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SEPTEMBER 2014 NEWSLETTER
WHAT'S NEWS The 50th Anniversary Symposium has had an exciting change in the line up: two exciting performance poets, Josh Healey and Jason Bayani are joining us on Saturday to fill MC Yogi's slot. (MC Yogi had to cancel.) 
Josh Healey (pictured left) will be performing Saturday evening and is an award-winning writer, performer and creative activist. Fusing his distinct storytelling style with a subversive humor, and love for justice, Healey has been featured in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and is a regular performer on NPR’s Snap Judgement. He served as program director for Youth Speaks, directing spoken word programs across the SF Bay Area. The author of the poetry collection Hammertime, his writing has appeared in The Progressive, Tikkun and The Huffington Post.
Jason Bayani will be leading a workshop Saturday afternoon. Jason is an MFA graduate from Saint Mary’s College in creative writing, and a Kundiman fellow. As a member of seven National Poetry Slam teams, he’s been a National Poetry Slam finalist and represented Oakland at the International World Poetry Slam. He is also one of the founding members of the Filipino American Spoken Word troupe, Proletariat Bronze, and has been an organizer for the Asian and Pacific Islander Poetry and Spoken Word Summit. His first book, Amulet, was published in 2013 (Write Bloody Press) and has garnered acclaim in literary magazines.
The deadline to register for VOICES of GOLD, our 50th Anniversary celebration and writing symposium, to be held October 10-12 at IONS in Petaluma, is fast approaching: September 25. Single rooms are already gone. Don’t be left out of this special gathering. Visit http://cpits.org or call Tina at the CPitS office at (415) 221-4201.
Poetry Crossing: 50 + Lessons for 50 Years, is now available. Edited by Phyllis Meshulam and with a foreword by Susan G. Wooldridge, author of Poemcrazy.This book is filled with ready-to-go lessons for poets of all ages. It features model poems by award-winning poets and poets laureate as well as student poems and bilingual resources. Contact tina@cpits.org to order your copy now! $22.95 + tax & shipping. All contributors will receive free copies.
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CPitS 2014 Symposium Coming Soon: October 10-12, 2014
EDITOR'S NOTE Dear Poet-Teachers, Students, Parents and Supporters, Man, it's fun turning 50! Humboldt, Marin, Mendocino, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Shasta counties have all held celebrations; our 50th Anniversary Symposium, VOICES of GOLD is coming up in October; our annual anthology of student work is at the printer, and we have produced our first-ever lesson plan anthology, Poetry Crossing: 50 + Lessons for 50 Years. Wow! It's an exciting year. There is much more to read below. I hope you enjoy, Cathy Barber Editor The 2014 Anthology of Student Poems will be available by the October 10th symposium.
Edited by blake more and Emily Carr, the title, If the Sky Was My Heart, comes from this poem:
Kiddo Poetry in the Garden was held June 2. Kiddo holds monthly community art shows throughout Mill Valley every year. This year, for the very first time they had a KIDDO! show exclusively for poetry at Grow in Tam Junction. This was a wonderful opportunity for children to read their work aloud, if they chose to do so. The KIDDO! hosted reception was open to the student poets and their friends and families. The selected poetry was displayed throughout the garden for about a week, during regular business hours. Photos can be found here: http://kiddo.org/gallery/ The event was organized by Shawn Yarnell. Marin CPitS poet-teachers were allowed to recommend six to eight students each.
