A Dominican Saga: Travails of an Outcast

Junot Diaz author of DROWN, cool cat whom I met at VONA voices comes out with his new book.

A Dominican Saga: Travails of an Outcast
NY TIMES REVIEW
By MICHIKO KAKUTANI
Junot Díaz's "Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" is a
wondrous,not-so-brief first novel that is so original it
can only be described as
Mario Vargas Llosa meets "Star Trek" meets David Foster
Wallace meets Kanye West.
Newsweek REVIEW

Montreal LASA Transmissions

Body exhaustion, forgetting to eat, meeting new people, loving the nametags, waking up too early, going to bed too late, networking, giving out my card, taking down their information, wishing I went to more panels, making good friends, the kind you want to keep around for life, sending too many text messages, using my phone as if Im not going to pay international fees, getting intellectual feedback, from people I admire, encouragement to go in school, to get a PhD or MFA or just to be me, to be a writer, Support to publish, letters of recommendation to publishers, conviviendo con nuevas compañeras...my heart, mind and body are full of love and light.


I get back late tomorrow night. Today is my last day and first day of actually getting to know Montreal more than just being at a conference. I have so much to tell but more than that I have so much to do. MC

Luis J. Rodriguez @ SFSU Sept. 19 at Jack Adams Hall

Luis J. Rodriguez, activist and author of "Always Running: La Vida
Loca, Gang Days in LA," will give the keynote lunchtime address at
SFSU:


The SF State Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, in
partnership with the San Francisco Safe Communities Reentry Council,
is sponsoring a one-day summit: "Working Together to Support San
Franciscans After Incarceration: The Second Annual Reentry Summit" on
Sept. 19 at Jack Adams Hall.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will be on campus to give the opening
remarks. SF Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, Sheriff Michael Hennessey,
District Attorney Kamala Harris and Public Defender Jeff Adachi are
also scheduled to speak. Luis J. Rodriguez, activist and author of
"Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in LA," will give the keynote
lunchtime address on how successful reentry of the incarcerated can
reduce violence in society. RSVP by Sept. 12 to
www.sfpublicdefender.org/scrc/, or (415) 553-9349.
The Safe Communities Reentry Council will be hosting its second major
summit about reentry issues in San Francisco.
This summit features practical and relevant information detailing how
to improve the coordination and delivery of services for formerly
incarcerated individuals. The purpose of this event is to educate our
partners, key stakeholders and the general public about the challenges
faced by those who are reentering society after a period of
incarceration, study the current state of affairs and statistical data
concerning reentry and identify new solutions to providing better
transitional services to those who need them.
The Safe Communities Reentry Council was established in 2005 to
promote the safe and successful return of formerly incarcerated
individuals to our community by developing a comprehensive support
system that reduces violence and recidivism, and promotes public
safety.
8:30 am Registration — 9:00 am Program begins
Welcome: Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi
Opening Remarks: Mayor Gavin Newsom
Summit Overview: Public Defender Jeff Adachi
Panel Moderator: JoAnn Mar, public radio producer
Plenary Panel of Criminal Justice Partners
Jeff Adachi, Public Defender • Patrick Boyd, Deputy Chief of the
Adult
Probation Department • Kamala Harris, District Attorney • Michael
Hennessey, Sheriff • Ross Mirkarimi, Supervisor • Marisela Montes,
Chief Deputy Secretary of Adult Programs, CDCR • Phil Torda, Parole,
CDCR • Daniel Zurita, US Federal Probation
Lunchtime Keynote Address
Luis J. Rodriguez, speaking on reducing violence through successful
reentry.
To read about Luis Rodriguez, please see www.luisjrodriguez.com.
Afternoon Panel–At Home and in Communities: Decreasing the
Disproportionate Impacts of Violence and Incarceration
Panelists include: Rudy Aguilar, Parolee Services Network, Department
of Public Health • No Violence Alliance (NoVA) Project participants
•
Gerald Gage, Senior Ex-Offender Program • Ronald Sanders, Transitions
Clinic • Simin Shamji, Office of the Public Defender • Terese
Rodriguez and Kyle Sporleder, Project WHAT!–Community Works
Afternoon Panel –Inside and Out: Increasing Access to Appropriate
Services and Resources
Panelists include: Jason Bell, Project Rebound, SFSU • Karen Brown,
Northern California Service League • Bill Buehlman, All of Us or None
• Dan Macallair, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice • No
Violence
Alliance (NoVA) Project participants • Lisa Murphy, FREE Women
Coalition • Allyson West, California Reentry Program • Eddy Zheng,
Community Youth Center
4:00 pm Program ends
Wheelchair accessible. Please request other accommodations, such as
ASL or other language interpretation services by September 5th.
Sponsored by The California Endowment and the SF State Institute for
Civic and Community Engagement.

Off to Montreal for LASA Conference

Wish me luck!

renaissance woman

I've always been a renaissance woman. I have always wanted to be all and do all. Most of my endeavors have been about promoting other people, about telling stories that don't get told, about bringing attention to work, individuals and movements. I have always wanted to be a publisher, a writer, a filmmaker, a poet, a performer, a leader, an academic, a creative being that moves mountains and shakes souls with my creative works. I am all those things and sometimes do them well...but for some reason it is so hard to do those things for myself. All of these projects would seem like they are about myself but for some reason I remain unable to move the spirits in my soul for the projects that are just about me.

I am a natural collaborator a person who naturally gravitates to people with potential and wants to help develop that potential in every way. I naturally want to help and counsel and cheerlead and coach and love...But how can I break out and do for myself, the way I really need to? A very simple example is I set the goal of publishing my first solo chap book this summer. I began dilligently. Sifting through journals and typed up poems. Took an amazing writing workshop that rocked my world and melted my face off.

