Rachel Corrie Play @ Out ch'YondA

Mikaela reposts:

MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE
Sat. & Sun. FEBRUARY 16-17, 2008, 2 p.m. only
Out ch'YondA in Barelas
929 Fourth St. SW
Tickets $20
Reservations and info: www.RachelABQ.com or call 505-350-1276.

Denver-based political theatre collective, Countdown to Zero, in partnership
with Justice First!, announces the premier New Mexico production of My Name Is
Rachel Corrie, the highly controversial play, in a limited run at the Out
ch'YondA Art Space.

The play was created from the personal journal entries, emails, and writings of the young activist Rachel
Corrie after her death in 2003 while trying to stop an Israeli bulldozer in a
Palestinian residential area in Gaza. An idealistic, curious, and passionate
young woman is presented as she explores her personal world as well as that of
the complex world of Middle Eastern politics.

After a critically-acclaimed run in Denver, Countdown to Zero's production will
run for two performances only, Saturday, February 16, 2:00PM, and Sunday,
February 17, at 2:00 PM.

This play was chosen as an artistic vehicle for community conversation. After both performances, post-show discussions will be
offered in order to address the issues raised in the play and to encourage fair
and honest conversation and reflection.

• Out ch’YondA Live Arts exists in the margins for folks who need and want to do art “by any means necessary.” It is a nurturing and creative environment for those who dwell on the edges of our society.

• Countdown to Zero is a political theatre collective dedicated to theatrical based political dialogue. It aims to expand community exchange locally and nationally in a time of charged political extremes.

• Justice First! advocates diplomacy based on international and humanitarian law as the best hope for peace.

Oh boy! It's January again... must be time for Tricklock's Revolutions Theatre Festival!

Mikaela explaims:
Why, you are right!

And the first thing you must not miss is this burlesque show...

About The Wau Wau Sisters:

Wearing high-heels and clutching cocktails, the Wau Wau Sisters, NYC’s bravest and bawdiest burlesque duo and the act the New York Times calls “irreverent, sacrilegious, foul-mouthed and uninhibited” straddle the hilarious gap between performance art and burlesque. Their hour-long show starts at a break-neck pace and gets wilder from there! With technical snafus and unscripted one-liners, the show holds the audience rapt with a sly mix of jaw dropping physical prowess and guileless mayhem. While suspended in a boozy state of awe and delight, the Wau Wau Sisters and the audience careen through a show full of surprises and teetering on the brink of a delicious disaster! Dirty songs and double entendres mix with irreverent circus routines and guilty pop culture pleasures as old-time variety gets a new twist with brilliant executions of “bad ideas”, like their signature audience participation costume changes!

Challenging the state of reverence and preciousness of the Cirque du Soleil aesthetic, the Wau Wau Sisters carve out a new niche for circus events –right in front of you, so close you can see the tear in their fishnets, the sinew of their muscles and the sweat on their skin! Don’t miss them as they fly through a Guns ‘n’ Roses trapeze routine with all the adrenaline and abandon of a rock concert, deconstruct the humor and paradigms of country and heavy metal music, while playing matching guitars and barely sitting on one another’s shoulders! They do it all in a festive, freewheeling hour that keeps the audience guessing every second, who’s in control and for how long?

For the full schedule and descriptions of other can't miss shows, corralled and shipped here to good ole 'Burque for your theatre pleasure, visit Tricklock's Revolutions Page. This year's got shows in both ABQ & Santa Fe, and also schedules fun karaoke Wed nights and the always-interesting Reptilian Lounge every Saturday through Feb. 2.

See you at the theatre!

Hot, Funny Men -- Here for you 'til February

Mikaela says:

Gentrification Panel Discussion - TONIGHT

Mikaela says:
Sorry for the late notice! I just got the email myself... Wish I could go, but I made prior plans. I wanted to post it just in case someone out there would similarly hate to miss this...

If anyone goes, say hello to Claudia for me (and all m-pyre girls), would you, please???

At some point, I'd love to have a discussion about the whole White History Week thing, but that's for another day (send in your thoughts!)...

Wed., Jan. 9th at 7 pm

Gentrification: Deconstructing Entitlement - Whose Place, Whose Economy?

panel discussion staring: Claudia Isaac; Ricky Lee Allen; Aztatl; and Dr. Nword of Out ch'YondA

Is whiteness a form of property? What do you think?

Bring your comments and questions.

Part of our ongoing White History Week Jan. 4 - 13th

The full schedule is available at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~mimileland/

Out ch'Yonda

929 SW 4th

9 blocks south of Central and 5 blocks north of Cesar Chavez

in lovely ungentrified Barelas

Dreaming of Snow Days

marjorie says...




