Calls for Peace, Equality, Dignity on the Streets of San Francisco

On the morning of Saturday, August 26th, I was in San Francisco, with a friend, bound for the Stanford Library.  Little did we know that counter protestors had decided to still mobilize even though the right-wing rally had been canceled.  As we walked to where the car was parked, we heard and saw the crowd (see below) and knew that (A), we needed to change plans; and (B), we needed to witness, be present, contribute. 

Photo by Josh Edelson

And so, I took photographs, met, and talked with San Franciscans who told me that despite having other plans that day, they too had dropped everything to come out, to be seen, to be heard.  They said they were not going to allow Nazis to take over their city.  Some were there to counter protest. Others told me they were quite upset about the pardoning of Arizona Sheriff Arpaio, while also marching to support immigrant rights.

In her book, Essays in Understanding, Hannah Arendt writes, "The reality is that the Nazis are men like ourselves and the nightmare is that they have shown, have proven beyond doubt what man is capable of" ("Nightmare and Flight," 134).

She also wrote:  "[T]he question is not as for Hamlet, to be or not to be, but to belong or not to belong" (The Origins of Totalitarianism).

I kept thinking about my step-father, Joseph Montes, who fought bravely in WWII, was wounded twice, and received a number of service awards as well as two Purple Hearts.  He was willing to sacrifice his life in order to stop the Nazis, to end white supremacy, to help create an ethical and peaceful world based upon mutual respect and honesty.

One afternoon, he sat down with me and showed me pictures he had taken in Germany-- pictures that included soldiers tearing down swastika symbols.

The following is a photo essay of what I saw on the streets of San Francisco. At the end of this piece. the last photo I took in early evening--I took for him.

Photo by Amelia Montes

Photo by Amelia Montes

Photo by Amelia Montes

Photo by Amelia Montes

Photo by Amelia Montes

Photo by Amelia Montes

Photo by Amelia Montes

Photo by Amelia Montes

Photo by Amelia Montes

Photo by Amelia Montes

Photo by Amelia Montes

photo by Amelia Montes

Elizabeth Marino - Poetry and the Poet Survives

 Elizabeth Marino

Poets may be distilled into any number of classes. Writers fall into broad groups of performance-first versus text-first. They may describe themselves as "town" -- poets of the people who embrace populist causes. Or they may define themselves as "gown" -- writers who challenge the theoretical status quo and collect diplomas at every turn. There are writers who never publish and only perform, and writers who only publish and never perform.

But in the simplest terms there are only two basic classes of writer that transcend all these other categorizations: those who write because that's "just what they do", and those who capture the language they seek through strategy. Elizabeth Marino resides easily in the latter and more savvy category. 

As an Oxford alumna, Marino has the academic credentials to command respect anywhere she goes. But it's not unusual to find Marino on Chicago's performance poetry circuit on any given night, where she's recognized and appreciated by audiences from Wicker Park to downtown. She's published in a good number of poetry journals, but she's also a theatrical director and actor. 

She is attuned to her neighborhood and community; she's been a life-long resident of Chicago, and shows much pride in her Puerto Rican heritage. Yet these definitions do not limit her concerns for universal issues. Any discussion with Marino on women's issues, for example, will immediately reveal her solid and well-grounded grasp of the world. 

Elizabeth Marino sets an example. She removes the superficiality that poets sometimes use to distinguish each other. Instead her focus comes down to one essential point: Is the poetry considered or not? By "considered", I mean that all the aspects of any given word are given full consideration for their worth in sound, context, meaning, and any number of other ways that a word is significant in a poem. 

This is deliberate and often unglamorous work. It can profit from spontaneous flights of the imagination. Many writers say this "the muse" talking when they get those few words going in their heads that drive a poem forward. However, waiting for an unpredictable muse to spark some inspiration won't necessarily get the job done. If you're writing for a stage production or a journal, you have deadlines that can't be put off. For this real writing, you need real tactics, real strategies. 

Marino's poetry demonstrates her studied approaches both in sound and text. Listen, read, and consider for yourself all the ways her language signifies.

- KEH, April 2002   Read and listen to poems. copyright © 1999-2002, e-poets network partners

I have known Elizabeth Marino for decades and she is both Poet/Soldier for the people, and a writer of deep feeling, conveying emotion and conviction like an arrow to the heart. She understands the pride and the passion involved making art despite body blows, both figurative and literal. 

I had Elizabeth as a guest at my 60th birthday dinner in Chicago, and as we were joking and swapping stories, I looked over at her, and thought, Camarada, estamos todavía aquí.

Despite the vagaries of life and its struggles, she writes and write prolifically.  Her chapbook, Ceremonies, was released by dancing girl press in 2014. This collection was based on work begun at a residency at Los Dos Brujas Writers Workshops, on the Ghost Ranch, near Albuquerque NM, where she studied with Juan Felipe Herrera. She received a conference scholarship and a CAAP grant.

Her prior chapbook, Debris: Poems and Memoir, is still available through Puddin'head press. 

When asked about herself, she sent me this: She is glad to look back on 21 years in the university teaching profession, and is grateful for the folks in her life who lift her up, make her laugh, and keep things lively in Chicago.