I had all this energy and what did I do? I directed that towards other folks, towards making an anthology of central american poets. Again its something I've always wanted to do and is about to be completed, but where am I? wheres the energy directed at editing my work and doing what I wanted to do? Well at least its not wasted energy. And please, this is not a complaint. This is just something I need to constantly work on. Of course it would be great if I was recognized for my fabulousness and the work just fell into place but these are the struggles of the fabulously misunderstood. I'll keep working at while you all work on discovering my unrecognized genius and we'll find a happy medium.

Paint your world-THIS FRIDAY!

Radio 2050-Pinta tu Propio Mundo



Pinta tu Propio Mundo SIX

@ Galeria de la Raza


Friday, August 10, 2007 @ 8 p.m.


Featuring:

Lorna Dee Cervantes

Opal Palmer Adisa

Mamacoatl

Maceo Cabrera Estevez

Las Manas: Maya Chinchilla, Milta Ortiz, Cruz Grimaldo, Anayvette Martinez



Hosted by Leticia Hernandez


Featured visual artist: Chamindika
Tshirts designs and Art FOR SALE
www.chamindika.com

Six years in the running, this evening of women's art and expression presents accomplished writers, risk taking performers, and cutting edge visual artists in the heart of La Misión.


2857 24th Street @ Bryant Street
415-826-8009
$8 - $15 sliding scale/Galería members FREE

Sponsored by Poets and Writers Inc., Nicacelly, KPFA, and Global Exchange.

ALARMA!

WHAT: ALARMA!

conceived and performed by
Eric Aviles, Maya Chinchilla, Milta Ortiz, Gerardo Perez, Marc David
Pinate, Yadira de la Riva and Nicolas Valdez.

WHERE: Galería de la Raza, 2857 24th Street @ Bryant, San Francisco

WHEN: Saturday, August 25 & Sunday, August 26 @ 8:00 p.m.

TICKETS: $8 Students & Galeria Members; $10 General Admission

INFO: (415) 826-8009, www.galeriadelaraza.org

Galeria de la Raza proudly presents the world premier of Alarma! A
postmodern myth for the apocalyptic times we find ourselves in, Alarma!

is a multidiscipline, hybrid performance blending elements of movement,

spoken word, sound and video to explore the issue of immigration in the

shadow of Western consumerism. Commissioned by Galeria de la Raza as
part of its Picturing Immigration Project – a year-long exposition of
art exhibitions, film screenings and performances inspired by the 2006
May Day immigrant's rights marches around the country – Alarma! uses
non-linear narrative techniques combined with powerful imagery and text

to go beyond the mainstream media rhetoric and reveal the underlying
relationships between rich and poor, compassion and hate, us and them,
love and fear which lie at the heart of the immigration debate.


The culmination of a 4-month performance workshop under the direction of renowned choreographer Sara Shelton Mann, Alarma! features the talents of seven envelope-pushing, Bay Area performers and videographers whose credits and past achievements are impressive. Actor/writer Eric Aviles worked extensively with well known Chicago playhouses, Steppenwolf and Goodman theaters, before relocating to the Bay Area where he has performed for Teatro Campesino and Teatro Visión. A poet and recent Masters graduate in video production and communication arts, Maya Chinchilla's video documentaries have been shown and won awards at various film festivals around the country. Milta Ortiz is slam poet/performer. In 2006 she received a commission from the Oakland Arts Commission to write and perform her one-woman show, Scatter My Red Underwear, which is set to tour nationally in 2008. Gerardo Perez is a visual artist, puppeteer, actor and videographer who has shown and performed his work extensively throughout the Bay Area. He was a member of the creative team behind the award winning public access show, Viva la Vida. Marc David Pinate is a national slam champion and has performed as an actor, poet and musician throughout the country as a member of Chicano Messengers of Spoken Word and as the front-man for the musical group, Grito Serpentino. Yadira de la Riva was a member of UC Santa Cruz's groundbreaking Rainbow Theatre and currently works for Kaiser Permanente's educational theatre program. A recent arrival from San Antonio, TX, Nicolas Valdez began playing the accordion at the age of nine. Nicolas was a member of the nationally acclaimed Teatro Animo, youth theatre company and performed with Guillermo Gomez-Peña and in a national tour of Zoot Suit with Teatro Campesino.

Sara Shelton Mann has taught, performed and created performance since 1967. A protegee of Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis, she has studied dance with Erik Hawkins, Cliff Keuter, Merce Cunningham, Brynar Mehl, Andrew Harwood, and balanced her training by studying QiQong with Master Qi Yang Ma and Master Zi Sheng Wang. During the seventies, she was artistic director of the Halifax Dance Co-Op in Nova Scotia. In 1979, she formed CONTRABAND, a group of collaborative artists dedicated to the evolution of an interdisciplinary dance vision. From 1996 to 1999, Mann collaborated with MacArthur "Genius" Guillermo Gomez-Pena in a series of interdisciplinary performance installations based more in theater than in dance and toured them throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe. She has taught at such prestigious schools as Stanford University, Jacob's Pillow, san Francisco State University, Mills College, University of Colorado andNew School for Social Research in NY. She was an Artist in Residence in 1995 at the Djerassi Foundation in Woodside, CA; Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA; Moving Arts in K-In, Germany; and the Sacred Dance Guild in Hawaii. Sara Shelton Mann was received numerous awards including a Choreographer's Fellowship from the national Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council, Emerging Choreographer award from the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, and Individual Artist Grant from the San Francisco Art Commission and four Isadora Duncan Dance Awards to name a few.