Earlier this week, I ran into my farmer friends Leslie and Cornelius, who started their urban farm on the east side of Detroit, across the street from the 4-H Club on McClellan Street. After seeing them, I decided to catch up on what's happening with Detroit's Black Community Food Security Network since there are plans to sell empty lots in the city to John Hantz, who wants to do commercial farming in the city. With all due respect to the DBCFSN, were they invited to attend meetings with Mayor or Hantz to discuss what is currently taking place by African American farmers and urban gardeners? From reading some of the articles on the internet regarding the sale of city lots, I haven't seen one that mentions grassroots farmers and gardeners included in the discussions.
From the Black Community Food Security Network's website
http://detroitblackfoodsecurity.org/
UPCOMING EVENTS
General meeting
Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Northstar Community Development Corporation
3800 Puritan, between Dexter and Holmur
Will Allen visit !
June 4, 5 and 6, 2010
More Information
What's for Dinner?
Discussion series about issues of food security, urban farming, and food quality.
Each session will be held at:
The Detroit Public Library
5201 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan
Session 2 - Gardens As Resistance
Saturday, June 19, 2010
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Old Fine Arts Room
Go to web site to download "Gardens As Resistance" flyer
Mailing address:
3800 Puritan
Detroit, MIchigan 48221
The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN), a non-profit, grassroots, community organization aims to change our thinking about food, where it comes from, and who controls it.
DBCFSN was formed in 2006 for the following purposes:
* Influencing Public Policy
* Promoting Urban Agriculture
* Encouraging Co-operative Buying Habits
* Promoting Healthy Eating Habits
* Facilitating Mutual support and collective action among our members
* Encouraging young people to pursue careers in agriculture, aquaculture, animal husbandry, bee-keeping, and other food related fields.
DBCFSN has several key programs:
* D-Town Farm - our 2 acre model urban farm located in Rouge Park in Northwestern Detroit. The operation includes organic vegetable plots, two bee hives, a hoop house for year round food production, and a composting operation. Our produce is grown using sustainable, chemical-free practices, and sold at D-Town farm, Eastern Market, and urban growers markets throughout Detroit.
* Harvest Festival - an event held every year that showcases our farming operations.
* Ujamaa Cooperative Food Buying Club
* The Food Warriors Youth Development Program - our partnership with three African centered schools - Aisha Shule, Nsoromma Institute, and Timbuktu Academy - to introduce elementary school students to agriculture.
Go to website to get directions and map to the D-Town Farm
WORK SCHEDULE:
Do you wish to volunteer at D-Town Farm? Join us every Saturday and Sunday from 8am to noon at the farm. Work clothes, work boots, gloves, brimmed hat, water, bug repellent, and a great attitude are strongly encouraged!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Aurora Harris: May 22, 2010: 5:00 AM Waking Thoughts, Poetry, Theorizing, Education, Citizens' Rally in Detroit from 2-5 pm
I have been up since 5:00 a.m. listening to the birds that woke me with their morning chatter and song. Waking thoughts from half sleep: 1. I have over 50 pieces of poetry that I wrote in the last few weeks, most of them structured like a haiku, with 17 syllables, 2. images of family photos, 3. theorizing various papers I have written, 4. serving on a panel for a global womens' conference at WCCC.
Last Sunday at the Broadside reading for Denise Ervine, I read a few of the pieces and told the group that I was looking for polysyllabic words that would keep the 17 syllable count but use less words like traditional Japanese haiku. I read a few words from the list that I made and Stuart pointed out that they were words derived from Latin. I also spent a few days looking at the pieces and checking for kigo's.
A haiku traditionally contains a kigo, a defined word or phrase that symbolizes or implies the season of the poem. Like "frog" implies Spring or Summer, or, "snow" implies Winter.
Images of faminly photos...this waking thought is a reminder to go through the tons of photos I have and make choices for an exhibit.
Theorizing various papers... Yesterday morning I was organizing stacks of papers and files and found papers I wrote while in grad school. As I write this, I recall that sometime this week, I found a transcript that was sent from the university and after I found it, I dreamt about the report cards I found from what? 1965-1968? In the hazy dream, the manila colored report cards from elementary school were lined up next to the green EMU transcript. In the dream or waking thought, I was looking at the grades and remembered examining the transcripts of girls that were in a shelter that I worked in years ago...At that time, I could tell that the girls received good grades but at some point in their report cards or transcripts, they began failing in school...usually the drop in grades was related to some incident or trauma they experienced when they reached middle school...early teen years...I related these thoughts to Lisa Delpit's book "Schoolgirls."
