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[Gente, please spread this news far and wide, on your own blogs and to any and all media friends you may have. Shout outs to Manuel Paul López for this news.]

RAUL R. SALINAS
March 17, 1934 – February 13, 2008

The Red CalacArts Collective, Calaca Press and Red Salmon Arts seek submissions for the

raúlrsalinas
Guerrilla Chapbook
Poetry Contest

As a way to honor the late Xicanindio poet activist the Red CalacArts Collective, Calaca Press (San Diego, Califas) and Red Salmon Arts (Austin, Tejas) have teamed up to create the raúlrsalinas Guerrilla Chapbook Poetry Contest. The Redz seek material from authors whose poetry best reflects the lifework and interests of raúlrsalinas, including Native and immigrant rights, the Chicano Movement, Black Power, prison struggles, political prisoners, Leonard Peltier, Mumia abu-Jamal, social movements, EZLN, Cuba, independence of Puerto Rico, the Beat writers, and of course jazz, amongst many other issues related to culture, human rights, community empowerment and social justice.

Raul was an inspiration for many. This effort is a way to keep that inspiration alive.

raúlrsalinas Guerrilla Chapbook Poetry Contest
Submission Guidelines

The raúlrsalinas Guerrilla Chapbook Poetry Contest seeks work by Chican@, Latin@ and Native poets between the ages of 18-35 who have not graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing, nor are currently enrolled in an MFA program. Poets also must not have a collection of poems published by a small or large press exceeding 64 pages. Self published books, being published in anthologies and/or on the internet is ok. Previously published work will be accepted only if author has full rights to work. Please indicate with submission wether work was previously published.

To enter the raúlrsalinas Guerrilla Chapbook Poetry Contest authors must submit via email the following:

1) Ten poems written in caló, Spanglish, English o en español

2) A short essay describing your community work

3) A short bio in third person

4) Personal info: full name (and pen name if applicable), age, occupation, education, address, phone number, email, and website

Please send as 2 separate Microsoft Word files using Helvetica font size 12. One file with poems and the other with personal info, bio and essay.

Send to: redcalacarts@cox.net
Deadline: May 1, 2009

Contest results will be publicly announced by the end of June 2009.

The winner will be determined by a three judge panel including:

Louis G. Mendoza, Ph.D. РEditor of ra̼lrsalinas and the Jail Machine: My Weapon is My Pen

Rene Valdez – Executive Director of Red Salmon Arts

and

Brent E. Beltrán – Co-owner of Calaca Press and member of the Red CalacArts Collective

The judges will be looking for the following:

1) Well written poems whose themes and subject matter relate to the lifework and interests of raúlrsalinas

2) Creative use of language

3) Your community work

The chapbook will be edited by Cal A. Vera who will have final decision (with input from the author) on title, chapbook contents, layout, and cover art. All ten submitted pieces may or may not be used. The editor may ask for revisions or even for alternative poems prior to publication.

1000 copies of the chapbook will be printed. Winner will receive 100 copies. The chapbook will be approximately 40 pages (give or take four).

Winner must own publication rights to submitted work. Author retains all rights to poems after publication of chapbook.

Depending on budget constraints the contest winner will be flown to, and read at, two chapbook release readings (one in San Diego and the other in Austin) and receive an honorarium of $250 for each. Readings will be scheduled for September 2009.

More about raúlrsalinas and the judges:

