Take Away: a spoken word showcase of Verve grant Recipients

So the final showcase for the Verve grant is this weekend! It's coming up fast and I have a lot of work to do still as far as putting this thing together, but I'm excited about the show. Here's the flyer:

Peace is not won
by the bullet or the gun.
It is not won
by the greatest show of force.
War is not humanitarian.
It is not safe for anyone.
And when the bombs start to explode,
and fear takes over,
and chaos reigns,
you will not feel safer here.
You will still hear the screams
(though they are muted on the TV screens)
you will hear them with your heart's sad ear.
I think the human-animal is as connected as a bee hive.
The shared mind of 7 billion people
can feel it.


WAGE PEACE

What's your art? (NEW VIDEO)

Yay! I finally have the video up for my latest poem "What's your art?" And I love it!
I've been going out and doing performances all year and collecting them in videos for this grant project, and I don't know if I have been more excited about any poem I've done, as much as I am this one. And the video of it is great. Well, there's a weird shadow over my face and a typo at the end, but those things matter little. This poem and this performance of it are the crucial piece to the whole project, really. This is it's debut, at the Future Roots fundraiser, and even though I'm reading it off a page it works well for this piece. It's almost better then if I had it memorized.
That, and the content of the poem is exactly what my whole project is about. I want to inspire people to create art. I want to engage people, who wouldn't normally think of themselves of fans of poetry. I want to make the world a better place through my words, and my art. And that is what this poem is. It's my attempt to articulate this goal, or this wish.
I'm really happy to share it with you.

What's your art?

Believe it or not, I am an introvert.

I mean, I know I’m standing up here on a stage

trying to communicate with you all now,

but I prefer my interactions with other people

be of a one on one variety.

When I find interesting people, and get them alone,

one of my favorite pry-them-wide-open questions to

ask them is “What’s your art?”

You know? 
What’s your art, as in, what is it that you live for?

That means more to you than just survival?

What do you pay your bills, and do the dishes and set aside time for?

--And it weirds me out that some people don’t even know.

I mean, it’s an important question 
(which is why I ask them).

*****

Now, I am a poet, which means that I spend an exorbitant amount of time observing the world around me, and then                  writing about myself.

So that I can stand here    and ‘fess up’

which may sound terrifying to some, but trust me, it feels better just to let it go.

Making my little observations about the things that I admittedly don’t know.

I know one thing:   Art  Heals

I mean, that’s why I write.

I write because my heart is crying out almost all the time but without a voice it would go unnoticed.

I am only speaking for it. A secretary taking notes, 
but art-

Art sheds light on the dark things we bury 
and makes us grow.

It demands the best of us,

consoles us in our misery, 
rejoices with us when we are happy

really, a true friend.

Always pushing me to do better, 
and to try harder

and if I fail…?                 To try again.

*****

So, practice your art. Put your time and energy into it

If you haven’t got one, get one,

it’s important.                (Let me explain)

My Best Friend  was talking to me about energy.

She is endlessly curious about the world in which we live, which is what makes our conversations worthwhile, which is why- She’s my best friend.  She said-

Whatever you do, your brain, the learning machine, is getting better at doing it.

Whatever it is. Whether it’s surfing the channels for something to watch

or performing the mundane daily tasks of your job, 

your brain is finding ways to do it faster, and more efficiently.

Isn’t it important then? How we spend our daily energy?

I don’t just mean your “free time” I’m talking every minute of you day to day life.

How do you spend it? 
Frustrated that you’re stuck in traffic?

Same old argument with a loved one?

Think about it- cause some of us are going to our death beds with a whole section of our brains dedicated to Minecraft … or to CSI

(Which does not make you a forensic scientist, by the way, just because you play one in your living room).

But which is also not to say that imagination doesn’t play a role in creativity

because of course it does.

And to tap into that energy we must be ready

we must be rested, well fed, and taken care of (or at least inspired).

The question is, what do you love?

What you do really want to get out of life?

and what is required to make it happen?

What is your art, as in what’s in your heart?