I had a heavy feeling to develop a reading list, collect these papers and write something...perhaps this feeling had something to do with the news that the state of Arizona is banning ethnic studies from public school textbooks, in the sense that from the memory of my own report cards and transcripts, the underlying thought of my waking thought or dream dealt with memories of how histories were subjugated in textbooks when I was in elementary school in Detroit, and, how my own grades fluctuated during a time / reality of blatant racism, discrimination and police brutality in Detroit. What are the Latino/a children and educators of Arizona facing? In the history of histories in America, more subjugation of histories? From the time I was a child until now, there exists a great disconnect for school children of color. When they open a book, how are people of color presented? What do the children have to identify with?
When I was in grad school, I had a class where students who were teachers teamed up to examine and present books and learning materials from a cultural perspective for K-12 students. One of the criticisms that came out of this exercise was that none of the books or magazines showed any person of color in a modern, 21st century setting, whether it related to professions, home or daily life. Most of the books pertaining to Native American and Mexican/ Latino/a, Hispanic life showed most people of color as farmers, tortilla makers, basket weavers, jewelry makers, potters, or working in modern times as service oriented workers that promoted sterotypes. A couple of years ago, I was at a community meeting in Detroit to discuss diversity and multiculturalism in education. At the meeting, when we discussed the content of textbooks, one white guy pointed out that he didn't have the same problem as other educators finding things to teach or read because he was of European descent and his european history was documnented. "I can find myself and am proud of my history" was one of his statements. Here, this man was echoing something similar to what I heard from primarily white students talking about disparities and differences between teachers that teach in urban settings versus teachers in the suburbs..."We don't have the same problems as you, we have everything that we need in our schools to educate our students."
With these memories, other sources that I remember reading while I was at EMU that can be used to theorize are:
1. J. Bank's Teaching strategies for ethnic studies. (8th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
2. Bennett de Marrais, K. & LeCompte, M. The way schools work
3. Lisa Delpit's Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press. 1995
4. Anything by Jonathan Kozol.
End of this section.
Sidenote: I read my blog entry from yesterday. I am still sad from the news of Ai's death. She passed away 2 months ago, while my mother was in the hospital and I was working to remove her from hospice. In addition to these things, the City of Detroit...the violence that killed a 17 year old boy while he waited for the bus after school and the 7 year old girl who was killed while sleeping on her couch after the policeman's gun discharged...the police were looking for the shooter of the 17 year old...in the past month, every weekend a citizen or police officer has been killed...I hate watching local news. When I heard of the deaths of the school children, I thought about the poem that I wrote in in the early 1990's called "Two Bodies" that is written in 3 parts and found in Larry Smith's Brooding the Hearlands: Poets of the Midwest by Bottom Dog Press (1998). The poem is about my seeing two bodies on the street and a fictional account of what the mothers dealt with... the voices for the mothers in the poem were inspired by mothers at a SOSAD meeting I attended. SOSAD stands for Save Our Sons and Daughters...the poet Ron Allen and I sponsored a 24 hour poetry reading against violence at the Central United Methodist years ago...
Yesterday, I received an e-mail from City Councilwoman Joann Watson inviting me to attend a Citizens' rally at 2 Woodward Av, downtown Detroit, Coleman A. Young Building in front of the Spirit of Detroit statue from 2-4 PM. The rally is supposed to inform the citizens of what is taking place in Detroit regarding repopulating the city, the new rail system, schools, violence, etc....on Woodward, near my home, the street is being torn out...I heard from a neighbor that it is being done for the new rail system that will be built
Last Sunday at the Broadside reading for Denise Ervine, I read a few of the pieces and told the group that I was looking for polysyllabic words that would keep the 17 syllable count but use less words like traditional Japanese haiku. I read a few words from the list that I made and Stuart pointed out that they were words derived from Latin. I also spent a few days looking at the pieces and checking for kigo's.
A haiku traditionally contains a kigo, a defined word or phrase that symbolizes or implies the season of the poem. Like "frog" implies Spring or Summer, or, "snow" implies Winter.