• Debris 24
THROUGH MY BEST FRIEND'S WINDOW
Borrowed blankets and pillows.
The neglected notebook.
Another squad car passed.

Two houses.   Across town, my house: 
courtyard and kitchen gutted by fire;
bedroom untouched.
White sheets — so cool, so smooth.

I steal back.  Spreading apart
my sheets, making room
his shoulders
musk of smoke rose.

• Debris 28
TO THE VISITOR
He trots past my new place
hesitates, then approaches
sniffing the softly drifted snow
on my front stoop.  Yes, I am a bitch.
But the season’s all wrong
to be in heat.

He paces
remembering the faint white scars
traced with his tongue.
We were both scavengers then;
I had not quite learned to hunt,
he liked the low-life smells.

And now, behind my own door
I’m up to my ears in blood.
My first real prey
throbs in my mouth.

Come friend.
Circle my home three times.
Tilt back your shaggy head.
Let us howl in rounds


ASYLUM     
                                                                         
Another sleepless night,
and my remote
take me to Charlie and  his blue
plastic boat, shared at St. Vincent
Orphan Asylum in Chicago.
His hair was wondrously full
and he made my belly laugh
as we waited and drifted.

The dormitory cribs were
far different from the blue vinyl
mats on the concrete floor
of the women’s wing of the
shelter.  Each places of shelter
and transit, an end time
at any time.

And I see these pictures
of the children stacked up like
cord wood, relatively safe
in their Texas detention camps,
compared to the Pakistani children
stacked up like cord wood
in ox carts, after a drone attack.

 It is difficult to shut off
these images on the screen
of the mind’s eye.  The browser sticks,
and keeps refreshing itself.

 In the morning
I must go out the door
and decide to be alive.

LaBloga, Best of 2014
The Muse of Peace Anthology (Gambia 2014)



FURROW
              MAY 23, 2016
Many fields lie fallow, waiting. 
The hand lingers over 
the pulse from the rounded belly. 
Even when the potential is gone 
the mystery remains. 

Imaging seeks and finds 
one intact ovary. The other 
hides behind fists of gristle and blood. 
No perfect child will unfurl tiny fingers here. 
This mystery is beyond the scope
of court ruling or clerical bias. 

It goes to the heart of who we are, beyond
good outcomes and sentimental simplifications. 
The hand lingers over 
the pulse from the rounded belly. 
Belly and hand are mine. Many fields 
lie fallow, waiting. 
I am legion. 

LaBloga 2017



Body Language                                                                              1

After Buñuel & Dali’s Un Chien Andalou
In his dreams 
               she would and safety beside him,
would ignore the dash of 
               passing strangers in darkened storefronts.
In his dreams they would 
     go back to her place, turn a single lock 
          enter the plush darkness of her 
               apartment, and he’d easily 
                    draw her to him
without her turning quickly 
     to light a small lamp, to glance 
          over and through the clear vinyl shower curtain 
     and draw the deadbolt, pull the latch and 
          slip closed the chain, giving a slight push 
                    for good measure.
In his dreams on this warm night 
          they’d wander out onto her back porch 
                    her face washed in silver by the full moon.
And when he’d stroke her right cheek 
          she wouldn’t flinch, and when he nuzzled 
                    the nape of her neck, all that he’d feel 
          would be the soft syllable 
                    “OH” 
          without the slight stiffening and soft 
                    “Shit” and sigh.
In his dreams 
          he could o)er her
night’s endless possibilities 
          and she would stroke him
till her heart was more than full.

From Debris chapbook



AS REV. PINKNEY DREAMS                                                             

Sleep falls hard under woolen blankets.

The day not cradled by a temporary small steel cot.

So much to set down, people to write.

The Creator finally is turned to in weariness.

Your breath? Oh yes, you feel it now.


There is that still black before the dream.

Colors so vivid, Lake Erie at dawn.

Brightly reflective. Crystal clear.


As your right hand falls from the side of your bunk

your fingers dip into the rising water.

Published in the People’s Tribune 12/2016, online edition

To start our interview, here's Elizabeth on Elizabeth:

I am a Chicago-based poet, educator and activist. I am a member of the local
Revolutionary Poets Brigade, and have work in the new anthology, Smash Capitalism Vol. II, as well as Rise: Anthology of Power and Unity. LaBloga has published a number of my poems, and selected "Asylum" for its Best of 2014 issue, in cooperation with Poets Responding. My work hasl appeared internationally and locally in print anthologies, journals and online. My two chapbooks Debris:Poems & Memoir (Chicago:Puddin’head Press) and Ceremonies (Chicago:dancing girl press) are still in print.

I earned an MA in English from the Writers Program at University of Illinois at Chicago, a BA in English and Humanities from Barat College, with undergraduate coursework at the University of Oxford.


Trends in poetry have come and gone and I wonder what makes a good poem for you? Who are people you like to read and why?

