Listen & Be Heard Network Arts News

Dear All,
This will be my last letter from the editor of Listen & Be Heard.
Times are changing, and I am changing with them. Listen & Be Heard the open mic, Listen & Be Heard the newspaper and website, and Listen & Be Heard Poetry Cafe have all been learning experiences for me from which [...]

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Ana Castillo coined the word Xicanisma in the subtitle of her book “Massacre of the Dreamers: Essays on Xicanisma” back in 1994. In my mind it is a word that was created to describe an admirable quality of her own character, as well as that of Regina, a protagonist in her latest novel “The Guardians.” When I interviewed her in person back in 1998 she had an unmistakable aura about her of intelligence and courage. She herself is a guardian for the voiceless, telling the stories of people who live in shadows and die alone, sometimes without even their internal organs. Far from a book of essays, or a lecture on immigration, “The Guardians” is both tragic and comedic, poetic and suspenseful. In the following interview by e-mail I “talked” with her about her writing process, the recent election of Barack Obama and her future plans.

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I like to think big, but sometimes small is the way to go. I remember hearing Suze Orman give some simple financial advice for getting out of debt. She advised people to clean their house and get organized. (I’m paraphrasing here.) While cleaning, put all the loose change that you find in a jar. When you’re done cleaning and organizing you will feel energized. Then, you should take all the change that you found, whether it amounts to a dollar or thirty dollars (you will find something,) and put it down on your biggest debt. Now that always stuck in my head as some very good advice. More than just symbolic, each little payment on a debt reduces the interest on that debt. Making a positive step in the right direction opens the door of possibilities. Probably, if the banks and the auto makers would do some thorough house cleaning, they could eliminate a lot of their own problems themselves. But while I can’t do much about that, I can clean my own house.

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Does the fact that Americans turned to comedy shows on election night prove that TV viewing Americans just can’t take anything seriously? Or does it prove that Americans have a hard time taking the pundits seriously, and gravitate toward the art of comedy for a deeper truth? Children and jesters speak the truth when everyone else is embarrassed (or is that bare assed?) And what do people do when they are exposed and nervous? They laugh. Laughter can be complex, a sign that we recognize contradictions or suddenly see something in a new light that we had not considered or even thought of before.

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I have pictures of fresh snow in my e-mail
from people who live elsewhere.
Here in Vallejo, CA, USA it is almost
always sunny by two in the afternoon.
Weary of whatever I walk into the sun
and am revivified while gazing at
bright red hibiscus flowers
blooming in the yard.
Good time for the editor to take
a little break.
But I’ll leave you [...]

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Now is the time to advocate for a different perspective on what is important to us and future generations. Don’t allow the Arts to continue to be looked upon as charities, when in reality artistic activity can lead the way to economic prosperity. Arts professionals of all kinds should seek ways to work with arts councils, arts commissions, departments of cultural affairs, arts agencies, planning agencies, cultural centers and museums to advance a common cause.

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The international connection is the single most valuable aspect of our modern technology. In the hands of creators, in the hands of the collective imagination for the future, we have a vast ocean of possibilities available to us like never before. We can connect with our international neighbors as easily as we can walk across the street and ring our neighbor’s doorbell. But nothing is certain in the future, and most of this won’t work if the plug gets pulled from the socket.

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Arts, Arts Education, Culture, these topics aren’t important enough to enter the discussion when everyone’s worried about their bank accounts and where in the world to shoot bullets. But it is the Arts that will sustain us even when the stock market fails and our sons and daughters die in foreign lands.

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I figure that I’m somewhere in the middle in terms of technical know-how and understanding. For those who know more than me, I can be entertaining with my mishaps, and remind those with mastery how the rest of us perceive what’s happening as we learn. For those who know less than me, I can be encouraging. I am demonstrating how it is possible to continue to learn and apply new techniques toward manifesting creative goals. Technology of all kinds is becoming more available all the time, and can be a useful tool if we choose to use it.