Images of faminly photos...this waking thought is a reminder to go through the tons of photos I have and make choices for an exhibit.
Theorizing various papers... Yesterday morning I was organizing stacks of papers and files and found papers I wrote while in grad school. As I write this, I recall that sometime this week, I found a transcript that was sent from the university and after I found it, I dreamt about the report cards I found from what? 1965-1968? In the hazy dream, the manila colored report cards from elementary school were lined up next to the green EMU transcript. In the dream or waking thought, I was looking at the grades and remembered examining the transcripts of girls that were in a shelter that I worked in years ago...At that time, I could tell that the girls received good grades but at some point in their report cards or transcripts, they began failing in school...usually the drop in grades was related to some incident or trauma they experienced when they reached middle school...early teen years...I related these thoughts to Lisa Delpit's book "Schoolgirls."
I had a heavy feeling to develop a reading list, collect these papers and write something...perhaps this feeling had something to do with the news that the state of Arizona is banning ethnic studies from public school textbooks, in the sense that from the memory of my own report cards and transcripts, the underlying thought of my waking thought or dream dealt with memories of how histories were subjugated in textbooks when I was in elementary school in Detroit, and, how my own grades fluctuated during a time / reality of blatant racism, discrimination and police brutality in Detroit. What are the Latino/a children and educators of Arizona facing? In the history of histories in America, more subjugation of histories? From the time I was a child until now, there exists a great disconnect for school children of color. When they open a book, how are people of color presented? What do the children have to identify with?
When I was in grad school, I had a class where students who were teachers teamed up to examine and present books and learning materials from a cultural perspective for K-12 students. One of the criticisms that came out of this exercise was that none of the books or magazines showed any person of color in a modern, 21st century setting, whether it related to professions, home or daily life. Most of the books pertaining to Native American and Mexican/ Latino/a, Hispanic life showed most people of color as farmers, tortilla makers, basket weavers, jewelry makers, potters, or working in modern times as service oriented workers that promoted sterotypes. A couple of years ago, I was at a community meeting in Detroit to discuss diversity and multiculturalism in education. At the meeting, when we discussed the content of textbooks, one white guy pointed out that he didn't have the same problem as other educators finding things to teach or read because he was of European descent and his european history was documnented. "I can find myself and am proud of my history" was one of his statements. Here, this man was echoing something similar to what I heard from primarily white students talking about disparities and differences between teachers that teach in urban settings versus teachers in the suburbs..."We don't have the same problems as you, we have everything that we need in our schools to educate our students."
With these memories, other sources that I remember reading while I was at EMU that can be used to theorize are:
1. J. Bank's Teaching strategies for ethnic studies. (8th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
2. Bennett de Marrais, K. & LeCompte, M. The way schools work
3. Lisa Delpit's Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press. 1995
4. Anything by Jonathan Kozol.
End of this section.
Sidenote: I read my blog entry from yesterday. I am still sad from the news of Ai's death. She passed away 2 months ago, while my mother was in the hospital and I was working to remove her from hospice. In addition to these things, the City of Detroit...the violence that killed a 17 year old boy while he waited for the bus after school and the 7 year old girl who was killed while sleeping on her couch after the policeman's gun discharged...the police were looking for the shooter of the 17 year old...in the past month, every weekend a citizen or police officer has been killed...I hate watching local news. When I heard of the deaths of the school children, I thought about the poem that I wrote in in the early 1990's called "Two Bodies" that is written in 3 parts and found in Larry Smith's Brooding the Hearlands: Poets of the Midwest by Bottom Dog Press (1998). The poem is about my seeing two bodies on the street and a fictional account of what the mothers dealt with... the voices for the mothers in the poem were inspired by mothers at a SOSAD meeting I attended. SOSAD stands for Save Our Sons and Daughters...the poet Ron Allen and I sponsored a 24 hour poetry reading against violence at the Central United Methodist years ago...
