Mikaela says:
I personally love it when life is moving too fast to get caught up in the immobility of rage at current events. There's plenty I'm fuming about (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, New Orleans, Libby trial, executive orders, creeping fascism of the Bush administration that seems to go all-but unnoticed by the general public... whew, better stop there!), but for a little while, I've got too much on my plate here in the Q to worry myself into inaction about the rest of the world.
It's all about doing what you can where you can, right?
So this evening (starting around 7 pm), I'm taking part in an event for women: Firestorm, at the Winning Coffee Co. on Harvard & Central (m-pyre readers know all about how much we love Winning!), hosted by Maresa Thompson, organizer of the fabulous National Poetry Slam in 2005. I'm even going to read a poem during the open mic! Then, with my bestest m-friends, we'll cheer and support our fellow creative women, strong women w/ strong voices telling us all what we need to hear, even when we sometimes don't want to listen. Tonight's all about listening!
Thursday, if I didn't have a conflict, I'd be going to see "When the Levees Broke," Spike Lee's documentary on the Katrina disaster in New Orleans, being shown by the Albuquerque chapter of Planners Network, made up of UNM Community & Regional Planning students & community members, at Out Ch-Yonda in Barelas (4th & Santa Fe). 6 pm.
On Saturday, I'll be going to hear local poets read at the Main Library downtown. How cool is it that our urban library is opening its doors to a largely urban movement of spoken-word poetry. Totally cool. That's from 3-5 pm. Afterward, I'll join Lisa Gill @ 7 pm for a reading celebrating her 2007 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in UNM's Student Union Building (SUB) Acoma Room. Who else wins an award and throws a party for her community? Lisa rocks.
Friday, March 2, the NHCC, Harwood, ABQ Slams, & IPI are putting on Women Centerstage as part of the NHCC's Women & Creativity festival. We've gathered some of the coolest women poets around -- Lisa Gill, Esther Griego, Valerie Martinez, Demetria Martinez -- and paired them with Rah Goddess, who some of you may have heard and been electrified by on NPR's Bioneers show this summer. She's a hip-hop feminist poet and performance artist who coined the term "floetry" and spawned a whole generation of empowered and empowering women performers. Show starts at 7. Afterward, an all-women slam will choose the winner to represent Albuquerque at the World of Women (WoW) national poetry slam in Chicago this October. A hot night to be sure. Not to be missed.
Tuesday, March 6, 6 pm, the NHCC is hosting Women in Action, a panel discussion of local women activists, artists, and entrepreneurs, also as part of Women & Creativity. This one's near and dear to my little political heart. The panel includes:
- Dory Wegryzn, who was instrumental in forming the Sawmill Community Land Trust,
- Sandra Montes, who's fought tirelessly for the rights of Pajarito Mesa residents in Albuquerque's South Valley,
- Joann Bejar, who's done everything from being a filmaker, labor organizer, to mom,
- Naomi Natale, who created the Cradle Project -- an art project that calls attention to and raises funds for children orphaned by disease and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa,
- Myra Murphy-Jacob of Sustainable Global Leadership Alliance, which trains and sends leaders to other countries, where they help train others as leaders in sustainable, eco- and community-friendly business practices, and
- Margo Ganster of Green It!, a local company that helps other companies to incorporate ways to be "green," adding to the sustainability of our economy & our environment
In between all that, I'll be finishing an anthology of Voces students work for UNM Press and putting together an anthology of ABQ Slam poets w/ fellow IPI members Danny Solis, Susan McAllister, and Don McIver.
Oh, and planning a wedding.
Busy? Me? No.....
Lord help me the day I slow down long enough to really soak in the news from around the world. It's not looking good, but I'm trying to do what I can to support good things in my community. In the seconds between whirling from event to event, I wish peace for us all.
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