raúlrsalinas, the author of the seminal Chicano experience poem, Un Trip Through the Mind Jail, was not only an accomplished poet but a dedicated community activist who gained a political consciousness while serving approximately 13 years inside some of America’s most notorious prisons (Huntsville, Soledad, and Leavenworth among others). While in prison at Marion he was befriended by Puerto Rican Nationalist Rafael Cancel Miranda (famed for an armed assault on congress on March 1, 1954 with fellow Nationalists including Lolita Lebron). Sr. Miranda was a major influence on Raúl’s lifework. Imprisoned during the early Chicano Movement years he was active in the prison rights struggles of that time. His book, raúlrsalinas and the Jail Machine: My Weapon is My Pen: Selected Writings by Raúl Salinas highlights his struggles and victories inside America’s prison system. Including winning a landmark prison rights case. After his release from prison in 1973 he dedicated his life to Chicano and Native American causes. He was a member of the Centro de la Raza in Seattle, the American Indian Movement, a cofounder of the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee and various other progressive organizations dedicated to defending the rights and interests of all working class and colonized people. A true internationalist he was committed to supporting Puerto Rican independence, the Cuban Revolution, the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, the Zapatistas in Chiapas and the Bolivarian Process of Presidente Hugo Chavez Frias of Venezuela among many other struggles. After serving many years of forced exile in Washington state (where he helped defend Native American fishing rights), he eventually returned to his home in Austin, TX. Shortly thereafter he opened Resistencia Bookstore and Red Salmon Arts which became a cultural and political hub for East Austin’s Chicano community. Raúl authored four poetry collections Viaje/Trip (Hellcoal Press), East of the Freeway (Red Salmon Press), Un Trip Through The Mind Jail (Arte Público Press) and Indio Trails: A Xicano Odyssey through Indian Country (Wings Press) as well as three spoken word CDs Los Many Mundos of raúlrsalinas: Un Poetic Jazz Viaje con Friends (Calaca Press/Red Salmon Press), Beyond the BEATen Path (Red Salmon Press) and Red Arc: A call for liberation con salsa y cool with Fred Ho (Wings Press).

Louis G. Mendoza, Ph.D. is an associate professor of Chicano Studies at the University of Minnesota. His research interests include Chicana/o Literary and Cultural studies, U.S. immigration literature, prison literature, and oral histories. Dr. Mendoza is the editor or coeditor of four books including: Telling Tongues: A Latin@ Anthology on Language Experience (Red Salmon Press/Calaca Press, 2006) and raúlrsalinas and the Jail Machine: My Weapon is My Pen (University of Texas Press, 2006). He is currently working on two books related to his 2007 Journey Across Our America research project on U.S. Latina/o communities that he conducted while bicycling around the perimeter of the country.

Rene Valdez is the Executive Director of Red Salmon Arts and Resistencia Bookstore in Austin, Tejas. A long time protégé of raúlrsalinas, Mr. Valdez continues the work Raul started at Red Salmon and Resistencia.

Brent E. Beltrán aka Cal A. Vera is a spinal injury surviving, third generation pocho and Chicano Studies community college dropout who dishes out the word from Calacalandia in National City, Califas. Along with his super hero wife Chelo, and fellow Red CalacArts Collective member, he runs the maverick Chican@ publishing house Calaca Press. Lacking two tongues himself he has committed the last 10+ years of his life to publishing rebellious writers whose work dances somewhere between the ever shifting boundaries of Castellano and the King’s English. To date he has published/produced work by over 100 different authors and artists

For more information on Red CalacArts, Calaca and Red Salmon:

Calaca Press
Red CalacArts Collective
P.O. Box 2309
National City, Califas 91951
(619) 434-9036 phone/fax
calacapress@cox.net
redcalacarts@cox.net
www.calacapress.com
www.redcalacartscollective.org
www.myspace.com/calacalandia

Calaca Press is a Chicano family-owned small publishing house dedicated to publishing and producing unknown, emerging, and established progressive Chicano and Latino voices. With a commitment to social justice and human rights Calaca Press strives to bring about change through the literary arts.

I just picked up Where the Wild Things Are today to use as a template for a children’s story I’m writing for a story telling stint with some first graders later this week. I read Dr Seuss’ Ten Apples Up On Top! to some first graders last week and had a blast. Yes, I could read this new group the same story and have just a good time but I figured I’d stretch a new writing muscle and take a plunge into the scary world of kid lit.

Why scary? Cuz the little ones don’t hold back any punches. If they think you suck, they’ll just tune you out. And if you are still whack and try to demand their attention, they’ll shout you out right there on the spot, “We don’t like THAT story.” “You’re saying it WRONG.” “Can someone GOOD read to us.” Yeah, hella scary.

So I’m going back to Max’s world and see if I can find what makes this story a classic and also get mah fan boy on for Spike Jonze’s upcoming adaption.