Cause what it comes down to in the end is just to

have dreams and believe in them.

(Or at least that’s what’s been working for me.)

And lately, I am only into make believe and I believe

the world is what we make it, so I see

the beauty of each moment, unfolding,

and I try to make that my reality.

And I write it down, just to get it out of me

like breathing air, a complimentary action to breathing in,

a necessary function.

That’s where the art come in

and sorta sorts me out.

Indeed, it’s an important part.

That’s why I like to know, when I meet new people, what’s your art?

Slam dunk!

Ok, I could probably try harder and come up with something that isn't a sports reference, but that is how I feel right now. Both of the performances this week went great! I finished my new poem "What's your art?" just in time to do it Saturday night at the Future Roots Fundraiser, and then last night Medea Benjamin loved my poem about drones so much she asked me to come to the national conference on Drones in Washington DC this fall. (I was hoping that she would. I had heard of this thing getting organized and it is the perfect chance to get my drone poem out to a national audience!). I got my picture with her too. In fact, I got my picture with her, Liz and Jamie, which perfectly encapsulates my week in poetry. And it's a good picture of us all too (nobody is blinking or anything).
Seriously- nothing but net.

So, I wanted to share the new one, which was very well received, and I am excited to see the footage. I was very nervous because I wasn't sure what these bar patrons, family members, and well wishers were going to think of my stuff. I am not used to that bar energy, you know? I had to raise my voice just to get over then, and then I had their attention. The guys up in front, who were there to see the other band, were visibly impressed by my first number "I'm having Issues". There was an old man, sitting by the door like he'd been sitting by that door for the last ten years at least, and he'd seen acts come and go at Palmer's. He got up, came over and shook my hand when I came down off the stage and told me to run for political office.
I was also really happy that so many of my friends made it out to this show. I felt like I had my own posse, my own team of supporters, which is really nice when you are trying new work and you don't know if people are ganna get the jokes and whatnot. But it went great.

I feel like I am winning. At both the fundraiser and the speaking event, I felt overwhelmed by the fact that there is no where else I would rather be then here. Nothing I would rather be doing than this. It's a good place to be. Hopefully, there is lots more of this to come.

Starting August off with a bang!

So summer is in full swing, and I have been enjoying a lot of time outside. Unfortunately, this means not much progress has been made on making this website more interesting, but the good news is I've had some great opportunities to perform, and do things like lots of writing by the lake, and attending fun events like Peacestock. I feel like I am filling up on experiences, so that in winter when I'm hunkered down and working hard on introspection I will have lots of sunny energy stored up-like a plant or a a bee hive.

With that in mind, there are two things in the first week of August that I am so excited to be performing at! The first is tomorrow, Aug 3rd, which is a fundraiser for the Future Roots Project. This is an amazing endeavor by two friends of mine, Jamie and Liz, who are going to a small town in Nicaragua called Nueva Esperanza to volunteer at a school there. Jamie is a teacher, who wants to work with the amazing children there and teach them how to read. And Liz is planning on building with them a community garden, and teaching them how to plant, harvest, seed save for themselves.

Isn't that beautiful? The ingenuity of these two is also commendable. They just wanted to go, so they found a way to make it happen. This fundraiser is part of that effort to raise funds, so I hope lots of people can come and I hope we raise a ton of money.

You can donate to this good cause by attending said show, or by going to their page here http://www.gofundme.com/futureroots

Second, is an event that WAMM is having on August 6th (next tues) which I was surprised and thrilled to find out about. Medea Benjamin is coming to Minneapolis! Medea is the co-founder of the group Code Pink, author of many books, including Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control, and a personal role model. Her activism is a fresh and provocative. In an antiwar movement that sometimes seems to need a little stirring, she is pushing her way into the mainstream conversation.

I am thrilled (did I say THRILLED?) to have the chance to perform my poem, Military Drones (and tearing them to pieces), at this event and for Medea. I confess, I wrote the poem directly after reading her new book (it just came out this last year) and basically poemified her work (yes, that's what I said). Now she is coming here to give us a talk and I get to share my poem with her! I've already asked my friends in WAMM and they love the idea. And I've already got the night off work.
Hoorah.

