The mind, a dormant stone

I was surprised to see this floating around :) I had the great honor to attend Occidental College as a guest speaker to an Upward Bound class. Thank you to Don Kingfisher Campbell!

I am overjoyed at the thought of a perfect Writers' reunion! :) I will be at the mountain home of my mentor, and personal writing savior... plus my old writing confidante plus my new and closest writing confidante. :) I hope to share some good memories soon! <3

December 2011, marks the 2nd year of SoapBox Poets! It all originated in Venice Beach , when a friend and I saw a preachy man standing on top of an igloo chest. I don't recall what he was preaching about, but I noticed the amount of people who soon came in closer for a listen.With Venice being as Boho and Hippie as it comes in Southern Cali, I thought why not a poet? The few weeks following, Christina Granados and myself, armed with our current work of "twitter poems" or "Raw Bits" as I call mine, red and green milk crates in hand, and hit the boardwalk. There was a lot of competing sounds, but no other poets on the boardwalk. At least, none doing what we aimed to do. Christina and Jessica setting up (1st SoapBox) We put the crates down next to the metallic gold guy...the one with the gold stuffed dog... and stood on top our crates and read a line or two, one by one. We had a bunch of mardi gras beads to get people to notice us. We gave them aw...

~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~   My boyfriend thinks Santa Claus is a pedophile ...and that no kid should sit on his lap. Now this makes me sad because I remember a fond moment of visiting Santa for the first time when I was 6 years old. I thought it was an amazing, magical moment! It was a the Village Bookshop in Glendora, CA. I still have a few of the Polaroid snapshots of this visit. I had a bowl haircut and was full of shy insecurity.  I'm sharing this because I'd like to think that I would allow my own child, (if and when), the same opportunity for childhood joy!  Beyond that, I remember one of the best Christmases when Santa really seemed to "visit" my residence. It was so amazing to me because I was old enough to really understand the magic... I mean, I thought all was lost this particular year. There were a few gifts under the tree when I went to sleep. When I woke that morning, it's as if the tre...

never was there a more beautiful sound than that of your eyes knowing that you and I were meant to love one another.  

Ever dream of restoring the Old World? I do... but the old world I long for isn't the 1400s, it's not even the time of antiquity which was quite beautiful and more appreciative of the spoken word that society reflects today... The time I crave is of the last century; the 1940s and 1950s. Of course there is a give and take. I'd like to maintain our evolved way of thinking, our liberation, our rights. However, the times of the 40s and 50s might have continued the way they did because life wasn't as liberal... this is a conundrum of circumstance that I must address and explore. Why does this world appeal to me? Probably because it isn't all that distant, and things were much more attainable then. A meal, a full meal was about $2. Gasoline could be sustained on mere pocket change. I like the quality of life that was exuded back then; when people enunciated and read. We reached out more to the physical than the electronic. People looked at our faces, made eye co...

It was a genuine pleasure to see the turnout last night for our monthly Celebration of the Written Art at the Last Bookstore !   Writers' Row, now on its 9th event, was amazing! 9 is my number, and this night sure points to why...it was mind-blowing! With lyric and soul-wrenching works from Antonieta Villamil and a wonderful attendance with many talented guests taking the mic such as:  Mark Lipman , Peter Coca , CaLokie , and Ernest Rosenthal , I was floored.  The other features of the night included Mehnaz Turner , who delivered a variety of poetic talents ranging from villanelles, "chick-lit" poems, and some raw prose. It was very exciting to come and hear her read at the 'Row. Don Kingfisher Campbell  was also featured and he was kind to bring his colleagues of the Inner Five , which included: Mary Torregrossa , CaLokie , and  Marvin Dorsey . Don also put together and distributed a chapbook containing the work of the Inner Five, which was ...