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CONTENTS SAVE THE DATE KUDOS EVENTS |
Carol Lee Sanchez (1934-2011) |
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IN REMEMBRANCE of CAROL LEE SANCHEZ by John Oliver Simon Carol Lee Sanchez (1934-2011) was the finest Statewide Coordinator CPITS ever had. She created California Poets in the Schools as we know it, as a gigantic pyramid scheme of poet-hustlers selling soul-exalting skills to schools K-12, with area coordinators and statewide conferences, and a central office fueled by nerve and vision. Carol Lee got her start with CPITS under Stephen Vincent by 1970 and was Bay Area Coordinator under Floyd Salas (1974-76) by the time I really got going teaching workshops all over the East Bay. Carol Lee took me under her wing. “Schools run on bells,” she reminded me. “Always be on time.” Carol Lee set up Area Coordinators in LA and SF and Sacramento and Sonoma. Carol Lee’s vision, still unfulfilled, was to see CPITS in 1% of the state’s schools (about 700). She was aggressive and successful in marketing CPITS in the educational community, and represented us well, mentoring not only me, but notable poets such as Ben Hiatt, Mary Norbert Körte, Jack Grapes, devorah major and Duane Big Eagle. She exemplified, upgraded, talked to the point, and finally chose me as her successor as Statewide Coordinator. Carol Lee was Laguna Pueblo, Lebanese, Scots and Cherokee descent. She went on to a worthy teaching career in Missouri and an earned identity as a leading NativeAmerican poet. Before that, Carol Lee served on the Faculty of San Francisco State University, where she taught courses in the American Indian Studies, Ethnic Studies & Women's Studies Programs (1976-1985); she was appointed Acting Chairperson of American Indian Studies (1979-1980). She taught courses in American Indian Studies at the San Francisco Art Institute (1978-80), Mills College in Oakland, CA (1981), and courses in Women Studies at CSU Northridge in Northridge, CA (1989). Carol Lee Sanchez came back to San Francisco for a lifetime award in 1999. My best friend Jorge Luján, who independently invented the wheel of poet-teaching, was here from Mexico (and Argentina). The program gave Carol Lee a Native blanket. “Está contenta, la vieja,” Jorge remarked. Carol Lee Sanchez died April 6, 2011 at Bothwell Regional Health Center. Her husband, Thomas Edward Allen survives her. These poems are a few selections from her book of poems “whistle stops,” re-printed in From Spirit to Matter, (Taurean Horn Press, 1997) santa monica tides turn into no sunset tonight my too fast pace doesn’t match any movement around me i forgot those ways displaced them in some other time. out of context this mood- a different reality these reflections of symbols from another place his table banging fist slides off into silence ends our dinner conversation reminds me of my father growing old. i want to ask so many unimportant questions i want to talk nonsense because serious considerations about anything fade in and out yes: out of sync like thomas paine on education and shelly’s ode filled with sonnets but no matter how it went. los angeles county south winds harbor warmth and gentle kind the king of the south is made of these things. of north wind it is sd there is strength and power the harsh sting of frost. these gifts brought forward meet in west wind face east toward grandfather giver of all things home of eagle and sun. how high the eagle flies to view the whole. scaled in miniature- this perspective is lost by the scorpion hidden beneath rocks. Carol Lee Sanchez return to top MEETING of LA CPITS POETS Southern California Poets Elijah Imlay, Alice Pero, Shelley Savren, with Program Director Terri Glass and Board member, Nels Christianson at Flintridge Bookstore in La Cañada. Program Director, Terri Glass visited Los Angeles on May 15th for a poetry reading at Flintridge Bookstore in La Cañada, which is part of the Moonday East Poetry reading series, ran by LA CPITS poet, Alice Pero. Alice also runs Moonday West at Village Books in Pacific Palisades. CPITS poets Elijah Imlay, Shelley Savren, Fernando Castro and Nels Christianson all read along with featured reader, Terri Glass. That evening Terri led a meeting, which was hosted, in the home of Nels Christianson. In attendance was seasoned poet Alice Pero, new poets, India Radfar and Michele Bitting and new poet trainees Jacquelyn Lazo , Nicole Hoelle, and Adrianna Ibrahim who mentored under Kirsten Ogden. Michele gave very helpful hints about how she secured funding and two schools within two years of becoming a CPITS poet. It was exciting to have new poets on board with poet trainees who will hopefully be mentored in the fall. Alice spoke about her mentor, Don Campbell, former LA coordinator and we discussed the strengths of the program in the past and ways to revitalize it for the future. Nels Christianson is the area contact for Los Angeles, until CPITS can find someone to fill the position of Area Coordinator. return to top KIDDO ART SHOW FEATURES MILL VALLEY YOUNG POETS Sophie Stankus, 4th