Aurora Harris' New Publications in 2016

Nov 23, 2016 The first publication I had this year was the poem I wrote to highlight the life of Grace Lee Boggs, a Chinese American philosopher, activist, author, and feminist that passed away in Detroit, Michigan at the age of 100 years old on October 5, 2015. The poem, "Now.Then.Tomorrow." was published in March 2016, Educational Studies: A Journal of the American Educational Studies Association Volume 52, 2016 - Issue 2 pp 188-191. The abstract may be found here and those with university access will be able to download a copy of the poem. (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131946.2016.1121698) On Monday, November 21, 2016, I was at the university. I walked from my office to the mail room and saw a box with my name on it... I opened the box and discovered I received copies of the new anthology by INCA Press,"Forms Of Education: Couldn't Get A Sense of It." My piece, "RE-LOCATING THE DIFFERENTLY-ABLED: A CHOREOPOEM for Detroit's Parents with disabled children 2010-2015 is in part 2 of the book, "GETTING A SENSE OF IT: RELOCATING THE BODY IN EDUCATION, pp 134-139. The book may be purchased from INCA Seattle's web site at: http://incainstitute.org/forms-of-education-couldnt-make-sense-of-it/ I am still writing poems and memories for my new book, "From A Detroit War Primer." Aurora Harris c.2016 by Aurora Harris

Aurora Harris' Reading at U of M-Dearborn's Third Floor Poetry Event Nov 20, 2016

A full house! Last night, we had a wonderful evening of poetry at the University of Michigan-Dearborn in the Mardigian Library's Alfred Berkowitz Gallery. When I walked into the gallery, there was an art exhibit of Jewish holocaust prisoners, After looking at the art I decided to open my reading with a poem I had written for my mother, who was in a prison camp in the Philippines during WW II, when the Japanese invaded. I read from my book Solitude of Five Black Moons: Easy (about my Mom, pp 33-35), The Universal Transcendence of Pain (about third world child labor, pp. 15-16), and Now. Then. Tomorrow. In Memory of Grace Lee Boggs (poem is published online: 30 Mar 2016 Educational Studies Vol. 52 , Iss. 2,2016 Educational Studies: A Journal of the American Educational Pages 188-191). In the photo from Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/UMDearbornWritingProgram/photos/gm.1399670530077695/1026486084147186/?type=3&theater) Poets left to right: Afaf Humayun, Alicia Schaefer, Aurora Harris, and Jill Darling. P.F. Potvin, Tony DeGenaro and Lee Brooks. Thank you to everyone that made this event possible!

Aurora Harris' Poetry Readings for Nov-Dec 2016

I will be reading my poetry for the University of Michigan-Dearborn's "Third Floor Poets" event presented by the Writing Program and the Literature, Philosophy and Arts Department, Tuesday November 22, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. in the Alfred Birkowitz Gallery located in the Mardigian Library. December 9, 2016 I will be reading for the Detroit Women's Forum Luncheon at The Whitney.

Broadside Lotus Press Poets Theater Workshop Nov 20, 2016

Please share: REMINDER: Broadside Lotus Press Poets Theater is today from 3-5:30 p.m. U of D Mercy Grounds Coffee House in the lower level of the Student Union. Enter at the Livernois entrance. We will have a discussion about the water shut off crisis, the election, share works in progress, write a poem (s), and have Open Mic. I will have We The People of Detroit's "Mapping The Water Crisis: The Dismantling of African American Neighborhoods in Detroit for sale at 1/2 off the regular price. See you there!

Detroit: Conversation on Crisis in Detroit Schools event Oct 29

African American History: Film from Solomon Sir Jones, Film_1 - Chapter #0 : Congregationalists coming out of church, Clearview, OK

October 16, 2016

The Solomon Sir Jones collection of silent film showing the lives of early African American towns in Oklahoma is important because they provide counter-narratives to some of the negative histories, lies, and depictions of African Americans in the US often taught and believed by many people.  I plan to show these film clips to my students. I first saw one of the films posted on a friend of mines Facebook page.

Please share this link with family, friends, and educators.