As an MA student at University of Illinois at Chicago, our workshops taught form poetry and open forms, and our literature courses surveyed the canon and a few contemporary writers. My own poetry did not speak through form, but observed and elevated common speech. Teaching Robert Frost opened my eyes to an extension of this. Frost had the power to move disaffected university sophomores. A friend in Hanoi, Dang Than, does wonderful work with game theory in his fiction and prose. Perhaps it is time to dust off my form notes and poetry dictionary. I also keep returning to Denise Levertov and her essay  on the line, as well as writing amidst political chaos. Poets who pay attention to language and meaning that comes across with earned sentiment I come back to re-read. I respect poets with a musical ear. I like to reread a poem and be surprised. 

Poets with a strong clear voice, with passion -- Audre Lorde, Joy Harjo, Juan Felipe Hernandez, the late Francisco X. Alcaron, Lola Ridge. This started with reading Nikki Giovanni's My House in high school.  I am on a lifelong project to educate myself on Latinx writers. For some reason, I am now reading Sylvia Plath, and Martin Espada -- they feed me.

What is it in poetry that sustains you spiritually?

I remember studying about Holy Spirit as a breath that flows through our very human bodies. I loved that image and the physical suggestion. The language and rhythms and images that you can keep in your head and turn to whenever, because poetry is one of the few arts you carry within you.

What do you have to say about the buzz that poetry is irrelevant?

Compared with? If it is relevant to you, read and write it. Language and meaning and craft will never be irrelevant. Like an almost dead language spoken by few -- use it! Poetry can be delivered by new technology, but few substitute the glib and hackneyed or unworked as legitimate poetry. That is easy entertainment or a first draft.

What are the issues that have affected you personally and what implications do you feel its had on your work?

I wrote a lot about domestic work, because - one - I was doing it in order to live and two - all that domestic work especially that kind seems invisible, even now. What about you and the life situations that you've experienced?

Recently, I was homeless for three and a half years.That experience was so profound, that it affected my human relationships more than any specific poem. I would like to explore more how this affects a circle of friends in the scope of a novel. I have also survived four serious assaults, two with guns. As a child, I had four households by the age of six -- violence and displacement are themes, along with holding onto mental health.

And given that, how would you describe your work as poet/activist. Talk about Revolutionary Poets Brigade and what you were doing?

I am a core member in the RPB - Chicago. It is an intellectual and creative home base. We are affiliated with the San Francisco original. My poems have appeared in their international anthology and in the People's Tribune, which has shared members. We study together and have actions to help make a more liveable planet. I curated a Grito de Mujer reading. I did social justice poetry before; RPB gives me a home base.

You've been a figure in the poetry scene in Chicago for many years. What are some perspectives you'd like to share on the slam/performance genre, poetry that is more text and print oriented. How to do see the "principals" in many institutions - Anglo/male/upper class effecting access to publication, control through the canon,  employment in the field?

First, I chose to work primarily as a print poet, with some performance work. I trained also as an actor, so I have some skills there. I don't really understand how rap works, so I don't work with it. I like to do less transient work. Even with social justice poem, it has to work for me as a poem, not only a rant.

Second,  I try to block out the ageism, classism, mysogyny, sexism, priviledging of sexual orientation and color bias. All of this gets in the way of my work and its publication.(as well as my life!) If I am to challenge any of this effectively, I have to hear myself think, without the clutter. I need to look for structures of oppression, not just slights. I have to keep myself healthy. Others might try to push me away and down the stairs, to clear way for my "betters." I don't have to jump.

I tried to make the most of opportunities offered. Did I lose out sometimes? You bet. I studied at one source of Anglo privilege, University of Oxford. It was a great introduction. If I had been a straight white upper middle class male, that year would have been a great entré to many teaching and writing positions. Instead, it just made this brown English major harder to dismiss.

Where would you like to see yourself and your work in ten years?

I once said in a more temperate climate -- but who knows these days. At least one full-length book of poems, maybe a non-fiction/ book on homelessness, and continue to work towards more control of my craft.

What's some thing not in the official bio?

My name at birth was Micaela Teresa Mastierra. When I got my first AFTRA union card, this was my stage name, to honor my ancestors.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS -- ELIZABETH MARINO

·         CHAPBOOKS

Ceremonies.  Chicago: dancing girl press, 2014.

Debris: Poems and Memoir. Arlington Hts.: Moon Journal Press, November 2005, rpt. 2011 by

            Puddin’head Press. Strong review on national blogs, “Voices in Wartime” (Andrew 

            Himes) and Femficatio (online journal, London).  Also favorably reviewed in    

            Willow Review and ChicagoPoetry.com.  

Selected Characters. Edited chapbook of poetry by Kathleen Kirk. Moon Journal Press, 2005. 

·         ANTHOLOGIES

The 2016 Hestler Street Anthology. Crisis Chronical Press: Cleveland, 2016. Ed. John Buroughs. Included "Moving Skylines."

RISE: An Anthology of Unity and Power. Vagabond Press. Venice CA, 2017."Litany for Peace."

The Significant Anthology (India) Ed. Ampat Koshy and Reena Presad.