grader of Strawberry School in Mill Valley proudly displays her poem, “I am a Whale” along side singer songwriter, Scott Grace. Sophie Stankus, a 4th grader at Strawberry school in Mill Valley was the last reader at the KIDDO art show held at the Throckmorton Theatre on May 3, 2011. She wanted to make sure her poem was turned into song by singer songwriter, Scott Grace who was on hand to do just that. Sophie’s poem was also selected in be in the countywide Marin anthology, Up Jumped the Sky. Several students from the Mill Valley schools read at the lovely reception that was organized by KIDDO volunteer, Laura Diecks. Karen Benke helped with the microphone and Scott Grace gleefully sang songs to several of the poems. Poet teachers, Karen Benke, Claire Blotter, Lola Brown and Terri Glass were present to cheer on their students.TheKIDDO foundation funds 5 poetry sessions for each classroom in the public elementary schools in Mill Valley and has long been a supporter of California Poets in the Schools. |
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| IN THE SPOTLIGHT: DAN LEVINSON | ||||
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Dan: Poetically I was an idiot until my early twenties, though my abstract nature would have immensely benefited from poetic expression in my formative years. In my teens I was drawn toward poetry, but didn’t know how to read it—so to speak—didn’t know how to study it, where to look for good stuff, didn’t know how to write it very well. This was true despite my lifelong inclination to read prose and to write it or maybe something different which could have become poetry had I known which way to go, known how to experiment more. I often tell my students that I didn’t have some weird poetry teacher like myself visiting my school, but that I wish I did, because I’d be a vastly better poet now, having been handed the keys to the kingdom and the tools of the trade. I think it was Vince Gotera, my mentor, who told me that sometimes people need to be given “permission” to write poetry by a poet. In my master’s degree in literature at Humboldt State University, Vince took me under his wing and showed me some of the available worlds of poetry. He was my first mentor in this field. Simultaneously I took a class called Confessional Poetry with Jim Dodge, and my universe broke open. I got to help teach creative writing classes with both Vince and Jim, and also got to work with Jerry Martien there. And I had a fiction-writing class with Dick Day who had been Jim’s teacher long before, and who had also “discovered” Raymond Carver when Carver was a student and needed guidance. So I was in good company. It also helped that I befriended other students who were passionate about poetry, and we would work on our writing together. Eventually I pursued an MFA in poetry at UNC-Greensboro, and got to work not only with the resident teachers, but also with stellar visiting writers. Terri: When did you become a CPITS poet? How did you hear about the organization and whom did you train with? Dan: I trained under Daryl Chinn, our fearless leader, in 1998 at Miranda Junior High—no longer existing in that name, but morphed into other scholastic configurations. Daryl had been paving the way in Humboldt County along with Jerry Martien, Dan Brewer, maybe two or three others. When I needed some extra work, a friend suggested I join CPITS. Before I joined, this same friend and I conducted one big poetry assembly/workshop at Murphy School in Scotia, the old home of Pacific Lumber. A great man named Sal Steinberg wanted more poetry there, and I think he had contacted Daryl who couldn’t do that particular gig, and Daryl passed the request along to Jerry who then passed it to me. I ended up teaching about ten consecutive years in Scotia, large residencies, and because I taught the same kids as they grew up, it forced me to evolve a broad curriculum, to find and invent more lesson plans. I owe everything in my evolution as a poetry teacher to Sal, who always believed in me, even when I was a beginner. Terri: You sometimes travel around to other counties to teach—how did you develop contacts elsewhere? Dan: I knock on doors, mostly via e-mail, more than anyone I know, except perhaps our own Veronica Cunningham in San Diego. First I check with the right CPITS people to see it’s okay—so as to avoid crossing wires, stepping on other teachers’ toes—and then I spend days combing through school websites of whole counties, sending tailored letters to those faculty I consider directly relevant, including principals and GATE coordinators. Basically I spam whole counties at a time. Terri: That sounds like a lot of work. Dan: Whole lotta work, Terri. But it has positive results, the least being that hundreds of educators hear about CPITS for the first time. And if I am on my game, so to speak, or really feel I need more work, I contact these same places the next year and the next until I get a residency or am told to go away—just kidding! But it is about soliciting in a warm yet professional manner, and that’s how I’ve made it work so well at home in