“Whitman revised … with a voice that is politically engaged and rooted in compassion” is how Brian Turner describes California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick’s poetry.

This Sunday and Monday February 12 and13, newly appointed California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick returns to Ventura County for two readings. On Sunday, February 12, Herrick reads at 11am at the Museum of Ventura County Agriculture Museum located at 926 Railroad Avenue, Santa Paula. Monday, February 13 at 1030am, Herrick reads at Cal State University Channel Islands in Room 1360 in the Broom Library; parking is $6.

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In her essay “The Path of the Red and Black Ink” from Borderlands: La Frontera, Gloria Anzaldua explains, “I write the myths in me, the myths I am, the myths I want to become.” (Find that essay plus two more here). Her poem “Borderlands” goes deeper into these myths to understand what it means to live on the “Borderlands”:

To live in the Borderlands means you
are neither hispana india negra española
ni gabacha, eres mestiza, mulata, half-breed
caught in the crossfire between camps
while carrying all five races on your back
not knowing which side to turn to, run from;

To live in the Borderlands means knowing Read more…

builders of houses of words…

We become builders by building, says Aristotle, just as harpists become harpists by playing the harp. “Similarly,” Aristotle says, “we become just by the practice of just actions, self-controlled by exercising self-control, and courageous by performing acts of courage.”

And we become writers by writing…

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There are some people I can listen to all day any day.

Dr Heather Cox Richardson is one of those people: in her weekly politics chats or history talks, she connects the dots between current politics, culture, and history. Listening to her helped me get through the previous administration during the pandemic years — and helped me keep me sane AND my kitchen clean. 

Sir Ken Robinson is another person I love to listen to: Read more…

“We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always right to do right.” Martin Luther King Jr.

“We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always right to do right.” Martin Luther King Jr.

And to deliver our dreams! Read more…

Dr King’s Dream

Today is Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday: he was born Jan. 15, 1929, and in 1963 he proclaimed “I Have a Dream” in a speech known now around the world. Read more…

“My general formula for my students is ‘Follow your bliss.’

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Till movie poster

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It is…  MB Hanrahan

Happy Halloween! 

A day full of tricks and treats! Like this image by Ventura artist MB Hanrahan (concept and model) and photographed by Dina Pielet– both a trick and a treat! 

One morning many years ago, I had a blast brainstorming four Halloween themed “I am” poems in small groups with my son’s K-1 class, then my son made a video using the text (below), This is what we wrote:

I am a scary smelly skeleton pirate!
I wonder where the treasure is

I hear black rusty shooting fire cannonballs
and swords slapping

I see other English ships to get their treasure
I want treasure, a golden compass, and a gold ring

I am a scary smelly skeleton pirate!
I pretend to play swords with you

I  feel my bones cracking Read more…