Solomon Sir Jones, Film_1 - Chapter #0 : Congregationalists coming out of church, Clearview, OK

BROADSIDE LOTUS PRESS POETS THEATER OCTOBER 16, 2016

The Dudley Randall Print and Media Center, and, Broadside Lotus Press Presents BROADSIDE LOTUS PRESS POETS THEATER Broadside Lotus Press has poetry writing workshops before our Sunday Poets Theater every third Sunday of the month. We will be examining and discussing the work of our published poets, your poems, and, writing poetry. TIME: 3:00 P.M. - 5:30 P.M 1. WRITING WORKSHOP From 3:00 p.m.- 4:30 p.m.: Writing Workshop. Bring your work in progress and completed poems to read and get feedback. 2. POETRY TRIBUTE TO RON ALLEN, FARUQ Z BEY, AND OTHERS 4:30 - 5:00. bring your favorite poems by these authors, share how they inspired you! 3. OPEN MIC 5:00 -5:30 WHERE: GROUNDS COFFEE HAUS, LOWER LEVEL OF STUDENT UNION, UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT- MERCY Enter at the Livernois entrance.Turn left, the Student Union will be on your right. Contact: Rosemary Weatherston- weatherr@udm.edu, Aurora Harris-Broadsidelotus@gmail.com Free and open to the public. * See our website, Facebook page, and Twitter also! http://www.broadsidelotuspress.org/ https://www.facebook.com/BroadsideLotusPress/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/broadsidelotus?lang=en

DET Poets, Activists & Musicians: Kaleema Hasan's Memorial Service Oct 15, 2016 info

It is with great sadness that I informed the public the other day of the passing away of my good friend, poet-activist-scholar Kaleema Hasan. We will be having a potluck Celebration of Life Memorial this Saturday, October 15, 2016 from 2:00 -5:00 pm at the Adams Butzel Recreation Complex 10500 Lyndon Street, Detroit, Michigan 48238. I will be hosting the Celebration with an open mic for family and friends that knew her. Please click on the image below for the program.

FANHS MI: October is Filipino American National History Month!! OCT 9 EVENT at PACCM

October is Filipino American National History Monnth. On October 9, 2016, from 3-5 p.m. at the Philippine American Cultural Center of Michigan in Southfield, MI, the Filipino American National Historical Society of MI will be celebrating "1946: A Turning Point"as a theme for the 70th anniversary of notable events and legislation that transformed the lives of Filipinos. The event is free. Donations are accepted.

June 24 2016:Poetry Updates Motown Mic Spoken Word Contest, Broadside Lotus Press News, Aurora Harris' Poem for Grace Lee Boggs

This evening, I will be a judge for the grand finale of the third annual Motown Mic Spoken Word Contest at the Garden Theater in Detroit, at 8 p.m. I am looking forward to hearing from some of the best new poets that made it through the qualifying rounds. The winner will take home a $1000.00 prize. Qualifying rounds are held in either April or May at the Motown Museum on West Grand Blvd in Detroit. As a board member of Broadside Lotus Press, Broadside Lotus Press has colloborated with the Motown Museum in an effort to celebrate and bring wider recognition to the histories of both Broadside Lotus Press and Motown's spoken word recordings by their Black Forum Label, that was created by Barry Gordy in the 1970's as a form of education. In 2014, Broadside Lotus Press published the first Motown Mic broadside for spoken word artist Rosemarie Wilson, a.k.a. One Single Rose. Broadside Lotus Press News: Broadside Lotus Press celebrated its 50th year as a Detroit, MI based poetry publishing house last year. We are excited to announce we received a grant from the Knight Foundation to digitize our collection. In addition to our Facebook page, we now have a new website: http://www.broadsidelotuspress.org/ and a new Twitter account: https://twitter.com/broadsidelotus My Publication News: The poem I wrote in memory of Detroit's own Chinese American philosopher,activist, author and feminist Grace Lee Boggs,titled "Now. Then. Tomorrow" was published March 30, 2016 in Educational Studies: a journal of the Educational Studies Association. The poem was written the day before her memorial service and highlights her life from Chicago to Detroit as an activist. You may access the poem online here: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131946.2016.1121698?journalCode=heds20 On the website for the journal, the abstract I wrote for the poem states: " Abstract A poem that highlights the life of Grace Lee Boggs, a Chinese American philosopher, activist, author, and feminist that passed away in Detroit, Michigan at the age of 100 years old on October 5, 2015. Now. Then. Tomorrow was written 2 days before Ms. Boggs’ memorial service. The poem contains the poet's memories of Ms. Boggs and community struggles related to race and class in Detroit, Michigan." Other: Since the Broadside Lotus Press Poetry Series at the University of Detroit-Mercy's Grounds Coffee Haus, I have been meeting with local and budding poets and writers on Saturday afternoons around the city. It's been great to just be able to discuss new work in progress and write! I'm working on a new book called "From A Detroit War Primer." It is a compilation of my work as an activist, poems that came out of the activism, and poems I've written on busses to work, and some history of my former poetry series "The World Voice Literary Series" that I started at the Billiard Gallery in the mid 1990's in Downtown Detroit, that I later moved to the Graystone Jazz Museum on Washington Blvd, also in Downtown Detroit. Last week, I found a quite a few photos of poets, playrights, actors,and musicians that read on the series at the Graystone Jazz Museum, along with some of my old flyer announcements. I hope to include some of them in the book. Recording with In The Tradition Jazz News: A new poem I wrote called "War Is Here" will be recorded in a few weeks for the new In The Tradition Jazz CD. We have been rehearsing and I am looking forward to another dynamic CD! Congratulations to all the 2016 Kresge Art Awards Winners! I was glad to read that quite a few wonderful people I know that greatly deserved the awards received them! That's all for now, Have a great weekend! This entry: c.2016 by Aurora Harris. If you would like to use anything here or other writings and info contained in this blog for educatioal purposes, please request permission by sending an email to aurora917@gmail.com Thank You!