Shout out to Book Covers Anonymous for the pic.

Two great poetry events out here in the Bay Area. You best believe I’ll bve taking notes, pics and video. Maybe not so much at La Peña cuz the lighting doesn’t do my burgeoning digital archival skills any favors but I’ll try.

SPD’s New Lit Gen at City Lights
Wednesday, March 18 7:00pm

Join director of Small Press Distribution, Laura Moriarty, as she hosts an evening of poetry readings celebrating the diversity of the Bay Areas small presses. Featuring Diane di Prima, Javier O. Huerta, Micah Ballard, Sara Larsen, Mong Le, and Anthony Boyd.
Visit the Poetry Trading Post! Each year Small Press Distribution and City Lights donate books that are exchanged for your poems.

More details at City Lights’ website.

June Jordan’s Poetry for the People at La Peña Cultural Center
Thursday, March 19 7:30pm

Poetry in the community. A multi-generational poetry conversation featuring four-time National Poetry Slam champion, HBO Def Poet Patricia Smith, Palestinian-American poet & editor Deema Shehabi, Emcee Jen Ro featured on VH1 & MTV, DJ Munkee Pants, P4P poets, & special guests! Hosted by P4P Director Aya de Leon.

More details at La Peña’s website.

Having come up through open mics, local workshops, live readings, and a lot of self-study, it feels great to hear National Book Critics Circle Poetry Award winner Juan Felipe Herrera give praise to grassroots education. It’s also great to have such an elder share his thoughts on what happens after grassroots. Barb has some more detailed thoughts about his Poetry Foundation feature but I’d like to add that this balanced approach between what poets can gain from open mics and academic workshops has historically been the best way to attain prominence in US Poetry.

I’m directing this incredibly obvious statement not to the academic community but to the grassroots community because even though examples like Herrera abound the prevailing belief in open mic communities is that academic intervention doesn’t enhance your art but detracts from authenticity. This is the reason we have the subcategory of “spoken word,” a poetry that aspires to be more than talk on an open mic but doesn’t require the polish of a workshop. And who does this label serve? Does it help the open mic cafes where poems, styles, and themes become repetitive because of lack of rigor? No. Does it help academic institutions where issues of mechanics, relevance, and notoriety become all consuming because of lack of diversity? No.

I’m not saying that Herrera’s path is the one true path. I don’t think a singular path exists. But there are paths that have been laid out by poets of various backgrounds who seek relevance in various communities, to ignore those paths is foolish. To go on a long journey unprepared, without maps or provisions, is the quickest way to get nowhere. I’m glad that there are poets like Juan Felipe who not only know the path but are happy to share it with whoever will listen.

Video courtesy of Galley Cat

My midnight show movie mates have their thoughts on Watchmen up. Sunny’s is at film, eyeballs, brain and Barb’s is at poeta y diwata.

• With a $56M opening weekend, Watchmen is #1 at the box office and the biggest opening release of 2009. Could better fan word of mouth helped it more?

• This New York Times review of Watchmen is just god-awful. Not cuz it doesn’t like the movie but because it feels like the person didn’t even watch it at all. If you have to ask why the movies takes place in the mid-80s then you aren’t being fair to the movie.

• Roger Ebert on how Watchmen plays out as a movie and then his thoughts about the story after a second viewing. Ebert remains one of my favorite movie critics of all time; he only gets smarter (and Web 2.0 savvier) as time goes on.

More on Dr Manhattan: It’s not that he is a person who has been converted to energy, he’s an energy form that has absorbed a human consciousness. As such, all the details of humanity are new and important to him but as hen continues through the breakdown of humanity, Dr Manhattan is slowly losing touch with the things that made Jon Osterman a person to being with. At first he thinks it’s having a human body, then it’s having a girlfriend, then it’s being a hero, then it’s breaking up horribly with his girlfriend, finally he goes for the full Jesus monty and decides being a person means saving the world. And why the super smurf schlong? Cuz Dr Manhattan (really, Alan Moore) doesn’t care what you think, he just cares about what he believes are the markers of humanity. Guessing from the fuss on the internet and the giggles at the movie theater, Moore and Doc ‘hattan are right.