The Muse for World Peace: An anthology of Contemporary Poets Propagating World Peace. Ed. Mutiu Olawuyi, comopiled by Gabriel Timileyin Olajuwon. (Gambia)

Overthrowing Capitalism vol. II .Revolutionary Poets Brigade: San Francisco, 2016

Chosen Few - Readings from Chicago's Gallery Cabaret. Ed. Janet Kayper, Austin, 2015.

Just the Way You Are - online jazz poetry project (Santa Fe). Ed. Lisa Alverado.  I focused on Nicole Mitchell.

Between the Heart and the Land/Entre el corázon y la tierra: Latina Poets in the Midwest.

     Chicago: MARCH/Abrazo Press, 2001.

Breaking Mirrors/Raw Images. Chicago. 4:30 Poets

·         ALTERNATIVE MEDIA

·         LaBloga reposted "Furrow" from Poets Responding to SB1070.(national). "Asylum" appeared in LaBloga’s Best of 2014 issue.

·         Poets Responding to SB 1070. Published three poems on site. Poem for Japan piece reprinted on   LaBloga, national Latinx arts blogsite.

·         “Book of Voices.” Critical essay and portfolio. Chicago: e-poets network (2002). Kurt Heinz maintains the site. <voices.e-poets.net>

Caravel webzine republished "Utility," a poem written for The People's Tribune, which also published "Rev. Pinkney's Dream."

LITTLE MAGAZINES

After Hours Magazine (Chicago); Moon Journal (Arlington Heights); Strong Coffee

(Chicago); Nit & Wit (Chicago); Lucky Star (Oak Park); Right Brain Review (NEIU); Illinois

English Bulletin (Sp. Issue – Springfield, IL), Envisage (Oxford, U.K.).

ESSAYS/COLUMNS/INTERVIEWS

Chicago Journal (stringer), Calumet Park Star columnist, S.H.E. (essays) 

********************************************************************************************************

Featuring

Alicia Lueras Maldonado

Richard Wolfson

Amelia Leyva Shepard

John Barney

Vanessa Brown

Damian Davies

Marcial Delgado

Courtney Butler

Mark Wright

Melissa Rios

Ana Romero-Sanchez

Azul Cortes

Lita Sandoval

Jennifer Simpson

Adelina M Cruz

Tlacaelel Fuentes

Jessica Helen Lopez

Glenn Buddha Benavidez

Rene Mullen

Valerie Rangel

Mercedes Holtry

Charles Montoya

María José Ramos Villagra

A benefit to support sanctuary in New Mexico - the New Mexico Faith Coalition for Immigrant Justice. Proceeds will go directly to create SANCTUARIES for families in need of a place to stay.

This means funds will be used for food, clothes, legal assistance/media, and other necessary resources.

 A fundraiser will be held on

Saturday August 26 7-9 pm @

Duel Brewing ABQ.

606 Central SW, Albuquerque, NM

HELP FAMILIES FACING THE THREAT OF DEPORTATION OR THE HARDSHIP OF DETENTION.

Email  - Lisa at alvarado2004@yahoo.com

No Longer Taunted by My Six Eyes

Melinda Palacio

Selfie with Glasses

As a nerdy kid, the casual taunt of "four eyes" didn't bother me much. Glasses were a welcomed alternative to fuzzy vision and flinching every time a spherical object sped towards my face. I was ten years old when someone realized I needed glasses. Before my age reached double digits, I went through life seeing only what was at the end of my outstretched arm. Nearsightedness was a plus because I could read books in bed and study people's body language up close. Even though I couldn't see the chalkboard, I was a pretty good student who coasted on a good memory and an innate desire to please. I always sat at the front of the classroom and was quick to raise my hand even though I was very shy on the playground. 

            I remember the day my teacher at Middleton Elementary in Huntington Park finally figured out I couldn't see. She held a large laminated chart up with houses and trees, statistics was the lesson. My teacher at Middleton Elementary, Mrs. Schaeffer called on me to ask how many houses were in the first column. It was my last year before Junior High School and everything was odd about that day, especially the fact that the teacher had to call on me (when other students call you school girl and goody two shoes, the teacher doesn't have to work as hard) and that I had stayed quiet and didn't offer an answer. The teacher talked and pointed to her blurry chart, then pointed back at me. Everything she said sounded garbled like the teacher's voice in the Peanuts' movies. When I said I didn't know the answer, she got mad and sent me to the principal's office. She probably thought I was making fun of her. Her reaction was as surprising to me as mine was to her. It seems as if teachers often were angry when their supposed "good" students veered from expectation. It reminds me of the time I was punished for becoming emotional the first time I heard an orchestra play at school. I started sobbing when the cellist played her solo. The kids seated all around me turned to point at me and giggled while I was in tears because the music was so beautiful. My teacher sent me out of the auditorium and I missed the rest of the performance.

            Fast forward a few decades and the child is now a middle-aged woman who still wears glasses and who is still moved to tears by live music, especially the cello. This year, I must wear bifocals to adjust for print that is as close as my phone and as far away as a street sign. I have several friends who admit they need bifocals, but are afraid they will not be able to adjust to the varying magnifications. I suppose I am lucky that my brain can make the adjustments automatically and that I can also wear multifocal contact lenses. I'm just as eager to see all things near and far as I was when I received my first pair of spectacles. The best part of being a woman of a certain age who wears glasses is that instead of being called four eyes or six eyes (thank you bifocals), that I often receive compliments on my current frames. Perhaps, it helps that I chose frames that are very similar to the glasses Diana Prince wears in the new Wonder Woman movie.