Yesterday, I received an e-mail from City Councilwoman Joann Watson inviting me to attend a Citizens' rally at 2 Woodward Av, downtown Detroit, Coleman A. Young Building in front of the Spirit of Detroit statue from 2-4 PM. The rally is supposed to inform the citizens of what is taking place in Detroit regarding repopulating the city, the new rail system, schools, violence, etc....on Woodward, near my home, the street is being torn out...I heard from a neighbor that it is being done for the new rail system that will be built
Friday, May 21, 2010
Aurora Harris: May 21, 2010: On The Death of the Poet AI
Yesterday morning, I was awakened by a strong feeling to contact the poet AI and send her some of my poems. After I had coffee, I was shocked to find that at the age of 62, she passed away in March, shortly after Lucille Clifton. Again, I am saddened from the news of another great poet's death. Many years ago, when I was in California searching for the poetry of bi-racial, Afro-Asian/ African American Asian poets that I could compare my work to and gain inspiration from, Ai was one of the first poets I discovered and read. I came across her books in used book stores and bought them. One collection had a monologue about a Filipino house-boy that worked with Imelda Marcos. I found a connection to that poem since I returned to the P.I. in the 1980's for my grandmother's funeral and went to the palace that the Marcos' lived in. Ai's work inspired me to keep writing the raw truths of life. I loved the way she wrote. Though some called her work "haunting,"she wrote with such a clarity that I could almost hear the speaker/character of the monologue through her choice of words and rhythm of her lines.
See the following links:
Poet Ai dies at 62 | Books | guardian.co.uk
Mar 25, 2010 ... The National Book Award-winning poet Ai, who renamed herself after the Japanese word for love, died on Saturday.
www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/mar/25/poet-ai-dies -
Blackland: Ai died and i am broken-hearted.
Mar 23, 2010 ... Ai died and i am broken-hearted. a powerhouse. a reckoning. she died march 19th. i just found out this morning. my heart got tight as i read ...
angelasimione.blogspot.com/.../ai-died-and-i-am-broken-hearted.html -
Ai, an Unflinching Poetic Channel of Hard Lives, Dies at 62 ...
Mar 27, 2010 ... The poet Ai's work — known for its raw power, jagged edges and unflinching examination of violence and despair — stood as a damning ...
www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/books/28ai.html -
#
Poet Ai Dies at 62 | Reading Copy Book Blog
Mar 25, 2010 ... Ai, the American poet and professor who took her name for the Japanese word for love, died on March 20th. She was known for her blunt, ...
www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2010/03/.../poet-ai-dies-at-62/ -
#
Poet Ai Dies (1947-2010) - theblackbottom
Mar 23, 2010 ... Last week we featured the Poet Ai as our Tuesday Poet. Sadly we learned that she died this past Saturday March 20, 2010 in Stillwater, ...
theblackbottom.com/?p=4156 -
#
Fiery poet, Ai, dies at 62 | Ann Arbor District Library
Mar 28, 2010 ... Fiery poet, Ai, dies at 62. Ai,a poet known for her grimly beautiful writing, died eight days ago in Stillwagon, Oklahoma. ...
www.aadl.org/node/35592 -
#
Poetry News | Smartish Pace (a poetry review)
Ai Dies. March 24th, 2010. Poet Ai, who was born Florence Anthony, died on Saturday in Oklahoma at the age 62. The author of seven collections including ...
www.smartishpace.com/news/ -
See the following links:
Poet Ai dies at 62 | Books | guardian.co.uk
Mar 25, 2010 ... The National Book Award-winning poet Ai, who renamed herself after the Japanese word for love, died on Saturday.
www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/mar/25/poet-ai-dies -
Blackland: Ai died and i am broken-hearted.
Mar 23, 2010 ... Ai died and i am broken-hearted. a powerhouse. a reckoning. she died march 19th. i just found out this morning. my heart got tight as i read ...
angelasimione.blogspot.com/.../ai-died-and-i-am-broken-hearted.html -
Ai, an Unflinching Poetic Channel of Hard Lives, Dies at 62 ...
Mar 27, 2010 ... The poet Ai's work — known for its raw power, jagged edges and unflinching examination of violence and despair — stood as a damning ...
www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/books/28ai.html -
#
Poet Ai Dies at 62 | Reading Copy Book Blog
Mar 25, 2010 ... Ai, the American poet and professor who took her name for the Japanese word for love, died on March 20th. She was known for her blunt, ...
www.abebooks.com/blog/index.php/2010/03/.../poet-ai-dies-at-62/ -
#
Poet Ai Dies (1947-2010) - theblackbottom
Mar 23, 2010 ... Last week we featured the Poet Ai as our Tuesday Poet. Sadly we learned that she died this past Saturday March 20, 2010 in Stillwater, ...