Aurora Harris' Recorded Poetry; Videos; Interviews, Projects at Libraries; Other for Students and Researchers

1. The In The Tradition Jazz compact disc "The Tradition Continues" that has my spoken word piece "Yurugu," found in the collection Solitude of Five Black Moons published by Broadside Press and University of Detroit Mercy Press can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrXVlAZZ1e8 Other In the Tradition Jazz music from the cd may also be found at the link above. 2. "On Deaf Ears" the poem I sent to President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden re: the state of health care in Detroit, MI in 2009, when I was strugglng with an illness I had: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoLfshNSWpg 3. A presentation on Broadside Press and poetry reading as part of the INCA Art and Poetry Series in Detroit, August 25, 2012. I open with a reading of Audre Lorde's poetry: https://vimeo.com/56505828 4. Black History Month Broadside Press Poetry reading by Aurora Harris and Christopher Rutherford at the Charles H. Wright Museum February 22, 2013 http://livestream.com/accounts/2710797/events/1900181/videos/12389790 5. Video of me as a Keynote Speaker for Filipino Cultural Night- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. I am speaking about the importance of education, culture, and my family history. I close with my poem "Rice." The video is dark, but I thank James Wilson for recording it and posting it on You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTwX47-wvJ4 6. Broadside Lotus Press: Broadside Press' 50th Anniversary Poetry Reading: "Suite Dudley" at the Detroit Public Library; September 2015; Poets- Albert M. Ward with John Hardy, Leslie Reese, and Aurora Harris. I am reading from Solitude of Five Black Moons, "When The Poets Became Jukeboxes," a response to Dudley Randall's "A Poet Is Not A Jukebox," to blues music. Click the circle on the right side of the web page to see the video http://www.broadsidelotuspress.com/ 7. Feb 13, 2013 Report on Detroit's Truth and Reconcilliation Commission(no longer existing)by Chris Maharis. An audio report on the destruction of the J.L. Hudson store building in Downtown Detroit Michigan Now: "Racism at Hudson's" has lines from my poem "There's Always Something About Spit," a memory poem from my mother, sister and I being spat on by white women behind the J.L. Hudson Department Store in Detroit, MI in the 1960's. http://www.michigannow.org/2013/02/13/racism-at-hudsons/ 8. Sept 16,2013 The Detroit City Poets Oral History Project; Cass Corridor Print Culture by Monika Berenyi: http://monikaberenyi.com/?p=319 CDR Oral History of Broadside Press recordings of my interview, along with Gloria House, Albert M. Ward and Christopher Rutherford housed at Wayne State University: http://elibrary.wayne.edu/search~S47?/XAurora+Harris&searchscope=47&SORT=D/XAurora+Harris&searchscope=47&SORT=D&SUBKEY=Aurora+Harris/1%2C7%2C7%2CB/frameset&FF=XAurora+Harris&searchscope=47&SORT=D&2%2C2%2C 9. Detroit Poetry Print Culture Archive: http://guides.lib.wayne.edu/c.php?g=174887&p=1153176 10. Article: Wayne State University Farmers Market: Photo of me shoppping; "Customer Aurora Harris considers greens..." http://archive.clas.wayne.edu/1120/14/20/WSU-Farmers-Market-completes-seventh-season/News/2704 11. Feb 1997: Wayne State University article regarding International Women's Day Poetry Reading at the Women's Perogative Bookstore in Ferndale, MI: https://wayne.edu/newsroom/release/1997/02/21/poetry-reading-march-4-to-feature-poets-from-across-nation-607