Sigh.





Looks pretty doesn't it? I'm still learning how to make it through this kind of powder. After visiting Alta a couple of years back I got over the hump, but it can still be a challenge.




hmmm...too venture into the trees, or not. I think I need a helmet.


Oh, and remind me to not make a wrong turn at the top of Santa Fe's Millennium Lift. Love that he called into work on Day 3!

TONIGHT: Women and Planning

Maggie says:
An organization near and dear to M³'s hearts, the Albuquerque Planners Network is presenting a forum tonight that's sure to generate community, conversation, and connection. Planning always involves community, conversation, and connection... but when women are the focus, it's bound to be especially captivating. This event should be a great one, so we hope to see many of you there!

Women and Planning
Panelists from different sectors of the planning profession will discuss
the role of gender in planning.

Thursday, March 22
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Sawmill Lofts Multipurpose Room, 1801 Bellamah NW

Panel
Connie Chavez, Sawmill Community Land Trust
Paula Garcia, New Mexico Acequia Association
Bernadette Miera, Bernalillo County
Nichole Sanchez-Howell, Village of Corrales
Renee Villareal, Santa Fe County

Moderator
Claudia Isaac, UNM School of Architecture and Planning (and m-pyre hero)

Slam Semi-Finals

Mikaela espouses:
If you're only going to come to one Slam event to end the season, don't come tonight. Save yourself for the high-stakes final showdown on Saturday, April 7, 7:30 pm at the National Hispanic Cultural Center's Journal Theatre. We've got 600+ seats, and we want them FILLED.

If, on the other hand, you're looking for a real, live reality show drama, attend the semi-finals leading excruciatingly to the elimination of all but the final contestants to build this year's ABQ Slam Team that will compete in Austin to re-claim the National Championship title that slipped through our fingers last year.

It's gonna be a great show. Tonight at Winning Coffee you can see everyone's favorite straight-man, Don McIver, among others. This man is one of the Q's best community organizers. He's so good you probably never heard of him, but if you go to a slam poetry event, chances are his fingerprints are all over it!

If you miss tonight, you have two more semi-finals to see.

MAS Poetry 6:30 PM Call Time Winning’s Coffee Company 112 Harvard SE March 21st, 2007	Blue Dragon II 7:30 PM Call Time Blue Dragon Coffeehouse 1517 Girard NE March 23rd, 2007	Poetry & Beer 7:30 PM Call Time The District Bar & Grill 115 4th St. NW April 5th, 2007
Jessica Lopez	John Paskiewicz	Tony Santiago
Don McIver	Jasmine Cuffee	Zach Kluckman
Ben Boreman	Liza Wolff	Brooke Von Blomberg
Luke Mitchell	Manuel Gonzales	Joe Romero
Sina Aurelia-Sao	Jamen	Stephen
Sean	Angel Ramirez	Jerry Mondragon
Sal Treppiedi	Lenell Storey	James Altimirano

Then the only thing left to see (for this season, anyway) is the Grand SLAM:

And for those who love poetry and want to share, bring your favorite poem & sign up to read it at the open mic. Add a little poetry to your poetry! We all could use the education.

Reminder: TONIGHT! Women in Action @ the NHCC

Mikaela reminds:
TODAY,March 6 at 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

m stands for "moving"

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.

And now for a public service announcement...

Mikaela advocates:
Let me start by saying I can't go to this meeting because I'll be leading another community meeting. Otherwise, I'd drag myself, even though it doesn't sound like fun. It is, however, incredibly important.

How many times have you complained about traffic? About the lack of planning in this town? About growth? More than once, I'm guessing, based on who we are and who reads our little blog.

So buck up. Finally you can do something about it -- or at least complain to the right people in a forum where you can be assured they're really listening.

What: Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) Forum
When: TOMORROW, Tuesday, January 30th, 7-9 pm
Where: First Unitarian Church (3701 Carlisle NE)
Who: 1000 Friends and ABQ Alliance for Active Living

What you can expect to hear:

• Recommendation for a Walkable Neighborhoods Program
• Expert & pedestrian/bicycle advocate Mark Fenton's take on the health benefits of a good MTP
• Next steps & how to stay involved!

Other Big Shots on the Response Panel:

• City Councilor Debbie O'Malley
• BernCo Rep.
• Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) Rep.
• Claude Morelli, Walk ABQ
• Gabriel Nims, 1000 Friends
  

Why go? Because this, like the U.S. Census, is the kind of seminal government action that shapes our lives in ways we almost can't perceive because it's all-pervasive.