theblackbottom.com/?p=4156 -
#
Fiery poet, Ai, dies at 62 | Ann Arbor District Library
Mar 28, 2010 ... Fiery poet, Ai, dies at 62. Ai,a poet known for her grimly beautiful writing, died eight days ago in Stillwagon, Oklahoma. ...
www.aadl.org/node/35592 -
#
Poetry News | Smartish Pace (a poetry review)
Ai Dies. March 24th, 2010. Poet Ai, who was born Florence Anthony, died on Saturday in Oklahoma at the age 62. The author of seven collections including ...
www.smartishpace.com/news/ -
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Broadside Press Legacy Poet Sonia Sanchez New Haikus
Broadside Press legacy poet Sonia Sanchez was on the Tavis Smiley show on 4/26/10. She read from her new book "Morning Haikus". See the PBS link
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/201004/20100426_sanchez.html
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/201004/20100426_sanchez.html
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Aurora Harris: March 21, 2010- Passing Thoughts
March 21, 2010 10:20 am EST
I have been awake since 8:00 a.m. This morning I added more links to the blog: Lucille Clifton, June Jordan, and the Kundiman Asian American Poetry site. I went outside for a few minutes and found that it is very cold outside. I saw one, bright red cardinal sitting amidst the bare branches of a tree...a sign that spring is coming.
On Friday, I was able to find a contact phone number of friends of mine that I haven't seen since 2005. It was nice to hear that they have continued working on their art. The husband, who is an M.D. and poet, has gone into abstract painting. The wife, who is an educator and poet, is coming out with a new book of poetry and a poetry cd. In hindsight, it was good to talk about what has taken place in our lives in the past five years. As poets and artists, we have managed to still create despite our busy schedules.
On Thursday, March 18th, I visited with my mother, who has managed to stay alive through a series of illnesses, despite the death sentence given by doctors last month. After visiting with Mom, I went to U of M-Dearborn to sit on the "Inspiring Hope, Inspiring Change" panel that included Gerry Barrons of the Veteran Feminists of America; Minsu Longiaru, a lawyer and community organizer for Restaurant Opportunities Center; and Marion Kramer of the National Welfare Rights Union. Lolita Hernandez, Labor activist and author was the Moderator. Marion is also on the US Social Forum Coordinating Committee. It was so inspiring to hear the histories of what inspired us to be actvists. The event was a success! We had a chance to tell the audience about our lives, the work we have done from past to present, and had a Q & A session with the audience. I felt uplifted and inspired by listening to each speaker. By being included on an intergenerational panel, I was able to draw strength from women that represented past, current and future dedication to social activism. The audience of students and folks from the community were able to share their views and expressed wanting to get involved in community work. I shared the poem that I wrote for last Sunday's US Social Forum event at Central United Methodist Church, titled "Perhaps". The poem is more of a prose poem that illustrates the conditions that citizens of Detroit are facing, some of the generational history of activism that has taken place by those involved in community work, and the fact that we still have HOPE in Detroit, which is in opposition to what Minsu was told by others before she came here as an organizer. During Minsu's presentation, she pointed out that people questioned why she would even come to Detroit to organize...basically, the picture that was drawn for her was one of hopelessness, which of course is not true. The City Of Detroit is full of hope. The fact that Detroit has a history of activism is one of the reasons why the US Social Forum is coming in June...folks are hopeful that another world is possible!
I imagine that when anything good and positive that goes on in Detroit by it's citizens and community workers are put on the backseat or is subjugated by most sources of local and national media, and those who profit monetarily or by recognition by exploiting the condition of the city and its citizens, one would have a hopeless picture. In the late 1990's, after "graduating" as a Cultural Ambassador from New Detroit's first Multicultural Immersion classes, I made a commitment to talk about the good things that happen in Detroit. As a poet-educator, even though many of my poems address harsh realities from a broad perspective of African American and Filipino life, by writing the poems I hoped and still hope that they will inspire readers and listeners to become active in changing or transforming their own lives as well as the lives of others. I (re)member now, as I write, that when I was a Sociology student at Wayne State University, one of my professors encouraged the class to be agents of Social change. Years later, when I was a corporate worker and was injured by my job, and decided to work as a full time poet, I decided that much of my poetry would be written so that people would have to at least consider the socio-political-global power and the effects of institutions, systems, individuals and groups that render children and adults homeless, hungry, battered, illiterate, murdered, raped, tortured, exploited as workers, suffering or dying from utility shut off...why women are still fighting to be heard, recognized and receive equal wages...As I write, I (re)member being on a local cable network's poetry show in the 1990's and the host, after hearing my poems stated: Well, you certainly don't write happy poems! I wish I could find the video tape of that session. I (re)member saying that I write about life and what I have witnessed around me. I even wrote a poem that is a parody of that session that included her statement, with repeating lines about not writing "nice" or "happy" poems. With all of this stated, I'd like to say that I have written a few "nice" poems about love, nature, food, family members,travelling, and other subjects.
