La Palabra one seventeen. Zoot Suit Is Back. Teatro News.

This Circle Will Be Unbroken
Michael Sedano

180º of La Palabra's open circle seating plan. Harry, a regular open mic'er has the floor.

Karineh Mahdessian opens the reading to the enthusiastic applause of delighted poets and poetry lovers. The Sunday, January 29 meeting marks the third anniversary of Mahdessian's assuming the role of emcee and coordinator of the long-lived reading series at northeast Los Angeles' stimulating Avenue 50 Studio.

Ordinarily, Mahdessian elects to allow her guests to occupy the spotlight. These aren't ordinary times. Marking this, Karineh started the poetry with a piece from Suheir Hammad's collection, Born Palestinian, Born Black: & The Gaza Suite. Mahdessian's quiet reading of the powerful poem defines the ambience of the times, gives a solid perspective on the work that will follow.

The Open Mic

Today's agenda begins with volunteers to share a single piece. Diane Tirado, Jessica, Don Kingfisher Campbell, and Charles L. Davis (first foto, clockwise from upper left) share time with today's audience.

Open Mic clockwise from top left:
 Diane Tirado, Jessica, Don Kingfisher Campbell,  Charles L. Davis

I read a 500-word memoir about a ride up to a missile site during a raging snow storm. It was a spur of the moment decision that seemed appropriate, since one of today's spotlight readers is a Korean poet and the snow storm was part of my thirteen-month experience in that country. I should have brought my reading glasses. I mangled the text. Mee an hum, chum ("that's tough luck, pal" in pidgin.)

Also sharing the open mic spotlight are Albie Preciado, Aaron, Alex Hohmann, and Diedre. Preciado knows how to win hearts--he is the unofficial official baker of La Palabra. Today's wheat-based treats are a key lime shortbread and a tahini-based muffin. I whisper to him that shortbread is among the very few successful gluten-free cookies in existence.

Open Mic clockwise from top left:
Albie Preciado, Aaron, Alex Hohmann, Diedre 

Featured Poets

Four poets each get 15 minutes to share their work. Tanya Ko Hong is up first, Derek Brown follows, then Lisbeth Coiman and Caits Meissner. Mahdessian keeps the features on their toes while preventing the buildup of stress by calling them up in random order.

Tanya Ko Hong

Tanya Ko Hong blends immigrant humor with poetic elegance. In one narrative piece she relates the struggles of a Hangul speaker with English phonetics. The problems are not limited to words like "river," but more so to ill-trained teachers who correct, "river!" "liver." "River!" "That's what I said!" And the teacher points to her lips and says, watch my mouth, "river."

That style of instruction is torturous, more so than the absence of "r" in some tongues. Tanya articulates the sound with ease.

Tanya Ko Hong

Tanya Ko Hong

Derek Brown strings together his pieces with an interior monologue. "Self," I said to myself, "don't begin a reading with a strident political piece. Well..." Well is his hook transition into a stridently political piece. "Oh, no, self, you can't...." then he does. Brown uses the technique with aplomb, the narration seamlessly linked with the verse. A dynamic physical presence adds to his engaging ethos. 

Derek Brown

Derek Brown

Derek Brown

Lisbeth Coiman immigrated from Venezuela to Canada on her journey to the United States. Her politics and poetry make ideal couplings for effective poetry and memoirist prose. She shares a "spoken word" recitation from memory that energizes the house not just through rhythm and image but also because she seizes the floor performing on her feet. After this she takes a seat to read another poem then an extended memoir of citizenship, blackness, latinidad, and U.S. xenophobia.

Lisbeth Coiman

Lisbeth Coiman

Lisbeth Coiman

Caits Meissner closes the featured readers segment, sharing work from her newly released collection, Let It Die Hungry. As usual, I don't have any money so I'm unable to buy a copy. Drat, the work teems with the smell and feel of New York City. One piece recounts a confrontation on a subway. Looks deceive. Some cholas--though that's not the NYC term--and a middle-aged presumably anglo woman look to the narrator to be facing off. Sensing incipient violence from the youngsters, the narrator watches with unease. But this older woman has insight and her own history. The women end the meeting with a fist-bump.

Caits Meissner

Caits Meissner

Caits Meissner

La Palabra Hosted by Karineh Mahdessian meets at Avenue 50 Studio the last Sunday of every month. Check La Palabra's Facebook page for updates.