Considering Race

Daniel Cano                                  Considering Race


For today’s Bloga, I had written a different essay. But after I watched fellow veterans provide security for Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists at last week's demonstration in Virginia, I felt I had to write something about racism. After all, I did spend most of my educational career teaching ethnic studies and racism in the U.S.

As a soldier in Vietnam, I was willing to sacrifice my life for the man beside me. It didn’t matter his color, religion, or sexual orientation. We were taught to be brothers and to protect each other. That’s why it was so disturbing to see veterans protecting racists.

It always puzzles me when I hear a person say, “White people,” especially if the speaker is a light or even moderately light skin Latino. I remember listening to Japanese-American historian Ron Takaki say, “White? What is white? I don’t know what that is. There’s no such thing as white.”

Of course, what he meant was that no person is truly the color white, just like no person is truly the color black or red, brown, or yellow. But the importance in Takaki’s message was that, even historically, racially, or nationally, there is no “white”, just like there isn’t any “race”.

Though there are people from Europe who are considered Caucasian, which is like “white”, I guess, according to most historical definitions, even folks from South and West Asia—or the entire Middle East, India, and portions of Africa are also Caucasian. So, will a Neo Nazis or white supremacist open his/her arms to Arabs, Mexicans, Persians, and East Indians who want to join the gang?

Even the word Aryan has its roots, not in Germany or northeastern Europe, but in Persia and India, in the Sanskrit language. Germany, as a country, didn’t even exist before 1850. If the Neo-Nazi or White Supremacist definition of “white” or Aryan means “pure blood”, that knocks out most Americans because few Yanks can claim 100% a pure bloodline, not even the Furor Donald Trump.

Recently, I watched television journalist Jorge Ramos interview an older, well-dressed, self-proclaimed white supremacist. In one exchange, Ramos used the word “White” to denote race. Now, Ramos is a blue-eyed, light skin Mexican national. So, it sounded absurd to me that Ramos would use the word “white” in the context of racial superiority because Ramos was as white or whiter than the man opposite him. Does that mean when Ramos uses the term “white” he is referring to himself, as well?

Technically, Latin-Americans (including Mexicans), are “white” or Caucasian, along with the other groups I mentioned above. Therefore, if a Chicano says, “White people are devils,” the speaker is also a devil, unless the person can prove 100% indigenous blood line? This is highly unlikely unless the person hails from Southern Mexico or Central America, places like Oaxaca, Chiapas, Honduras, Guatemala, etc. Though with nearly 500 years of European-mixing, the number of pure-blood Indians is getting rare.

I also hear Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists claim Western Culture as their heritage, which means Greek and the Roman civilizations. Yet Greek and Roman cultures did not divide their citizens by race. As the U.S. proclaims itself a society of immigrants, Rome declared itself a society of slaves. Why? A common Roman practice was to free slaves and admit them into Roman society with all the rights afforded any other Roman citizen.

No doubt, there were Africans and Jews among the freed slaves. One catch was that the freed slave had to accept Roman politics and religion. If American Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists are hailing the Greek and Roman civilizations as their heritage, then they must also claim the inclusion of blacks, Jews, and other people of mixed blood in their heritage.

Since Constantin also declared Rome a Christian/Catholic state, Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists should also be willing to kiss the pope’s ring. And any Irish, Scot, Italian or Polish Catholics out there marching with Neo-Nazis had better realize, their heads might also be on the chopping block.

According to sociologist and educator Dr. Joy Degruy, race didn’t become an issue for any society until the late 16th and 17th centuries when Europeans had to justify African slavery to the world by proving Africans were inferior to Europeans. That’s when European, so-called scientists, began measuring skulls to see if European skulls had different shapes than African or Mongolian skulls. A skull of certain proportions meant one race had a larger brain, hence more intelligence, that is until researchers began to see different shaped brains between parents and children of the same race, debunking that theory.

Even the tern Caucasian has a suspicious evolution. In the 1700s, a pseudo-scientist coined the word Caucasian referring to, what he considered, the most beautiful people in the world. They came from the Caucasus region of Europe. Therefore, all people of European extraction became Caucasians.

Now, we all know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and a subjective method for measuring anything. So, the word Caucasian has no scientific significance. I heard the man’s dissertation was fifteen pages and he never attended a university. He just used the personal library of a friend who oversaw his thesis.

Today, with DNA and a myriad of tools at their disposal, scientists have proven that all human beings share 99.9% of the same biological composition. Our differences in color, size, and shapes are cultural and not biological. That’s why parents from one region of the world might be tall and healthy and emigrate to another region of the world where the food is bad and medical care is lacking. After a few generations pass, their descendants can be short and scrawny.