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The tools that are available to us today have evolved. With a little effort we can overcome our trepidation about technology we’re not used to, and begin to use it. I love the fact that I can host (for free) a live radio show that people anywhere in the world can call in to. And people have. They have called my show from Germany, Canada and all around the United States. I have the freedom to schedule shows when I wish, and to produce whatever content suits me, all brought to you by Blogtalkradio.com. You can participate in the L&BH Network Radio Hour by calling in while it’s live (Tuesday nights from 8-9pm, Pacific Coast time), or submitting audio content to me for consideration. You could also start your own radio show by going to Blogtalkradio.com.

Call in radio is a lot of fun, but so is hosting your own tv station. I’m currently doing both. Combining video available from a vast on-line library with original programming, Listen & Be Heard is now producing a 24 hour tv channel. Mogulus.com offers a live studio over the internet to television producers. This is a great addition to the Listen & Be Heard Network.

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Listen & Be Heard Network plans to record and air a weekly arts news program. Volunteer must live in the vicinity of Vallejo, CA, USA and be available for studio work one morning a week for two hours. If interested please send a cover letter and resume to Martha Mims at editor AT listenandbeheard DOT net.

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I went to a party and someone asked me “what do you do?” My answer to that question tends to be different every time I give it a whirl. So this time around I said I was a writer, a poet. The next question was inevitable. It doesn’t seem to change no matter what my answer to the first question is: “do you make a living doing that?”

Well, I’m living. Now, I know many of you have had a similar experience. Depending on your personal history and what your “achievements” have been, your emotional response to the question “what do you do?” will shape your answer.

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If you have too much it transforms the people around you. If you don’t have enough your life can become a tragedy. This system that we were all born into here in America dictates that if you are ambitious about producing and presenting big arts projects you will have to go out with your hat out and ask people, companies, corporations and governments for money, because your work will not have any dollar value on its own. It’s time to get away from all that and find a different way to manifest what must be expressed.

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During the whole time that the Olympics were happening in Beijing I kept thinking that what the world needs is an international arts event of the same stature as the Olympics is for sports. When Dizzy Gillespie visited Cuba he gave a concert with a band of musicians who were Americans and Cubans. He commented to a huge crowd of fans that they were demonstrating to their political leaders how it can be done. The way I see it, no matter what the political controversy is that surrounds the Olympics, the fact that all these athletes come together and display their skills and sportsmanship at the heights of human achievement is awe inspiring. Just imagine, if there was a arts event of the same magnitude, how it would improve the stature and the funding of the arts all over the world. How little kids would pick up instruments, recite poetry, rehearse in state-of-the-art theaters…

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Another radio show I will be hosting is an interview and call in with Ana Castillo. Her latest book is “The Guardians,” published by Random House. I am reading it now and will be speaking with her in a couple weeks. So now is the time to brush up on her history (you can read a previous interview I did with her about “Massacre of the Dreamers” in the PlanetAUTHORity.com archives), and/or read her latest book now, so that you can call in with your comments and questions about the book. I’ll post the details of when and where as soon as everything is finalized.

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Please mark your calendars for our first internet radio open mic on Tuesday August 19, 2008 at 8pm (California time.) We will be featuring DDE, Don Hagelberg, Alicia Jones and Adam Gottshalk. There is still room to be featured on August 26 if you want to sign the open mic list.

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A couple weeks ago I wrote an article about becoming the media, in order to use the media. As often happens, I was sharing my thoughts as I work on promoting both my personal work (books, cd’s, appearances) and my community work which is Listen & Be Heard Network. So, since writing the article, I [...]

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A bulletin board creates a central area for discussions to take place. The forums and topics will be determined by the participants. What follows should be constructive conversation that leads to actions which help us all to thrive as arts professionals.

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Advertising, Public Relations and Marketing are what get the big guys use to get where they want to go, and what will get you where you want to go. You can even take some control over where you are going. But you may have to be more creative to accomplish the same things.

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Whatever field of the arts that you may be participating in, a major challenge for all creators today is to make their activities viable. You may make a living, want to make a living, or not care about making a living in the arts. If you are serious about your craft, you want it to [...]

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