends. The Dreamcatcher will be available at the Festival for a cost of $15. Advance orders (those received before April ) receive a discounted price of $12. An anthology order form will be included with your letter of notification or you may download an order form from our Website.

Avila Opens at Bihl Haus

The following item was sent to me by Kellen :

Please save these dates!

NORMAN AVILA:
New Work on Paper and Canvas by A Mutt Cubist
Jan. 10-Feb. 7, 2009
@ Bihl Haus Arts
Opening Reception: Sat., Jan. 10, 6:00-9:00 pm
Reading by John Phillip Santos & Artist's Talk: Tues., Jan. 20, 6:30 pm

Dear Friends of Bihl Haus Arts,
Please plan to join us at the opening reception for Norman Avila: New Work on Paper and Canvas by a Mutt Cubist on Saturday, January 10, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.

The exhibit features Norman’s new series of refined yet exuberant drawings in colored inks and permanent markers on common manila envelopes. The warm orangey tones of this manila ground, which vary from envelope to envelope depending upon the brand, illumine the drawings from within. Repeating elements—the teardrop, especially—remain fresh from drawing to drawing due to Norman’s brilliant maneuvering of multiple marking tools. Each tool produces different kinds of marks, and Norman exploits this to the fullest, noting, for example, “the happy accident when a marker is almost spent, it creates a texture that is only obtainable when it is in this stage of drying out.”

Norman began the manila series accidentally. Like many of us, he had accumulated cups of pencils, pens, and markers at work and at home. He dumped them out on his desk and checked to see which ones still had life in them by just scribbling on scraps of paper. The scribbles became intentional drawings that migrated to manila envelopes, the move stimulated by a fond childhood memory of drawing with a simple #2 pencil on a newsprint pad. The artist describes the process: “Some drawings were instantly successful, others were not. Some of the manila drawings were completed in a single day, others I came back to over and over again until they felt ‘right.’” The exhibit also features a series of drawings on postcards that can be mailed—called Maleart—several new larger paintings on canvas inspired by the manila drawings.

Norman, known by his friends for his boundless energy, is constantly producing art in various forms—photography, music, sculpture, conceptual, performance, writing, visual. He believes that every region or place has a singularity about it, and this—San Antonio—is depicted in his art. A native San Antonian, Norman graduated from Trinity University with a BA in Art. He taught for 10 years in the Edgewood School District, and has been active in the San Antonio art community all his adult life. The artist has exhibited in group shows and in solo exhibitions across the City, and was a co-founder of the San Antonio Museum of Modern Art, SAMOMA, an experimental art gallery operated as a museum that gave many local artists gallery space at no cost for a month. It lasted 3 years. Norman’s Monticello Park studio is his apartment, where he has lived for 3 decades. This way, he says, “I am close to everything that will facilitate my exploration into what art is and why we make it. It is the reason I am here in this world—I am certain of this.” His studio will be featured in the On and Off Fredericksburg Road Studio Tour (www.onandofffred.org), scheduled for Feb. 14-15, 2009 (this might be a good time, too, to make note of this event, on your calendar).

In conjunction with this exhibit, we've planned a very special gallery talk by Norman on Tuesday, January 20th, at 6:30pm. He will be joined by his good friend, internationally acclaimed author John Phillip Santos, who will read from a recent work. More on this very special evening in my next email.

We hope to see you this Saturday evening (note the change from our usual Friday evening openings), January 10, between 6 and 9 pm.

Kellen

Bihl Haus Arts, located on the grounds of Primrose at Monticello Park Apartments at 2803 Fredericksburg Rd., is the only non-profit professional art gallery on the premises of senior affordable housing in the U.S. Our mission: To cultivate creativity and artistic expression to motivate community and individual growth. Bihl Haus Arts, open Fridays and Saturdays from 1 to 4 pm, and by appointment, is made possible through the generous support of The Potashnik Family Foundation and Primrose. This program is supported in part by a grant from the San Antonio Office of Cultural Affairs.

Kellen Kee McIntyre, PhD
Executive Director
Bihl Haus Arts

Mission: Black List #1

Thank you for kinds words regarding my review of "Mission: Black List #1."

Here are a couple of more Q&As with Eric Maddox that I omitted from the review due to length:

Q. What are your thoughts on the "enhance interrogation" methods that have garnered a lot of negative attention?

A. When it came to interrogation techniques, I really didn't follow the manual because the manual was more about how to do an interrogation of a soldier from a foreign military unit, like a German or Vietnamese soldier who was holding a smoking gun. I realized quickly that the techniques in the book would not work. So for me, the method was to look at the insurgents who were civilians, who live at home and don't have weapons or bombs in their house. So I had to deal with them like they do with the mafia--it was about building trust...(and) to build trust you couldn't torture them. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't nice to them--you just can't built trust by torturing them.