Humboldt. Terri: Tell me about your own strategies for developing funding sources for your teaching in Humboldt County. I know you just wrote a grant to Target. Dan: Our local team is working on this, figuring out whom to “tap,” as we hear funds will be getting tighter. Yeah, I applied to Target, though had to do so as a non-profit, so I pretended to be CPITS. No, actually CPITS agreed to be my fiscal sponsor, and they get a percentage of the grant that is totally cool with me—give back to the source, you know. Mostly I’ve just gotten schools themselves to pay me, and I let them figure out the money. But my residencies are finally drying up as the recession catches all the way up with the schools; so I’ll be searching for more grants, which really isn’t that hard to do, thanks to Google. One time I got a grant from the North Coast Cultural Trust of the Humboldt Area Foundation. I unsuccessfully applied to a few places: banks; Mervyn’s when they were still around; Teaching Tolerance. But I’m not afraid to try again. And my local crew has been getting nice grants from the California Arts Council, with the Humboldt Arts Council as fiscal sponsor. Recently a local teacher brought me into her classroom after having had her students raise funds by selling bags of coffee. Now that’s dedication. Hopefully the economy will pick up soon enough so that I won’t have to do something like sell coffee as a barista to get by. Not that selling coffee is a bad thing. But I prefer to peddle the wares of language. Terri: Thank you for sharing all this, Dan. You’ve been setting a good example for artists-in-residence. Dan: It’s really my pleasure, Terri. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for CPITS and the dedicated staff like you. return to top |
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SAVE THE DATE |
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This year the CPITS annual symposium will be held at the beautiful retreat center of Casa de Maria, 800 El Bosque Road, Santa Barbara on September 9-11, 2011. The brochure with symposium schedule of inspiring workshops and poetry events is available now. If you haven’t received your brochure by June 6, please email tina@cpits.org. |
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| KUDOS | ||||
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Elijah Imlay’s poetry book, Monsoon Blues, will be released by Tebot Bach Press in May 2011. It costs $15 and can be ordered on line at www.tebotbach.org. The book narrates the poet’s time spent in Viet Nam in 1971. Yusef Komunyakaa writes: “The gutsy satire in Elijah Imlay’s Monsoon Blues is balanced by his experience of war. These plainly spoken moments chronicle deep feelings and astute observations shaped by a vertical music that captures the speed of dangerous encounters. Imlay’s one-man ensemble knows how to gage the blues, how to get close to the bone.” Maxine Hong Kingston writes, “The poet goes to war in Vietnam as a clarinetist in the Army band and returns from hell to tell about it. It is vital that we read and hear Elijah Imlay — for our sense of history, for the truth of war, and for the ‘solace in stories.’ ” return to top |
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| EVENTS | ||||
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Sunday, June 5 at 7:30 pm, Alice Pero, Lois P. Jones and others present 2 flutists, 2 pianists and a poet performing Bach, Honegger, Sancan, Feninger & Jones at the Brand Recital Hall, 601 West Mountain St., Glendale, CA. Call 818-548-2051. This event is free (donations accepted). |
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POEMS OF THE MONTH |
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Ride the Ink Blue RavenRide the ink blue ravenPass a city of jade Feel the gold heart beating Watch the linen waters fade Hold a silver ying yang Sing a lullaby Fly like an eagle, sink like a stone Eat a darkness pie Write a neon poem Play a ruby flute Pat the dove who speaks of love Wear a river boot Watch the melting sunset From inside your haven Write with a peacock feather Ride the ink blue raven Madeline Recinos, 5th grade Wade Thomas School Terri Glass, Poet Teacher Answer Since you have succeeded in putting an entire life in a few short stanzas, I will have to make a poem with no beginning or ending, that simply breathes in clouds, dogs, ink, darkness with no thought of coming or going, giving or receiving for how can I answer? The wind blows but we do not know where it starts The ocean heaves, but from what point? I could eat a ham sandwich and include in each bite my entire history, including kings, castles and beheadings, but who would observe? I could speak to you of plans to drive to Barstow while the milk of my life flows, unseen before you You will vaguely itch Too much of me might tip the scales, overwhelm careful lies of the universe So I will merely smile slightly out of a corner of this poem, going where you want to go in the next round Alice Pero Poet teacher, Los Angeles County published in Griffin |
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