It is now 11:45 a.m. and in 3 hours, I will be hosting The Broadside Press Poets Theater at U of D-Mercy.
I have been awake since 8:00 a.m. This morning I added more links to the blog: Lucille Clifton, June Jordan, and the Kundiman Asian American Poetry site. I went outside for a few minutes and found that it is very cold outside. I saw one, bright red cardinal sitting amidst the bare branches of a tree...a sign that spring is coming.
On Friday, I was able to find a contact phone number of friends of mine that I haven't seen since 2005. It was nice to hear that they have continued working on their art. The husband, who is an M.D. and poet, has gone into abstract painting. The wife, who is an educator and poet, is coming out with a new book of poetry and a poetry cd. In hindsight, it was good to talk about what has taken place in our lives in the past five years. As poets and artists, we have managed to still create despite our busy schedules.
On Thursday, March 18th, I visited with my mother, who has managed to stay alive through a series of illnesses, despite the death sentence given by doctors last month. After visiting with Mom, I went to U of M-Dearborn to sit on the "Inspiring Hope, Inspiring Change" panel that included Gerry Barrons of the Veteran Feminists of America; Minsu Longiaru, a lawyer and community organizer for Restaurant Opportunities Center; and Marion Kramer of the National Welfare Rights Union. Lolita Hernandez, Labor activist and author was the Moderator. Marion is also on the US Social Forum Coordinating Committee. It was so inspiring to hear the histories of what inspired us to be actvists. The event was a success! We had a chance to tell the audience about our lives, the work we have done from past to present, and had a Q & A session with the audience. I felt uplifted and inspired by listening to each speaker. By being included on an intergenerational panel, I was able to draw strength from women that represented past, current and future dedication to social activism. The audience of students and folks from the community were able to share their views and expressed wanting to get involved in community work. I shared the poem that I wrote for last Sunday's US Social Forum event at Central United Methodist Church, titled "Perhaps". The poem is more of a prose poem that illustrates the conditions that citizens of Detroit are facing, some of the generational history of activism that has taken place by those involved in community work, and the fact that we still have HOPE in Detroit, which is in opposition to what Minsu was told by others before she came here as an organizer. During Minsu's presentation, she pointed out that people questioned why she would even come to Detroit to organize...basically, the picture that was drawn for her was one of hopelessness, which of course is not true. The City Of Detroit is full of hope. The fact that Detroit has a history of activism is one of the reasons why the US Social Forum is coming in June...folks are hopeful that another world is possible!
I imagine that when anything good and positive that goes on in Detroit by it's citizens and community workers are put on the backseat or is subjugated by most sources of local and national media, and those who profit monetarily or by recognition by exploiting the condition of the city and its citizens, one would have a hopeless picture. In the late 1990's, after "graduating" as a Cultural Ambassador from New Detroit's first Multicultural Immersion classes, I made a commitment to talk about the good things that happen in Detroit. As a poet-educator, even though many of my poems address harsh realities from a broad perspective of African American and Filipino life, by writing the poems I hoped and still hope that they will inspire readers and listeners to become active in changing or transforming their own lives as well as the lives of others. I (re)member now, as I write, that when I was a Sociology student at Wayne State University, one of my professors encouraged the class to be agents of Social change. Years later, when I was a corporate worker and was injured by my job, and decided to work as a full time poet, I decided that much of my poetry would be written so that people would have to at least consider the socio-political-global power and the effects of institutions, systems, individuals and groups that render children and adults homeless, hungry, battered, illiterate, murdered, raped, tortured, exploited as workers, suffering or dying from utility shut off...why women are still fighting to be heard, recognized and receive equal wages...As I write, I (re)member being on a local cable network's poetry show in the 1990's and the host, after hearing my poems stated: Well, you certainly don't write happy poems! I wish I could find the video tape of that session. I (re)member saying that I write about life and what I have witnessed around me. I even wrote a poem that is a parody of that session that included her statement, with repeating lines about not writing "nice" or "happy" poems. With all of this stated, I'd like to say that I have written a few "nice" poems about love, nature, food, family members,travelling, and other subjects.