Q. A lot of people were under the impression that once we captured Saddam, the war would be over. Five years after the capture, the war is still going on. What happened?

A. It's extremely difficult to fight a war and try to re-build a country at the same time. Most families there are large, extended families. This leads to families that have some members who are decent people who want to help run a government; then you have other family members who are part of the insurgency--so we end up fighting the same family we're helping.
I believe we should have finished the war because we were close...we were so close. But we didn't and now we're re-building a country and we're not sure who our friends are because they're almost all related.

Dos Gatos Press

From Dos Gatos Press:

Happy New Year!

I decided to start the year with a somewhat overdue newsletter to bring you up to speed on what's been happening with Dos Gatos. As always, let me assure you that I do not share your contact information with others, but should you wish to be removed from the list, all you have to do is let me know.

I'm assuming that most of you have started using your 2009 Texas Poetry Calendars. We are down to exactly two 2009 calendars that weren't bought up during the "great deal" we offered a couple of weeks ago, and I was very pleased to see the last box of calendars dwindle down to a mere handful! We expect that throughout January we may have a few more calendars available once our retailers return unsold copies; but we'll see (in other words, if you still want a calendar, it's best to check with us before you order!). Nonetheless, it's rewarding to come to the end of the 1200 copy run.

Of course, now it's time to start thinking about the 2010 calendar--yes, already! Cindy Huyser and I will again be editing the calendar, and complete guidelines for submitting poems are available in the back of the 2009 calendar as well as on our website. While you're thinking about it, mark March 20 as the last date to send poems for consideration for the 2010 calendar!

The Dos Gatos anthology, Big Land, Big Sky, Big Hair, has been selling very well, and we thank you for spreading the word about it. Again, consider asking your local libraries to order copies for their collections, and write a brief review on Amazon.com for the anthology. We'd love to sell out and have to reprint the anthology! Towards that purpose, we plan on having several Big Land readings throughout 2009, and consider this a call for readers for the first three Big Land readings:

--Houston, February 10 at Borders, 3025 Kirby, at 8 p.m.
--San Antonio, February 28 at the Twig, 5005 Broadway, at 3:00 p.m.
--Austin, April 4 at BookPeople, 603 N. Lamar, at 3:00 p.m.

If you have a poem in Big Land, Big Sky, Big Hair, we'd love to have you plan on participating in one of these readings (or others further down the road). You do not have to live in the city of the reading to participate; in fact, it's more fun if you meet and hear poets in other cities, especially when they are in the afternoon on a weekend. At any rate, please let me know within the next week (by January 8), if you would like to read at the Houston, San Antonio, or Austin readings.

Finally, I am conducting a "three-peat" of the Jump-Start Your Creative Engines workshop for the Writers' League of Texas next month, three because instead of one session, we will have three Saturday morning sessions: February 7, February 21, and March 7, 10 a.m. till noon. For more info on Jump-Start Redux, see the WLT website: www.writersleague.org I'd love to see some of you in my class!

Looking forward to your poems this year--we sincerely hope your 2009 is productive and rewarding. Thank you again and again for the support you so generousy offer us!

Scott Wiggerman
Dos Gatos Press
1310 Crestwood Road
Austin, Texas 78722
editors@dosgatospress.org
www.dosgatospress.org

Nine for '09

Today’s San Antonio Express-News had an interesting article on “Nine for ’09,” about nine San Antonians to watch out for this year. The list included Diana Lopez, author of Sofia’s Saints, who was one of the first guest authors to attend the meetings of the Society in 2004. The article announces the June release of her sophomore novel, Confetti Girl. I have had the pleasure of hearing Diana read from the novel several months ago and what I heard left me wanting to read the book immediately.

Also on the list was Barbara Renaud Gonzalez, who also was an presenter during the Society’s formative days.

The list also included an additional nine people to watch out for, and on that list was Florence Weinberg! Florence was an active member of the Society in 2008, and through our meetings, came to know Andre Csihas, who is now translating a couple of her books into Spanish for publication. In case you missed it, here's the link to the story: Nine

If you have not had a chance to read my book review in today’s paper, here it is: Mission: Blacklist #1

Poetry Event

The following notice is sent by Josie Mixon and Jim Brandenburg:

My fellow poets, Happy New Year!!!!! I am anxious to see everyone again so we can share the new poetry we have written since we last saw each other. We will resume Open Mic on January 7, 2009 beginning with our poetry workshop with Tom at 6 p.m., then open mic at 7 p.m. We will also discuss National Poetry Month (April) and plans to incorporate it into our existing venue. I hope you can make it to our first poetry venue in 2009.