Projects (Updated 10-08-2008)

 

 

Poems Against War: A Journal of Poetry and Action was started in May 2003 as a response to the invasion of Iraq, and especially because academic and literary magazines failed to address it.  The journal of course was inspired by Laura Bush's cancellation of a literary symposium to be held at the White House in February 2003 (about one month before the war began) because West Coast poet Sam Hamill was rumored to be preparing a statement against it.  The second Iraq war began on March 19, 2003. The journal has a Web site at www.poemsagainstwar.com, and has published its seventh issue on the theme of "Poems Against War: Ars Poetica."  

 

 

Poets for Obama: Poetry Supporting a Vision of Change is a new Web blog started after Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama's acceptance speech before some 70,000 people at the Democractic Convention, in which he called for fundamental change in American domestic and foreign policy. I hope he lives up to that. He spoke of ending what he called '28 years of failed trickle-down economics.' This refers mainly to the deregulation of financial markets, consumer protections, corporate structures, utility companies, and other aspects of society that began in 1980 under Ronald Reagan and continues today. This blog at www.poetsforobama.org published weekly through the election and still is looking for work. It focuses on change, yet looks to writers to expand its nuance and range. 

 

 

Gimmie Shelter Productions: The Benefits Reading Series Gimmie Shelter is a collective of Baltimore writers and musicians collaborating to organize readings that raise money for local and international charities, as well as increase awareness on contemporary community issues. The ongoing Community Harvest Reading Series began in the summer of 2008 to raise money to purchase fresh produce for Baltimore homeless shelters. As organizer Marcus Colasurdo notes, many homeless people and children lack access to fresh foods needed to be healthy, even when served free meals. Our last campaign was called Water for the Wells, which raised $1,200 to build a single well in Mali, East Africa, through the ongoing work of Lutheran World Relief.  From the summer 2007 to the last reading at the Minas Gallery in Baltimore on June 28, 2008 we raised slightly over $1,200, turning words and songs eventually into water.  The largest and most memorable production occurred on Nov. 3, 2007, when Water for the Wells performed the musical-poetic four-part theater piece, Holy Water, at 2640 in St. John’s Church.  For more information on Water for the Wells, see this article linked here.