Therefore, race is a myth. It doesn’t exist. It is made up just like the many fairy tales that pass down from generation to generation are made up. It’s what we do with stories, how we interpret them, and how we apply them to our lives that make a difference. Neo-Nazis and White Supremacist believe their race is superior when we now know that their race is fantasy, that their race is no different than any other race, and that the superiority they claim over other races is also non-existent. Their race is no better or no worse than any other race.

If anything, their hatred of the “other” is harmful to themselves and their descendants. While they spew their hatred for other races, the real enemies continue to take advantage of them. Instead of opposing ethnic groups who protest for better education, health care, employment, and political representation, they should be supporting them, for they share many of the same problems. Though they believe the government is holding them back, how can they not see that some masters of private industry control much of the government?

In the 1960s, when president Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, he knew it would destroy the Democratic party. At the time, the South was blue, heavily Democratic. He understood that “white” southern Democrats would not stand in solidarity with the ACLU, labor unions, Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Cesar Chavez, Reyes Tijerina, Dennis Banks, Russell Means, or Students for a Democratic Society, even though, they were all fighting the same battles.

In Vietnam, the sons of working class southern Democrats, the sons of American ethnic minorities, and the sons of working class whites, in general, left more blood on Southeast Asia’s killing fields than did the sons of rich, influential Americans.

Southern Democrats swallowed the myth, hook, line, and sinker, believing that they were superior to the others--hubris, as the Greeks called it. Hubris toppled kings and dynasties.

There’s nothing wrong with “white” pride. Professor Takaki stated that Caucasians needed to study their own ethnic histories, just like other ethnic Americans did. In fact, maybe that’s why the Tucson Unified School District outlawed Ethnic and Mexican American Studies. The program might lead to Caucasian Ethnic Studies, and many working class “whites” would see how their ancestors of Irish, Italians, and Polish descent struggled to become Americans. The school district wouldn’t want that.

But “Caucasians” from the working class south failed to see that some of their Caucasian brothers on Wall Street and those running major corporations considered them inferior, exploiting their labor in Southern coal mines, factories, and farms. In the Army, it was clear to me how northern white soldiers looked down upon their southern brethren.

Proud outdoorsmen and women, the Southerners didn’t see, at first, how unregulated emissions from industry polluted their rivers and lakes and decimated their mountaintops. Instead, Neo-Nazi and White supremacist propaganda distracted them from the real culprit. It wasn’t only southerners. Northern working-class whites experienced much the same. Consider Flynt, Michigan.

We study how Abraham Lincoln and the North fought to end slavery. But rarely do we hear historians discuss the North’s desperate need for labor and how the northern Captains of Industry and Robber Barons saw the vast labor pool working the southern plantations. I’m certain more than one of the northern moguls, in the 1800s, said, “Let’s free the slaves and get them up north to work in our factories. They’ll be so happy to be free, they’ll work for practically nothing.”

Today, the "White" southern working-class faces the same miserable poverty as many other ethnic and working-class Americans in the north and southwest. Do they really believe a billionaire northerner who has been known to exploit his own workers is their savior?

When all Americans should be standing shoulder to shoulder in support of each other, hatred, or maybe just ignorance, is keeping them apart. After all, who benefits when the one in power can “divide and conquer?” Anyone who chooses racism and division over solidarity and unity will always be easily conquered, including the veterans who provide protection, allowing the hate to spread.

In Memory of Dianne De Las Casas- Let's Read

Award-Winning Author  Dianne De Las Casas passed away. She was a prolific author and an amazing storyteller. We will miss you Dianne but I know that you will continue to inspire us through your wonderful books.  

Beware, Beware of the Big Bad Bear!

Illustrated by Marita Gentry

A delicious folktale sure to make you laugh! Oh no, Maw Maw is out of the most important ingredient for her beautiful buttery biscuits- sody sallyraytus! She sends her family off, one by one, with a warning about the bear at the bridge. Follow along as they try unsuccessfully to get the sody sallyraytus home. Who knew that a friendly, and very hungry, squirrel would jump in to save the day! Readers can make their own fluffy biscuits with the recipe included at the end.

The Cajun Cornbread Boy

Illustrated by Marita Gentry

You can't catch me--I'm full of cayenne! Baked in a skillet with two chilies for the eyes, a peppercorn for the nose, a link of boudin sausage for the mouth, and a large dash of cayenne pepper for extra spice, the Cajun cornbread boy runs through the bayou, sprinting past hungry animals who would like to sample such a tasty treat. When an artful alligator tries to trick the boy into becoming dinner, he's in for one really spicy surprise. Told in the charming language of an experienced storyteller, this colorful romp through Cajun country is perfect for children of all ages looking for a flavorful twist to a familiar fable.

There's a Dragon in the Library

Illustrated by Marita Gentry

Max loves story time at the library. One day he spots a large speckled egg on a bookshelf. No one believes Max when he says a dragon has emerged and is now growing up in the library. Young readers will learn about book care as they follow the dragon's antics.

A is for Alligator: Draw and Tell Tales from A–Z

Illustrated by Marita Gentry

Using a can't-miss formula, these 26 original stories and accompanying illustrations connect kids' love of animals and drawing with early literacy skills.

