The Art of Eavesdropping: Notes on the Makers

The "makers" of San Antonio, posted up at a bar a friend once called "Brooklyn Nights":

Sounds like he might have changed the song himself. Singing along to the popular melody of "Mary Jane" by Rick James, underground classic no doubt. Bartender plays along with the chord changes. But there's only so much oil in the ground, councilman. You missed the message in the music, Tower of Power. Too bad, councilman.

Councilman went to Keystone high school, he says. Not so near to east side. Left town for college. Still, visions of MLK march dance in his head: Up from the south, the homeless, disabled, wounded warriors march. From the west, the latinos march. Down from up north, the LGBTQ march. Deep from the east black folk march. Interfaith march from...some other point in town.

Multiple marches...segregation...? And the corporate commissaries? From which direction will they march, councilman?

After march, TED talks during the day. Concerts at night. All in the name of peace, prosperity, diversity, and opportunity. Opportunity was keyword. Left out autonomy. Pitch it to major news networks. Plans to make it on CNN. Drone cameras. Largest march in country is not enough. Passé topic. Downtown march, close down streets. Converging on La Villita, Hemisfair. Philanthropic effort or Business pitch?

The other from Central Catholic. Never a Marianist. Doing business in the backroom, behind closed doors.

A Tech operative enters the frame. Said he had a problem with organized religions. Boasting. Logic class in college, debate on whether religion was a force of good in the world. Catholic school burnouts turned atheists.

Wires, Headlines

Intended to grab the reader's attention. To sell papers. To lead into.

This entry will share the joy, puzzlement, and amusement you may get if you too are baffled by the most oblivious and bizarre AP wires and the not-quite-right newspaper headlines found on the front pages. Here's an original take on headlines and sub-headings:

This just in:

"Public Safety" is a euphemism for law enforcement
Subheading: "Creating jobs" is double-speak for creating profits

This just in:

All wars of conquest are unjust
Subheading: This includes American Manifest Destiny

This just in:

US Airways and American Airlines set a historically unprecendented merger in air travel

Subheading: Meanwhile, half of the city of San Antonio's population has never flown in an airplane

This just in:

Public transportation is not a part of the American dream
Subheading: Which has become an American nightmare

This just in:

Maximizing profits is in no way related to managing an economy

Subheading: Whose economy is it anyway?

*work in progress*

Forever Lying (Flashback)

If age twelve is known as the "age of consciousness" then the teenage years must be known as the "age of angst," followed by - if you're fortunate enough -  the "turbulent twenties." The July/August issue of Poetry magazine features a segment on this "angst" with essays, artwork, and poetry submitted by "self-proclaimed angsty teens."

The following is a poem I wrote and luckily saved from my senior year in high school. Long story short, a seventeen-year-old boy falling hard for a girl, already taken, only to have his heart broken and act as if it was the end of the world and for some strange reason turned to writing to express this.

I remember reciting this poem at a poetry reading at the old Cafe Revolucion spot on El Paso street to an audience with uneasy looks on their faces, the tired rolling of their eyes delivering the message of "get over it, kid." Thank God other high schoolers were present to share in my sorrow and help me to cope. Break-ups to make-ups, as we said.

Forever Lying (Written May 2004)

Forever lying next to you.
You, by the side of my dreams.
Yet as real as it seems I will not
believe it.
Only you so perceive it
as an incogitant gesture of playing this game.
Oh, what's in a name?
Replete.
Actions, I'm able to condone.
For a year I've known.
For a year she's shown,
what I've missed.
Now, forever lying,
not side by side,
but forever lying to me about what she feels inside.
With someone's heart at stake
I made the mistake and have forgotten
that this was all just a game
for two.

For the two I was playing with became one.
In this game for fun
it was me
who fell for it all.

The First Rule of a Jazz Radio Show

The first rule of a jazz radio show:
If you don't know what to play, play Sonny Rollins.
And if you're not in the mood for Sonny Rollins, play Joe Henderson.