So, August 3rd
Future Roots Fundrasier
at Palmer's Bar in Minneapolis
form 4pm to 9pm
cover at the door $5

then, August 6th
Women Against Military Madness is hosting Medea Benjamin
at The Spirit of St. Stephens Church in Minneapolis
from 7pm to 9pm

I hope these are both well attended and successful events. I am performing at both, and I hope that part goes well, but I am also really just glad to be going to both. This is the way I want to spend my summer. This is my definition of fun.

Stop NSA surveillance, stand with Edward Snowden!

My speech (from a while ago) at the protest outside the Hennepin county government center (aka People's Plaza)


Hello, my name is Misty Rowan.  I am a member of the Anti-War Committee and once upon a time I slept under the stars here at People’s Plaza with Occupy Wall Street. But today I am here as "your average citizen" and I am outraged by the recent discoveries about our government’s data collection program.

I am shocked by this discovery. And the only thing more appalling than the amount of data, and the scope of the surveillance is the response from the White House.  Instead of so much as fumbling through an apology, they’ve said it’s all routine stuff, nothing to worry about – no big deal.  Meanwhile, they are going to be hunting the person who told us down like a dog, prosecuting him to the fullest extent of the law.  And all of it will be kept quiet (as much as that’s still possible) as a matter of national security.

Well you know what?  Our 4th Amendment rights are a matter of national security, Mr. President.

I don’t feel safe in a country where the government is monitoring everything I say and do.  I refuse to accept this as the new terms and conditions of living in a nation that’s been ‘terrified’ for the last 12 years.  Enough is enough!

In the Anti-War Committee, we’ve known about the ugly turn this war on terror has taken for a few years now.  In 2010, the FBI raided our office and the homes of several of our members and others across the country, calling them to a Grand Jury in Chicago under investigation of 'material support for terrorism'. Because we organize to end this war based on lies, and carried out against the will of the American people. And the Occupy Wall Street movement also learned quickly of the conduct of these agencies and became all too familiar with snitches, infiltrators, wire-tapping and raids.

But this scandal goes beyond the routine repression of political movement.  What we are talking about is every single person, every single phone number, every transaction.  It’s as if the entire country, and in fact the world, is under investigation by the U.S. government.

People, you need to realize that this isn’t about 'the terrorists' anymore.  This is about you and me.  How your government is treating you and me – supposedly for our own good.

This is a wake up call. We need to realize that COINTELPRO is not a thing of the past.  It is not a history lesson learned!  What happened then, is that people found out about what was going on, and policy changed because people got upset.  The same thing has to happen here.

Now, the high tech gadgets of today’s information age may have changed the game, but what hasn’t changed is the expectation that in a free democracy our government should not be spying on us!  That without reasonable cause, a warrant signed by a judge, and proper oversight of these agencies – as spelled out for you by the 4th Amendment – that all of this surveillance is illegal!

It is time for people to be outraged.  To demand that the surveillance state end and the power our government has given itself to invade our privacy be reigned back in.  I agree with Edward Snowden when he said, “I don’t want to live in a country where this can happen.”  And I’d like to commend him for the action he’s taken to ignite a public discussion about our government’s dirty little secrets.  And Bradley Manning, as well, who is on trial right now for revealing the ugly truths about this ugly war.  He should be considered a hero instead he’s charged with “aiding the enemy.”

We need to demand transparency and accountability from our government.  The people who have lied –  and we have proof now that they’ve lied – should be fired and brought up on charges, not Snowden, and our rights – all of them – need to be restored!  That is the country I want to live it.  And it can only happen if we pressure Congress and the president to act within the law – not their secret court, special executive privilege law – the one laid out in the United States Constitution.  And we cannot rest until this happens!Our civil rights are under attack. What do we do?

STAND UP, FIGHT BACK!

6/11/2013