It is now 11:45 a.m. and in 3 hours, I will be hosting The Broadside Press Poets Theater at U of D-Mercy.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
March 20, 2010: Broadside Press Poets Theater Sunday 3/21/10
Broadside Press Poets Theater
Sunday, March 21, 2010
The Broadside Press Poets Theater resumes every third Sunday of the month from 3pm - 6pm at the Grounds Coffee Haus, lower level of U of D-Mercy Student Union. The campus is located on McNichols and Livernois
There is no featured reading tomorrow. We will have an Open Mic, Reading of Works In Progress for feedback, and bring poems by Lucille Clifton to read, to celebrate her life. Ms Clifton passed away last month. Ms Clifton's poems can be found at
http://www.poemhunter.com/lucille-clifton/
Thank you!
Aurora Harris 313. 673.6313
Sunday, March 21, 2010
The Broadside Press Poets Theater resumes every third Sunday of the month from 3pm - 6pm at the Grounds Coffee Haus, lower level of U of D-Mercy Student Union. The campus is located on McNichols and Livernois
There is no featured reading tomorrow. We will have an Open Mic, Reading of Works In Progress for feedback, and bring poems by Lucille Clifton to read, to celebrate her life. Ms Clifton passed away last month. Ms Clifton's poems can be found at
http://www.poemhunter.com/lucille-clifton/
Thank you!
Aurora Harris 313. 673.6313
Thursday, March 18, 2010
March 18, 2010: Aurora is on a Community Activist Panel at U of M Dearborn
The presentation of my Master's paper went very well at U of D Mercy this past Tuesday night. The panel discussion and Q & A session with Dr. House, Lolita Hernandez, the audience and me generated really good questions about the commitment of academia to hire more minority faculty, the difference between talking about social justice and actually doing social activism, and the isolating and exclusion experiences of minority students. In this day and age, are minority faculty and students still facing racism, sexism, discrimination, exclusionary practices as racial, ethnic and female minorities? What prevents a larger group of primarily white faculty from pressuring the academy to hire more minority faculty? What are the risks? Who do minority students turn to when faced with racism, discrimination and exclusion from faculty, advisors or other students? Why does it take an African American woman with three academic degrees 30 years to get her project recognized, taken seriously and put into production? How can students get invoked in social Activism?
Tonight, I will be on another panel to discuss the roles and activities of community actvists at the University of MI Dearborn: 7 pm. 1072 CASL Bldg. The campus is on Evergreen Road across from the Fairlane shopping mall in Dearborn, MI
Inspiring Hope, Inspiring Change: Detroit's Progressive Women Activists
Moderator: Lolita Hernandez, labor activist and author
Gerry Barrons, Veteran Feminists of America and former CEO, Inforum
Minsu Longiaru, lawyer and community organizer for Restaurant Opportunities Center
Aurora Harris, educator and Activist Poet
Marion Kramer, National Welfare Rights Union and U.S. Social Forum coordinating committee
7 pm, 1072 CASL building
sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies Program
For more information contact Suzanne Bergeron, sbergero@umich.edu
Tonight, I will be on another panel to discuss the roles and activities of community actvists at the University of MI Dearborn: 7 pm. 1072 CASL Bldg. The campus is on Evergreen Road across from the Fairlane shopping mall in Dearborn, MI
Inspiring Hope, Inspiring Change: Detroit's Progressive Women Activists
Moderator: Lolita Hernandez, labor activist and author
Gerry Barrons, Veteran Feminists of America and former CEO, Inforum
Minsu Longiaru, lawyer and community organizer for Restaurant Opportunities Center
Aurora Harris, educator and Activist Poet
Marion Kramer, National Welfare Rights Union and U.S. Social Forum coordinating committee
7 pm, 1072 CASL building
sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies Program
For more information contact Suzanne Bergeron, sbergero@umich.edu
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