Cleven “Goodie” Goudeau

Cleven “Goodie” Goudeau (1932-2015) was a talented painter and cartoonist, art director, and the creator of the first African American greeting card line in the United States in the 1960s. 

His work was published in Playboy, and was selected by Hugh Hefner to include in a 1962 collection of favorites. He founded the company Goodie Cards in 1962, which was in operation in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City until 1974. The company bought Onyx Publishing in 1963, and then released Goudeau’s line of greeting cards across the country, making them widely available in stores catering to people of color. In the 1980s, Goudeau worked as an art director at the advertising agency McCann-Erickson. He was a member of the Northern California Cartoon Artists & Humor Association, along with Charles Schulz and Morrie Turner. He also was a member of the Society of Illustrators.

Goudeau resided in Vallejo, California, with his wife Jeanette Mcree Goudeau. Goodie loved jazz and, along with Jeannette, would show up at Jazz Saturdays at the Listen & Be Heard cafe. He was always dressed sharp as a tack. He brought friends from out of town, and always introduced everyone to each other as gifted and talented people in their fields.

Ruth Ozeki, Author and Filmmaker

Ruth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker, and Zen Buddhist priest, whose books have garnered international acclaim for their ability to integrate issues of science, technology, religion, environmental politics, and global pop culture into unique, hybrid, narrative forms.

Her new novel, The Book of Form and Emptiness, published by Viking in September 2021, tells the story of a young boy who, after the death of his father, starts to hear voices and finds solace in the companionship of his very own book.

A longtime Buddhist practitioner, Ruth was ordained in 2010 and is affiliated with the Brooklyn Zen Center and the Everyday Zen Foundation.

RuthOzeki.com

Edwin Torres & Space Mouse

Edwin Torres (born 1958) is a Nuyorican performance poet. His work incorporates vocal and physical improvisation. He is the author of Ameriscopia, One Night: Poems for the Sleepy, Yes Thing No Thing, and several other poetic books.

In 1989 Torres began working as a graphic designer and a year later he discovered the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, which inspired his creative instincts. Torres created a movement which he called “Interactive Eclectrcism”, which combines movement, audience participation, music and songs. The Nuyorican Poets Cafe not only opened its door for his creation but it also opened the doors to a new world of reading poetry. Torres also created the “Poets Neurotica”, where dancers and musicians performed alongside two to four poets. He was a member of “Real Live Poetry” from 1993–99, performing and conducting workshops across the US and overseas.

[Source: Wikipedia]

Reginald Lockett

“Let the Healing Begin“

Poet and educator Reginald Franklin Lockett (1947-2008) received his master’s in English literature from San Francisco State University, where he was a founding member of the Black Students Alliance. He would later return to teach creative writing there, as well as at City College of San Francisco, Laney College and College of Marin. He was a tenured instructor of Language Arts at San Jose City College for the last 20 years.

A dedicated teacher, Mr. Lockett was best known as a poet. He was the author of “Where the Birds Sing Bass,” which won a PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award in 1996, “Good Times & No Bread,” “The Party Crashers of Paradise” and “Random History Lessons,” published by Creative Arts Books in 2003.

[Source: SF Gate]

Butch Morris.

“Tit for Tat“

Lawrence Douglas “Butch” Morris (1947-2013) was an American cornetist, composer and conductor known for his pioneering improvissation method, Conduction.

[Source: Wikipedia]