We want to complain about government and about planning, but too often we're not willing to do the simplest little thing that can have a huge impact -- GO TO A MEETING, SIT AND LISTEN, PERHAPS RAISE YOUR HAND TO ASK A QUESTION OR SHARE AN OPINION. That's it. That's all that's required.

Pretend you're from Athens and feel really good that you're performing one of the oldest civic duties in this our long tradition of democracy. So much better than voting, I promise!

Whoever sucks it up and attends, could you let me know? And if I hear any feedback from the meeting, I promise to share it with you. Dammit, That's America! (Can you hear the patriotic music swell as we zoom in on our waving flag? Yeah, me too.)

Need a map? Click here

Suggested Donation: $5

TONIGHT: City Council meeting!

Maggie says:
I'm hoping to see lots of you fellow planning nerds out at the City Council meeting tonight. There are not one but two important items on the agenda:

• Extending the City infrastructure tax to fund Albuquerque's Modern Streetcar project
• Passing a moratorium on ugly big boxes until appropriate design regulations can be established (I already wrote about it here)
  

My laptop hates the Council Chambers wireless network, so instead of blogging I'll probably be finishing up my ultra-nerdy congressional spreadsheets for tomorrow night. I can't wait for Wednesday morning... if only so I can BREATHE again. (Insert half-capacity sigh here...)

YOUR FRIENDLY MIDNIGHT UPDATE: If anyone's keeping score, the streetcar passed and the big box moratorium was rescheduled for the beginning of the next Council meeting.

Perspective: It's Just a Galaxy Away

Mikaela says:
I finally got some perspective. I had to leave our solar system to do it.

Last Thursday, Lodestar Planetarium invited a bunch of folks to preview their newest slate of shows that have just now come on-line to the public. (Hint: Start lining up!)

There is nothing that can compare to leaving your planet and being confronted with the vastness of space -- the puny reach of human beings ending within the neighborhood, cosmically speaking -- to understand again how little politics matters and how utterly absurd (however deadly) war is.

With Enchanted Skies, Lodestar uses this great new software that combines all known astronomical data with an interface that allows you to fly all over space, and we did on Thursday night. Our planet -- small, blue-green beauty -- looks nothing like anything else. It's a unique confligration of qualities that allow life, as far as we know (and we know more and more), yet ... we fight over what?

If there really is a God and a Jesus or a Mohammed, how often do they watch earth, with trillions of other planets to watch? How much does the violence of war disturb them when supernovas are exploding all over the place to become the centers of every galaxy? Violence on a cosmic scale makes our violence so ... avoidable.

I admit I loved getting away, contemplating the universal navel, realizing yet again what sorry sorry star splinters we really are. Yes, politics matters. It just strikes me again how ignoble intolerance at all levels really is. Vote for connection and community and science. This really is all we have.

Get some perspective at the Lodestar Planetarium dome:

Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity with
Wonders of the Universe

Shows on the hour from noon - 3 pm

Enchanted Skies: The Digital Universe

Shows 10 am, 11 am, and 4 pm

For information: 841-5955 or visit www.lodestar.unm.edu

WHERE: LodeStar Astronomy Center, in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 1801 Mountain NW

HOW MUCH: Admission to each show is $6 adults, $5 seniors and $3 children 3-12

Starting on Saturday, Nov. 18, admission will be $7 adults, $6 seniors and $4 children 3-12.

Dia de los Muertos Marigold Parade

marjorie says...

It was another beautiful day today, just perfect for the Dia de los Muertos Marigold Parade in the South Valley. I love this parade. It is so homegrown, so do-it-yourself. And SWOP's float always epitomizes that. Kudos to Victoria for leading the way on making participation a tradition every year. This year I had a really good time with Moc taking pictures. Afterwards we came over here to Flying Star to see what we came up with...and here they are. More of our pictures are on SWOPblogger.

"To speak the name of the dead is to make them live again"

Aztec dancers lead the way

Front of SWOP truck
SWOP in the parade

Side of SWOP float


Sandra and her grandsons, Ruben and Herman

Cars...

and more Cars

demanding justice for the murdered women of Juarez

Silviana and her friend

Face painting

Paraders:

Architectural History + Performance Art = Haunted House

Mikaela shares:
I'll admit I'm gullible. My first instinct is always to believe -- yes, even though I'm a liberal!

