poetry & struggle

I went to the "Poetry and Struggle" reading last night at the AK Press warehouse in West Oakland. It was a really good reading. Headliner Mark Nowak read from his book Shut Up, Shut Down. Also reading were David Buuck (editor of Tripwire), Dana Teen Lomax, Matthew Shenoda, and Dennis Somera (Mills MFA ’06).

Dennis had gotten cleaned up after the planting yesterday, and brought his parents to the reading. He gave a good performance, and riffed off his Filipino-American heritage, doing some bilingual puns (which his parents seemed to enjoy). There was quite the Mills poetry crowd at the reading; it was like "Activating the Local: The Reunion."

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Also last night (because I am quite the busy girl), I met up with some once and future editors of 580 Split for happy hour at the Alley. We mostly chatted, and I can’t say I really learned all that much about the process. Luckily, I’m not editor-in-chief, so it will really be Michelle’s problem to work things out. Then after the reading, I met up with Adam and some friends at a bar in Alameda(!) for drinks and live music. Hanging out in Alameda is like visiting another state. It’s so close and yet so different there.