MC - Master this Craft (Flashback)

What would it be to be an emcee? Spoken word, written June 2008.

MC
Trying to M-master this C-craft. Making it mine
Trying to...
Use these freestyle skills to pay my bills
Converting poetry into currency
A penny for my thoughts
For these inscriptions moving through time
For my two cents
Can I get a dime?
Emcees spitting their dope rhymes
Producers getting mental with their ill instrumentals:
J-Dilla. No I.D. Y Not. Pete Rock. 9th Wonder. MF Doom. The Ummah.
Oh ma. I mean oh my...
God, why am I struggling?
Striving
By any means
By all means
I'm using, you're losing.
I mean I'm losing...me
Trying to be an emcee
This isn't my usual s-t-y-l-e
Steelo. Steez. Steezo.
Jazo-O before he was Jay-Z
Riding high with Faze-O
These ryhmes are just coming to me
What would my pitch be?
To get my rhyme across
Life after line
On an on
Getting this down 'til the P.M. dawn
Yo, it's not my place
to be writing raps, keeping pace
But with this pen and journal
Something comes from within,
it's internal.
Eternal. Infernal.
An inferno I'm throwing
at you
from my mind
caught up with flowing
Getting low, down
From the subterrain
I'm doing my best to explain
That I couldn't walk up in a room and flow like
Rakim, Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Prodigy, Cannabis, Guru, Notorious B.I.G., the M-O-S D-E-Finitely,
That's not me, you see,
as a Master of Ceremony
The artist formerly known as Common Sense I'd use for defense
against a lyric attack
from Inspectah Deck or Gza Genius on the track
Kool G Rap got my back
With Raekwon I'd take on
Make noise with the Beastie Boys
Protect my own against Nasir Jones
So you can feel the wrath of Big Daddy Kane
R-A-W
That's how I'd take it to what's out there
Off air
How sweet the sound
I'd come from the underground

Writing as Activism Prompt: May 5 (Last Session)

It was a pleasure, a thrill to host this writing lab at Gemini Ink. Thank you to Gemini Ink for allowing full creative/artistic freedom on this project. Thank you to the "regulars" - Amanda, Haley, and Jonathan - and to all other family and friends for making time to attend class. Thanks to all those out there on the world wide web for following along.
Amanda and Haley will be conducting their own writing workshop in the summer. Will post with updates.

Our last class was cancelled in lieu of the Gemini Ink Big Give S.A. all day reading session. The prompt is posted below. As always, stay tuned and spread the word.

May 5: Revolutions

• Reading Material
  - Lapham's Quarterly Spring 2014 Issue (Featured Text)
  - Color-Coded
  - Political
  - Technological
• Additional Reading Material
  - Revolutions in Reverse (David Graeber)
• Common thoughts
  - Scientific definition, heliocentric
  - Revolution as uprising, insurrection
• 20th Century Legacy
  - Spanish "Civil War" and Anarchism
  - Student movements quelled by state violence and repression
  - "...because we've always moved in the field of morality and love while people have been politically jiving with our lives. And the question is, how do we now move politically and stop trying to move morally? You can't move morally against a man like [that]. You've got to move politically to put them out of business.
  We must begin to think politically and see if we can have the power to impose and keep the moral values that we hold on high. We must question the values of this society..." - Stokely Carmichael
  - Saul Alinsky, community organizing and understanding different modes of power, referent power to people power to political power to legal power. Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS) in San Antonio largely reflects the Alinsky model
• Revolutions in Reverse
  - David Graeber collection of essays explains the cycle of social revolutions occurring from people protest in the streets - creating institutions reflective of mission - establishing social relations to maintain institutions, now appears, establishing social relations - creating institutions - people protest in the streets

Writing as Activism Prompt: Apr 28 (Guest Host)

Good day,

Today Haley Johnson and Amanda Lane will be hosting the writing lab. Thanks Amanda and Haley! I will return to host the last and final class next Tuesday, May 5. Thank you to all for attending and following along online. We'll see you in May!