Caits Meissner, Tanya Ko Hong, Karineh Mahdesian, Derek Brown, Lisbeth Coiman

Serendipity is no accident. Writers from Las Lunas Locas, a writing group attended in force to support Karineh and La Palabra. I was pleased to gather las lunas for a group portrait with three  of today's featured poets.

Las Lunas Locas En Propria Persona

Tonight's The Night! Zoot Suit Returns to L.A.'s Mark Taper Forum

Curtain goes up at 8:00 p.m. on the revival of Luis Valdez' Zoot Suit. The musical, featuring music by Lalo Guerrero, debuted at the Taper as a festival piece in Gordon Davidson's innovative  New Theater for Now series. The production, featuring Daniel Valdez as el Pachuco was an instant hit. Zoot Suit returned as a main stage production featuring Edward James Olmos in the career-making pachuco role, with Valdez as Hank Reyna. That production was a gem of characterization, emotion, drama, dancing, everything good that can happen on stage happened. I'm sure that magic will return beginning with tonight's opening.

The Mark Taper Forum, celebrating its 50th Anniversary Season, brings this most celebrated of productions back to LA. It's a hot ticket. Slime, AKA brokers, are asking around $400.00 for a $75 seat. You can still find a seat via the Center Theater Group's sales page. Unlikely you'll get to sit with your gang, but the Amelia Taper Auditorium is a small house and everyone is close to the stage and within hailing distance of those across the hall.

LATC: The Raza Theater in El Lay

The Center Theater Group and the Mark Taper Forum are the elite venue for live teatro in the city, but the raza-operated Los Angeles Theater Center is far from rasquachi and merits support. The highly polished professional work at LATC offers Los Angeles' best bargain in live teatro, although Boyle Heights' Casa 0101 gives LATC and CTG a run for their money.

This season, LATC offers a special deal of three world premieres for $75.00. That's the price of a cheap seat to Zoot Suit.

Click here for LATC ticketing.

Rio Grande February: NHCC Events

For details on National Hispanic Cultural Center programming, visit the NHCC's website here (link).

Enjoined and Restrained (#NoMuslimBan)

A Poem Based on Judge Donnelly’s Decision in

DARWEESH, et al., vs. TRUMP, et al.

There is imminent

danger that, absent

the stay of removal,

there will be substantial

and irreparable injury to

refugees,

visa-holders,

and other individuals from nations

subject to the

January 27, 2017 Executive Order…

Defendants are

ENJOINED AND RESTRAINED.

Poetry Equals Power: the Resistance Calls on Poets

Melinda Palacio

Poets Teresa Mei-Chuc and Sojourner Kincaid Rolle at the Los Angeles Women's March

A Charge To Keep In Mind

By Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate 2015-2017

There is charge to keep.

it covers the tree keepers

and those who seek to cut them down.

It covers the pedi-drivers

and those who ride in limosines.

It covers the harbors and the hillsides

the landmarks and the NIMBY's.

In all its disparate ways,

It covers the voter and the non-voter;

equal status in the public square.

Your charge is to your neighbor

your neighbor’s water

your neighbor's land use and limits

your neighbor's joyful noise

your neighbor's refuse and effuse

your neighbor/s children in the park

your neighbor's safety on the street.

You have a charge to make a way

for walkers, bikers, runners, climbers’

You have a charge to make a place

for swimmers, skaters, dancers, painters.

You have a charge to listen

Be we praisers or critics –

Be we transient or landed

You have a charge to hear us all -

to keep our counsel at heart.

We, the people, are a multitude

many cultures, many creeds, many life ways -

endowed or impoverished, we all marvel at the rainbow.

Today we can begin

to see a new vision

to hear with new understanding

to act in concert toward our common good.

You have a charge to keep.

We have a bond to hold.

*This poem is published in "What Breathes Us" Santa Barbara Poets Laureate 2005-2015 (Gunpowder Press- 2016)

Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

WE

By Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

This poem is dedicated to the giant trees in the great ever green forests that populate the lands from sea to shining sea - from the Pacific to the Atlantic to Indian Ocean to the Sea of Galilee - and in particular, to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez and Selma Rubin.

We.

We stand.

We stand tall.

We stand together -

trees in a vast forest

huddled in a great mass.

We are a multitude –

each different and distinct.

We honor our differences.

Where we stand,

our roots sink deep

into the firmament.

We are nurtured.

infused by the ever-flowing

fountain of life.

Endowed with the history of our kind;

our nation, our community, our families,

we learn from the struggles of our forebears.

As we grow, we give back as our ancestors gave;

sacrificing their easy comforts

that future generations together might thrive.

We are our forebears.

