Wednesday, July 7th, 6:00 pm
BRIO (Bronx Recognizes Its Own) Award Ceremony
Hostos Community College
E 149th St & Grand Concourse, Bronx (Take the 2,4,5
Trains to E 149th St Station)
… email me if you want to attend but the real party
will be afterwards at the blue ox
Wednesday, July 7th, 7:00 pm
First Wednesdays @ The Blue Ox Bar
E.J. Antonio & Elana Bell + open mic
Oscar Bermeo hosts!
E.J. Antonio lives in Mount Vernon, NY. She has
attended the Sarah Lawrence College Writer’s
Conference and participated in two Cave Canem New York
regional workshops. She is on the founding committee
of The Poetry Caravan, which encourages poets to
volunteer to give readings and workshops at
Westchester area nursing homes and shelters. She has
appeared as a featured reader at the Brooklyn Society
for Ethical Culture, the Cornelia Street Café, the
A.I.R. Gallery and frequently reads at open-mike
sessions in New York City, Brooklyn and Westchester.
Her work has been featured online at Poetz.com and
Rogue Scholars.com.
Elana Bell, a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College,
was selected as the winner of the 2004 Stephen Dunn
Poetry Award. She is a member of the louderARTS
Project, and performs her work at Bar 13 in New York
City. She has also been featured at Hunter College,
Teachers and Writers Collaborative, The Bowery Poetry
Club, The Wow Café Theater, Cornelia Street Café, and
Rikers Island Correctional Facility. She is the
co-founder of SynonymUS, a multi disciplinary poetry
based performance workshop series which originated at
the Bowery Poetry Club. She recently co-created and
performed in Impossible Home, a multi disciplinary
ensemble piece for the People’s Poetry Gathering 2003.
Elana will be featured in the upcoming Downtown Rhythm
Festival at Primary Stages Theater this May.
Publications include: Words and Images Magazine (April
2004), Houston Poetry Festival Journal (2001), and two
chapbooks: Dreaming of Doorways and Name Carvings.
First Wednesdays is part of the Bronx Council on the
Arts’ Cultural Trolley. All readings are followed by
an open mic, and take place on the first Wednesday of
the month, at 7:00 pm at the Blue Ox Bar, located at
Third Avenue & 139th Street in the Bronx. Take the #6
train to 138th Street Station, walk one block north.
For more info, call the Writers’ Center @718 409 1265.
On the first Wednesday of the month passengers board
the Trolley in front of Hostos Center for the Arts and
Culture, the site of the Longwood Art Galley @ Hostos.
The trolley continues along its route which includes
stops at various cultural spots in the South Bronx.
For more information on the Bronx Cultural Trolley,
please call 718 931 9500, ext. 33.
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if you are reading this, chances are you also received a couple of emails about it as well. the blog world is not that big. it looks like on a dull day i am averaging about 20 hits a day which means i could probably tell you who all those folks are and who their feavorite backstreet boy is.
i was asked recently why i actually do this and what help it brings to my artistic and personal life. for the artistic it is cool in that i can work out some of the debates at my own pace and in my own head before bringing it to the arenas of opinion. for the personal, it has actually been real limiting. there is a lot i would like to write about but for what end? to get more hits? to have people marvel at my honesty? or be amazed at the depths of my depravity?
nah. i’ve always been undercover. always enjoyed living the adventure without any running commentary. i still love going to the nuyo because i can be just an audience member there. not worry about the door or how the hosting is going or why the crowd is light or any of that other crap. ditto for ‘word is bond’ at carlitos. hec one runs his show the way he sees fit and i am just happy to get on the mic when i can.
i’ve been keeping a personal journal as of late. that bad boys gets to see the shit nobody else does. some gawd awful attempts at poetry as well.
little shocker- unlike most, i never actively wrote until i started going to 13. you could say that my poet age is about 3 maybe 4 years old and that includes actively reading poetry & writing. there is the oft forgotten rewrite of seal’s “show me the way” that i hooked wanda up with. since wanda was in love with me- she thought it was the bomb but i’ve gone down that road a few times already.
(just took a thirty minute break to deal with-
*giving back props to a mentor
*getting some encouragement from a surprise email
*putting together an august event
*dealing with gov’t funding issues
*getting down on some collard greens & rice)
of course, i always marvel at people that have been writing since they were young. there is nothing that i am doing today that i was doing when i was young except for lazy sundays watching tv and even that is a rarity these days. my only real hobbies have been those of obsession and impulse which kinda leads me to believe they were just warm ups for my current life as a writer.
at yesterdays louder than words, guy asked dawn & rich what was the biggest change in their time in poetry. for me, i am getting harder and harder on myself as time passes. i want to read more. i want to write more. i want to publish. i want to stage a variety of events. and everytime i stumble at these things, i reflect and try to see what will be better next time. what can i learn from this setback to help it be better next time. and there is always a flaw. perfection is for the lazy and arrogant. something best left to street corner prophets who have it all figured out… me, i need a little doubt to continue