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Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival is a collaboration of Robert Hass, Poetry Flash, and Ecocity Builders. The 19th annual Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival will take place on September 27, noon to 4:30, at Berkeley's Civic Center Park, with their key collaborator, the Ecology Center/Berkeley Farmers' Market. It is held in conjunction with 100 Thousand Poets for Change, a global poetry movement. The Watershed Festival emerged from Robert Hass'snational Watershed initiative during his tenure as U.S. Poet Laureate, 1995-97, which explored connections between environmental awareness and the American literary imagination. K–12 student poets from California Poets in the Schools, Poetry Inside Out and River of Words international poetry and art contest will read under the guidance of poet-teachers John Oliver Simon,Maureen Hurley, and J. Ruth Gendler. This year’s poets include Anne Waldman, Dean Radorand Kay Ryan. Free and open to the public. For more info: http://poetryflash.org/programs/?p=watershed_2014
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CPitS Is Seeking Artwork From Students and Poet-teachers for the annual holiday card. Theme can be winter, fall, seasons, season of giving/sharing and/or poetry. Work should be sent electronically to tina@cpits.org or by snail mail to the office by September 30. Student artwork must have a signed release form, available on the CPitS website. Stipend: $50. Artist’s name will be included on the card. Call (415) 221-4201 with questions.
Poetry Out Loud, the national poetry recitation contest is coming to a high school near you. The California Arts Council’s newest staffers, Jason Jong and Shelly Gilbride, will team up to lead the California Poetry Out Loud program for 2014-15. Find them at: http://arts.ca.gov/programs/pol.php. Teaching guides now available from tina@cpits.org. Schools must register their intent to participate now!
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CPitS is Moving! CPitS has lost its lease and is moving the end of October. Watch for the December newsletter for our new address. In the meantime, check the website if you wish to contact the office, visit the office, or send materials.
SAVE THE DATE CPITS 50th Anniversary Symposium - October 10-12. To be held at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, the symposium will feature a writing intensive with Jack Grapes, a keynote by Al Young, former California Poet Laureaute, and workshops taught by CPITS teachers from around the state. For a registration form: http://cpits.org/events/2014/CalPoetsFinalFlyerOct2014.pdf
KUDOS Prartho Sereno’s New Poetry Collection, my work with elephants, has won the national Blue Lynx Poetry contest, which carries a $2,000 prize and publication in spring, 2015. Congratulations, Prartho (poet-teacher Marin County).
SAVE THE DATE CPITS 50th Anniversary Symposium - October 10-12. To be held at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, the symposium will feature a writing intensive with Jack Grapes, a keynote by Al Young, former California Poet Laureaute, and workshops taught by CPITS teachers from around the state. For a registration form: http://cpits.org/events/2014/CalPoetsFinalFlyerOct2014.pdf
KUDOS Prartho Sereno’s New Poetry Collection, my work with elephants, has won the national Blue Lynx Poetry contest, which carries a $2,000 prize and publication in spring, 2015. Congratulations, Prartho (poet-teacher Marin County).
Karen Lewis has been appointed executive director of the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference, an annual summer event for writers of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, now in its 25th year! This weekend event attracts presenters from all across the country. Karen is a poet-teacher in Mendocino County.
(Pictured, Karen Lewis, left, and blake more) Tanu Wakefield’s Poem “Torch Song,” was named a finalist for Stephen Dunn Poetry Prize and published on Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices. Tanu is a poet-teacher-in-training in San Mateo County.
For info: http://solsticelitmag.org/content/torch-song-threaded-ghazal-2/ |
Michelle Bitting’s Poem, “The Couple Who Fell to Earth,” was a poem of the week on Narrative Magazine in August. It was also nominated for the 2014 Rita Dove Poetry Award. Please note that you must create a (free) account to log onto Narrative’s site. Michelle is a poet-teacher in Los Angeles County.
Michelle Bitting's Indiegogo Campaign, entitled Ain’t Too Proud to Beg for Turkey, has surpassed its goal of $2,000, to raise money for a trip to Izmir, Turkey in October. Michelle, poet-teacher in Los Angeles County, has been asked by Ege University to present her paper: "Spirit in the Sensate Realm: Poesis and the Poet Singing Myth into the World" at their UPenn-affiliated Myth-Making Across Cultural Boundaries Literature and Cultural Studies Conference. She has also been asked to give a public reading of her poetry while there! If you've already donated, she thanks you very kindly! For info: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ain-t-too-proud-to-beg-for-turkey |
LA’s First Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gordon (pictured below), a student at New Roads School, was chosen on June 14, 2014. Amanda, who did two sessions of the Beyond Baroque Student Poets Program with CPitS, accepted her award at the LA Public Library. The selection committee comprised of the literary organization Urban Word, the Los Angeles County Commission for Human Relations, the Los Angeles Public Library, and PEN Center USA. She will be given her first contract for a book of poetry now, with Penmanship Books. Congratulations,Amanda. (from India Radfar, poet-teacher, Los Angeles County).
Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WendT0Sm-Tk Off/Page Project Seeks Youth Poetry on recent events in Ferguson, MO. According to the Off/Page Project website, they “combine the groundbreaking storytelling of Youth Speaks with the analytical lens of The Center for Investigative Reporting. We’re looking for original poetry from young people that reflects how the events in Ferguson resonate with them. Whether you’re on the ground in Missouri or following the events online from afar, we want to hear what you have to say.”
More info : https://beta.cironline.org/reports/offpage-project-seeks-youth-poetry-on-ferguson-missouri-shooting/ ~~*~~ San Mateo County Residents of any age may submit poems of place, with the name of the city or town you live in in the title, to the Poetry Is campaign during the month of September. Poems may be in any form or language, up to 40 lines. Selected poems will be read at Belmont Library on October 30. Organized by Caroline Goodwin, San Mateo County Poet Laureate. http://sanmateocountypoet.org/poetry-is/ Email for info: mdragun@smcgov.org. ~~*~~ Submissions to this quarterly newsletter Please note: the deadline for submission to the December CPitS quarterly newsletter is November 20th. Submissions should be sent to the editor, Cathy Barber cathy.ann.barber@gmail.com 
CPitS does not necessarily endorse organizations, publications or services mentioned or linked in this newsletter.
California Poets in the Schools 1333 Balboa Street, Suite #3 • San Francisco, CA 94118 web: www.cpits.org • phone: (415) 221-4201 • fax: (415) 221-4301 Find us on social media! Visit us on facebook, Twitter https://twitter.com/Calpoets and Tumblr http://californiapoetsintheschools.tumblr.com/ |
Humboldt County CPitS Program has received a California Arts Council Artists in the Schools grant, in the full amount of their request. Last year’s grant was approximately $10,000. Funds will allow poet-teachers Dan Levinson andJulie Hochfeld to reach more schools in Humboldt County. Kudos!
Poet-teacher Margot Pepper has a new novel to be released January, 2015, American Day Dream (Freedom Voices Press, 2015). There will be a sneak preview reading at City Lights Bookstore (San Francisco) on November 18 at 7pm. For more info: http://www.margotpepper.com/2015
CALLS FOR VOLUNTEERS, POETRY & PROSE Technology volunteer - If you, or someone you know, is talented in web design, graphics, and/or technology, CPitS can use your help. A few hours a month could make a huge difference, either in-person or in phone consultations, on the newsletter, the website, document design, the database, etc. Contact Tina at 415-221-4201 for more information or to volunteer. Moving volunteers - CPitS is moving at the end of October. Help is need around that time to box items and for the actual move. Contact Tina at 415-221-4201 to offer help. Thanks! POEM OF THE MONTH Bakersfield and Your Letters in the Morning You wrote me letters that the sun slipped through my window at 7:00 AM and told me of moist November leaves huddled together in piles at the edge of the street as if they attempted to keep warm from the cold air whispering your name through barren cotton fields and it sang a song composed of jeweled monarch wings dancing grasshoppers singing slingshots and sticky strawberry ice cream melted on the curb. they remained the intangible letters that collected in the lonely crevasses of my mind playing back in slow motion until the last leaf fell... that I realized I would have to step beyond your foggy dew kissed mornings and understand that there was a world beyond your endless grapevines. by Dorothy Manimtim Grade 11th, San Diego County Glory Foster, Poet-Teacher (Excerpt from the 40th Anniversary anthology, My Pencil of Dreams) |