• 26 easy, step-by-step stories and simple illustrations

• 8–12 illustrations per story

• A glossary that explains all the animals

• Stories appropriate for grades PreK–3

Mama's Bayou

Illustrated by Holly Stone-Barker

A lullaby from the beautiful bayou. As the crickets chirp, frogs sing, and mosquitoes drone, dusk falls across the bayou. Mama rocks her baby to the soft symphony as the animals get ready for bedtime. Illustrated in beautifully detailed cut paper, this soothing chorus introduces children to animal sounds and lures them into peaceful slumber.

Little "Read" Hen

Illustrated by Holly Stone-Barker

Let your story-writing skills take you out of the henhouse! When the Little "Read" Hen's friends won't help her write an "eggcellent" story, she doesn't let it ruffle her feathers! This literary spin on a beloved folk tale is perfect for aspiring young writers interested in learning how their own fledgling ideas can hatch into a polished story. Holly Stone-Barker's vibrant cut-paper illustrations add riotous fun to each page.

Gigantic Sweet Potato

Illustrated by Marita Gentry

This children's picture book is a cumulative story adapted from the Russian folktale The Giant Turnip. In this version, Ma Farmer has a hankering for some sweet potato pie. But the sweet potato she has planted is too big to pull up, even with the help of just about every animal on the farm, from Pa Farmer, to Bessie Cow, to Ralphie the Dog, to Kittie Cat. Can Lily Mouse be the one to solve the problem? A page of fun facts and a sweet potato pie recipe are included.

Cinderellaphant

Illustrated by Stefan Jolet

This beloved fairy tale comes with a bigger glass slipper!

This punny twist on the beloved fairytale will delight readers of all ages. Children will enjoy finding similarities between Cinderella and her pachyderm equivalent as she searches for love at the ball of the zebra prince, heir to the throne. With a plethora of funny fur and hooves from across the animal kingdom, including an adorable fairy god-mouse, the lighthearted illustrations serve to highlight the imagination of this fractured fairytale.

Handmade Tales: Stories to Make and Take

Targeted for elementary teachers, librarians, and drama teachers, Handmade Tales offers more than 25 original tales from around the world that use hands as an active way to tell the stories.

Blue Frog: The Legend of Chocolate

Illustrated by Holly Stone-Barker

A long, long time ago, the Sun God spent his days enjoying a very special secret treat: rich, dark cacao. Unlike the Wind God, the Sun God did not want to share this heavenly food with the creatures of the Earth. One day, the Wind God transformed himself into the Rana Azul, or Blue Frog, and he taught the children of the Earth where to find the secret cacao beans through song. A recipe for hot chocolate and a sprinkling of Spanish words and phrases enhance this intricately illustrated foodie fable.

Story Fest: Crafting Story Theater Scripts

Contains 25 story theater scripts appropriate for Grades 2-6. The scripts are designed to accommodate whole-classroom participation. The book also includes a description of the process for working with students to create a school Story Fest. Grades 2-6.

Kamishibai Story Theater: The Art of Picture Telling

De Las Casas has adapted 25 folktales from across Asia for whole classroom use, borrowing a Japanese method of storytelling through pictures. Kamishibai theater harkens back to itinerant storytellers (Kamishibai Men) who conveyed their tales by means of illustrated cards slid into slots in wooden stages built on the back of their bicycles. This book includes an introductory chapter describing in detail the methods to use in coaching students in the art of Kamishibai Story Theater. It offers tips on rehearsing, and detailed discussion and background of the Kamishibai processes, and it describes how to coordinate grade-level story presentations. Reproducible tales can be distributed to each member of the class to aide in creating illustrations. Spot illustrations for each tale give students an idea of the flavor of their drawings for that story. The stories in Kamishibai Story Theater will delight children in grades 2-6, enticing them to participate in their own story fest.

Dinosaur Mardi Gras

Illustrated by Marita Gentry

Get ready to stomp and chomp to that mambo beat! When carnival time rolls into New Orleans, these hip dinosaurs want to boogie on down. Iguanodon wiggles to the music of a marching band, while Zigongosaurus dances zydeco and Pterodactyal swoops into the crowd. From singing tunes and tossing beads, these big beasts sure know how to party. Laissez les bon temps rugir!

The Story Biz Handbook: How to Manage Your Storytelling Career from the Desk to the Stage

Beginning with wonderful tips and advice about the art and presentation of storytelling, this is a complete resource about how to build a storytelling career. Storytellers come to their careers centered on the stories they love and soon realize that in order to make a living at what they love, they must build a business. This in-depth book tells them just how and what to do in every detail, from choosing a sound system to building a website to using podcasts and setting up an office.

Resource lists and tried and true ideas abound as the author shares her marketing and business success story throughout. Each chapter is a story in itself, beginning and ending with different traditional folktale openings and closings. There is even a chapter on how to plan for retirement.

Tales from the 7,000 Isles: Filipino Folk Stories

Also by Zarah C. Gagatiga

Celebrate the unique diversity and vibrancy of the Philippines through an in-depth exploration of the stories, traditions, songs, crafts, and recipes of the many different regions of the country.