We stand in the shadow of their greatness.

We live our lives as their namesakes.

We are the Mahatmas, the Martins,

The Cesars, The Selmas.

We are the guardians of their legacies.

We are the bearers of their flags.

We are the tellers of their stories.

We are the singers of their songs.

We feed the starving.

We clothe the threadbare.

We shelter those who have no home.

We work for change.

We demand justice.

We uplift the downtrodden.

We are the future generations.

We embrace the power of people united.

We will never again be defeated.

In the names of our ancestors,

We stand.

We stand tall.

We stand together.

3/31/12

More Images from the Women's March Santa Barbara edition and a poem to kick off the march.

The video. Hear Melinda Palacio read "The Old Mission's Bell"

before the kickoff to the Women's March, Santa Barbara, Jan 21, 2017. The poem is from

from How Fire Is a Story, Waiting (Tia Chucha Press 2012)
*Thanks to Alison Bailey for the Video

Melinda Palacio
photo by Rod Rolle

Alison Bailey and Melinda Palacio
photo by Rod Rolle

American Library Association Award Winners 2017

The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.

“Lowriders to the Center of the Earth,” illustrated by Raúl Gonzalez, is the Belpré Illustrator Award winner. The book was written by Cathy Camper and published by Chronicle Books LLC.

Belpré Illustrator Honor Books

“Esquivel!: Space-Age Sound Artist,” illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh, written by Susan Wood and published by Charlesbridge.

“The Princess and the Warrior: A Tale of Two Volcanoes,” illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS.

*

"Juana & Lucas,” written by Juana Medina, is the Pura Belpré Author Award winner. The book is illustrated by Juana Medina and published by Candlewick Press.

Belpré Author Honor Book

"The Only Road," written by Alexandra Diaz and published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers/A Paula Wiseman Book.

Given to African American authors and illustrator for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions, the Coretta Scott King Book Award titles promote understanding and appreciation of the culture of all peoples and their contribution to the realization of the American dream. The award is designed to commemorate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to honor Mrs. Coretta Scott King for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood. 

“March: Book Three,” written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, is the King Author Book winner. The book is illustrated by Nate Powell and published by Top Shelf Productions, an imprint of IDW Publishing, a division of Idea and Design Works LLC.

King Author Honor Books

“As Brave as You,” written by Jason Reynolds, a Caitlyn Dlouhy Book, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

“Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan,” written and illustrated by Ashley Bryan, a Caitlyn Dlouhy Book, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

*

“Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat,” illustrated by Javaka Steptoe, is the King Illustrator Book winner. The book is written by Javaka Steptoe and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Three King Illustrator Honor Books

“Freedom in Congo Square,” illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, written by Carole Boston Weatherford and published by Little Bee Books, an imprint of Bonnier Publishing Group.

“Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan,” illustrated and written by Ashley Bryan, a Caitlyn Dlouhy Book, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

“In Plain Sight,” illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, written by Richard Jackson, a Neal Porter Book, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership.

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award

“The Sun Is Also a Star,” written by Nicola Yoon, is the Steptoe author award winner. The book is published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement:

Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop is the winner of the Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award pays tribute to the quality and magnitude of beloved children’s author Virginia Hamilton.

The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

“The Girl Who Drank the Moon,” written by Kelly Barnhill, is the 2017 Newbery Medal winner. The book is published by Algonquin Young Readers, an imprint of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, a division of Workman Publishing.

Newbery Honor Books

“Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan,” written and illustrated by Ashley Bryan and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division.

“The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog,” written by Adam Gidwitz, illustrated by Hatem Aly and published by Dutton Children's Books, Penguin Young Readers Group, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

“Wolf Hollow,” written by Lauren Wolk and published by Dutton Children's Books, Penguin Young Readers Group, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

“Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat,” illustrated by Javaka Steptoe is the 2017 Caldecott Medal winner. The book was written by Javaka Steptoe and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Caldecott Honor Books

“Leave Me Alone!” illustrated and written by Vera Brosgol and published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership.

“Freedom in Congo Square,” illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, written by Carole Boston Weatherford and published by Little Bee Books, an imprint of Bonnier Publishing Group.

"Du Iz Tak?" illustrated and written by Carson Ellis, and published by Candlewick Press.

"They All Saw a Cat," illustrated and written by Brendan Wenzel and published by Chronicle Books LLC.

For a complete list of ALA awards and winners visit

http://ala.unikron.com/2017/YMA2017%20WRAP%20RELEASE%20-%20FINAL.pdf