So when I got a flyer inviting me to pay money for a re-enactment of ghoulish murders that took place in a South Broadway house, my first instinct was to suck my teeth a little. I mean, really, capitalizing on murder and tragedy! It's a little distasteful. I struggled all day yesterday between my nerd-self that thought it was a pretty good idea to research a house's history and turn it into a haunted house fundraiser, and my liberal guilt side that thought the whole thing was less than PC.

Then I was gently put to rights, spoiling the magic a little, but satisfying my prim side. Now I can support the event in good conscience and let both sides feel the chill of fake fear!



Here's the story:

Trifecta +, an Albuquerque based Production Company presents MURDER HOUSE a multi-media, live, interactive, haunted house style reenactment of the grisly history of the famous Albuquerque Murder House.

The Murder House, 1016 Walter St. SE, in the South Broadway neighborhood, has a long history of unfortunate events that include murder, suicide and pedophilia. You've probably heard of the "murder house" because of the infamous "Pickler," the cannibal/serial killer who lived there in the 1950's. But after some extensive research, we've discovered that there is a lot more to the story of the murder house.

The house was built at the turn of the century and originally inhabited by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hightower and their daughter Eunice, who came to Albuquerque on the advice of their doctor because Mr. and Mrs. Hightower were both suffering from Tuberculosis. After Mr. Hightower’s death from the disease, Eunice apparently went mad from the stress of her father's death and her mother's illness. She stabbed her mother to death with a pair of sewing scissors. She was convicted of the murder and confined to the state hospital for the criminally insane. She died in the hospital at the age of 16.

After this event, the house was purchased by the Gaunt family in 1908. The Gaunts lived in the house until 1916, when Edward Gaunt murdered his wife and her sister before killing himself. In the 1930s, the house became a home for the mentally ill. In 1936 one of the patients initiated a murder spree, torturing and killing 8 fellow patients after trapping them inside the house.

Natalie Seward purchased the house in 1945. She was drowned in her bathtub in 1946. Although the coroner's office deemed the death accidental, there was some evidence that her husband Harold had murdered her.

In the 1950s, the house was inhabited by Lazarus “Larry” Mercer. Mercer became known as “The Pickler,” when various parts of over fifty humans and animals were found soaked in vinegar in the kitchen. In 1966, the bodies of thirteen missing children were found underneath the estate. The bodies had been placed there by a known sex offender.

The house has remained vacant since the 1980s, when a contractor remodeling the house hung himself in the bathroom.

Isn't that well done? Here's hoping the performance art is on par with the history!

Pajama Party: Next 3 Weekends

Mikaela re-posts, courtesy Q-staff:

The Boys are Back. Thing 1. Thing 2. Troublemakers all: Your favorite and mine.

The one... (okay two) ... the only...

The Pajama Men

IMPROVVISO

Improv at its finest

Holy smokes! The Pajama Men (known to their mothers as Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez) are back in Albuquerque for three short weeks to bring a completely improvised show to Q-staff Theatre: IMPROVVISO! The thrilling tight rope of split second character switches and multiple story lines! Woven together by the critically acclaimed Pajama Men as they invite you to engage in some of the most unusual and hilarious physical comedy ever staged. Over the past seven years Allen and Chavez have extensively toured North America and Europe, and recently were presented by Second City at Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre, marking the first collaboration between the two venerable organizations. Now’s your chance to see them do it all, on the spot, right in front of your eyes; comedy magic, only without all the ta-da’s!

But wait, there’s more! The boys will hold a workshop open to anyone who wants to learn about devising comedy, improvisation, and the Pajama Man process of creating a show. Come see what they’ve been teaching at Second City without buying the plane ticket to Chicago!

“Whip-smart and able to turn on the thinnest of dimes, Allen and Chavez are improvisers’ improvisers. Actors’ actors. Comedians’ comedians.”

- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

“Watching Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez perform (in their PJs) is like watching your weirdest dreams melting together and bubbling on stage. Half the time, even they don't seem to know what's going to happen next….we can confidently guarantee this will be one of the funniest things you'll ever see. Queues for tickets will be huge.” - Alan Hindle, The Globe and Mail

The Pajama Men: IMPROVVISO

3 Weekends ONLY!!!

Weekend 1: Friday, Sat. Oct. 6 & 7, 9 p.m.
Weekend 2: Thurs, Fri, Sat. Oct. 12-14, 9 p.m.
Weekend 3: Thurs, Fri, Sat. Oct. 19-21, 9 p.m.

Q-Staff Theatre 4819 Central Ave (across from Highland Theatre)

Reservations: (505) 255-2182 (a good idea, as these guys pack the house)

Tickets $15, $12 for students and seniors