• Traditional Filipino recipes, games, songs, and crafts indigenous to various regions of the islands

• Dozens of color photographs depicting the land, people, and folk traditions of every region of the Philippines

• A glossary of Filipino words

• A bibliography of print and online resources

Spooktacular Tales: 25 Just Scary Enough Stories

Written by a popular performer and well-known storyteller, this entertaining compendium reveals the secrets for suspenseful storytelling and features 25 spooky stories for audiences of all ages.

• Explains the tangible benefits of scary stories to young audiences

• Includes source notes for story adaptations

• Provides a list of both print and web story resources

• Offers stories ranging from suspenseful to comical to thrilling

• Rates how scary each story is and for which audience it is intended

Scared Silly: 25 Tales to Tickle and Thrill

Award-winning storyteller Dianne de Las Casas offers a primer on how to tell a spooky story, with 25 tales organized by age appropriateness and tips on how to effectively tell each tale.

• Includes 25 stories appropriate for children in grades 1-5

• A "Spook-O-Meter" illustrates how scary each story is for what audience it's intended

House That Santa Built

Illustrated by Holly Stone-Barker

This merry take on The House That Jack Built features a mouse, elf, reindeer, and much more. Young readers can get in on the act thanks to sound prompts such as "squeak," "stomp," and "jingle."

Tangram Tales: Story Theater Using the Ancient Chinese Puzzle

Targeted for elementary teachers, drama teachers, and teaching artists, Tangram Tales contains adapted tales from around the world appropriate for grades 2 through 6. Teachers can tell the stories in the classroom as part of a math unit, or have the students use the scripts provided here to perform the stories using tangrams. In the author's tangram story theater process, students are given roles as storytellers, tangram artists, and chorus members to create grade-level story presentations. Other tangram methods, such as individual student tangram tales and student-created tangram tales, are shared as well. The ways in which tangram tales connect language arts and math is demonstrated. The book includes simple black-and-white spot illustrations for each story, showing the tangram figures that depict the story. A reproducible tangram pattern is provided.

Tell Along Tales!: Playing with Participation Stories

This book makes the perfect addition to teachers' and librarians' story time selections, containing 25 educational and entertaining tales from around the world as well as proven storytelling techniques.

• Provides suggestions on storytelling techniques specific to each tale

• Includes spot drawings that enliven each of the stories

• A bibliography provides all the details for the story sources

Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach

Illustrated by Marita Gentry

When Madame Poulet realizes her friend Monsieur Roach is a no-good lazy bug who is taking advantage of her, it isn't long before Madame Poulet puts an end to her roach problem for good.

Stories on Board!: Creating Board Games from Favorite Tales

This unique learning tool lets students read and listen to a popular folktale, analyze the structure through story mapping, and create a board game based on their analysis.

• Includes drawings of the various types of board games

• Provides a glossary of board game terms and a bibliography of folktales

Handmade Tales 2: More Stories to Make and Take

Children love seeing ordinary objects such as paper and string transformed into extraordinary things. This book provides a collection of fun make-and-take tales that enable educators and librarians to take storytelling to a higher level.

House That Witchy Built

Illustrated by Holly Stone-Barker

Children will creak, clap, flap, and rattle along to this story of Witchy's house and the creepy creatures that live inside. A ghost, a bat, a cat, and a skeleton are only a few of the characters haunting the house. Illustrated with exquisitely detailed cut-paper and collage, this Halloween tale invites interaction through repetition, onomatopoeia, and infectious rhyme.

Cool Kids Cook: Louisiana

Also by Kid Eliana and illustrated by Soleil Lisette

For kids who want to cook—Louisiana style! Kid Chef Eliana keeps the good times rolling in this kid-friendly cookbook of Louisiana cuisine. With nearly thirty exciting recipes from meat pies to boudin balls to Mardi Gras king cake, Eliana undertakes a culinary journey exploring unique gastronomic traditions from all regions of the state. With Eliana's help, your delicious dishes are sure to satisfy the taste buds of all ages!

Captain Deadeye: The Bully Shark

Also by John Couret and illustrated by Stefan Jolet

Fourth grader John goes to Oceanside Elementary and because of his lazy eye, he is bullied by a boy who calls himself "Shark." Shark gives him the hurtful nickname "Deadeye John." John feels awful so his mom cheers him up by sending him on a treasure hunt where he discovers a magical chest full of loot! He finds an eye patch and a pirate hat, and becomes "Captain Deadeye, Master of the Seven Seas." Join Captain Deadeye on this seafaring pirate adventure where he battles a fierce storm; his nemesis, Captain Blackheart; and a vicious shark all while finding the courage to make a new friend and stand up to his real-life bully at school.

Cool Kids Cook: Fresh and Fit

Also by Kid Eliana and illustrated by Soleil Lisette

Kid-friendly foods made healthy! Whip up nutritious meals with America's favorite kid chef. Wholesome, fresh, and flavorful ingredients are the centerpiece in these tasty dishes, which include Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry, Crab-Stuffed Tomatoes, and Inside-Out Peach Crumble. Children (and adults!) can prepare these international recipes with ease.