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Thoughts and Guidelines on the Call for Submissions to the October Issue of “The BeZine” themed Music

John Anstie

” Musick has charms to soothe a savage breast “
~ Playwright and Poet, William Congreve (1670-1729), in his 1697 play, ‘The Mourning Bride’.

A letter from John:

In asking for submissions of writing, poetry, art and even music itself for the Music themed October issue of The BeZine, I am conscious that the very subject of music leaves us with a huge scope. But if I am to offer any guidelines as to what you could think about in submitting work, it might be as follows.

My personal perspective on the value of poetry has some relevance here. It is a belief that poetry should always be one step removed from the obvious, the logical and rational, in order for it to awaken the right brain, the creative side of our amazing abilities as humans; to stimulate the visceral (as opposed to the purely intellectual, rational, ‘logical’) response. In turn, this has the potential to stimulate a fresh approach to solving the challenges, be they personal or global. This hits on the core mission of The BeZine in a big way.

But if poetry has this potential power to stimulate a new way of thinking outside the framework imposed by a culture of consumerism, greed and material comfort, as opposed to our social well-being, then music does so with a vengeance. It is truly visceral without the constraints of language. Of course, when the poetry of lyrics is introduced to create song, then there is the opportunity to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts; synergy. It can provide something that dwells in the conscious and even subconscious for a lifetime – whoever forgets the words and melody of a song that they heard at a very poignant moment in their lives, which continues to inhabit a special place in memory, resonate and invoke the most emotional response every time it is heard. Some might argue this is ‘just an over-emotional response’, but I would say that it could be, nay is a key to how we may bring humanity together.

So that may be the most long-winded, not to say ‘visceral’ guideline to what I’m thinking for this issue. But I hope if nothing else it helps to focus your thoughts, as if they needed to be focused in the first place!

As ever, there are no imposed constraints, if you can provide anything with a musical theme, be it an explanation in prose or poetry of why you love a particular piece or genre of music, or even and especially a link to your favourite song or symphony, aria or opera, concerto or cantata, please let us have it. It could also be a reason why, in some instances music, song, an anthem can be used against our interests, in shoring up a malevolent dictatorship, for example, or promoting anti-social behaviours. It could equally be a short history of folk music, which often tends to tell the stories of the downtrodden masses, or of unrequited love, or … your own story. All is relevant to the October’s theme.

There are, in my book of music, no boundaries to its variety and opportunity for new arrangements and collaborations that stand to provide us and future generations with food for love and peace and social justice and to sustain us all in that future. ”

Peace and love
John

THE BeZINE submissions for the October 2017 issue – themed Music – are open and the deadline is October 10th. Send submissions to me [Jamie] at bardogroup@gmail.com. Publication is October 15th. Poetry, essays, fiction and creative nonfiction, art and photography, music (videos or essays), and whatever lends itself to online presentation is welcome for consideration. No demographic restrictions and submissions of work relative to our country and its history and culture are welcome. The more diverse the representation, the better. English only or accompanied by translation into English. Please check out a few issues first and the Intro/Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines. We do not publish anything that promotes hate or violence.  The lead for the October issue is Sheffield poet and musician, John Anstie (My Poetry Library and 42).

  • CALLING ALL POETS, WRITERS, ARTISTS AND MUSICIANS: We need your most passionate work on September 30 for The BeZine 100,000 Poets (and other artists and friends) for Change live online event.
  • Heads-up on the November zine: The theme is Hunger, Poverty and Working-class Slavery. Deadline: November 10. 

JOHN ANSTIE (My Poetry Library and 42) ~ is a British writer, poet and musician –  a multi-talented gentleman self-described as a “Family man, Grandfather, Occasional Musician, Singer, Amateur photographer and Film-maker, Apple-MAC user, Implementation Manager, and Engineer”. He has participated in d’Verse Poet’s Pub and is a player in New World Creative Union as well as a being a ‘spoken-voice’ participant in Roger Allen Baut’s excellent ‘Blue Sky Highway‘ radio broadcasts. He’s been blogging since the beginning of 2011. He is also a member of The Poetry Society (UK) and is one of the stellar team that comprises The Bardo Group Begines, publishers of The BeZine.

  • Sheffield in Harmony hosted by Hallmark of Harmony (Poet John Anstie’s group), October 7, 2017, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Firth Court. Firth Hall. Sheffield University. “Hallmark of Harmony’s annual production will showcase the considerable barbershop singing talent of our great city. We are proud to share the stage with Sheffield Harmony, who are among the leading female barbershop choruses in the UK. Moreover, this stellar lineup will be complemented by no less than UK champions and World Silver Medallist Mixed quartet, Hannah and the Hurricanes! This is going to be a phenomenal show.” Tickets HERE.

Here is an interview of John. I [Jamie] invite you to get to know him better:  Petrichor Rising and how the Twitterverse birthed friendships that in turn birthed a poetry collection

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Search Warrant for Visitors to a Protest Website, First and Fourth Amendment rights challenged

Scene at the Signing of the United States Constitution by (1940) American artist and illustrator, Howard Chandler Christy (1872-1952)

“The DreamHost warrant in particular is likely to chill the exercise of First Amendment rights—including the right to receive information, to speak anonymously, and to associate with like-minded individuals free from the threat of government unmasking.” American Civil Liberties Union

Constitution of the United States of America

“Reports that the Justice Department served a warrant on an internet company, demanding it turn over records that could be used to identify more than a million visitors to a Trump protest website, raise serious concerns about the current administration targeting critics and attempting to chill dissent,” reports PEN America along with various other legal and rights-watch organizations and news outlets. This is again an issue that goes far beyond which side of the great divide you stand. It’s about the protections of freedom of speech and other civil rights and points to the potential for human rights abuses.

The company, Dreamhost, maintains disruptJ20, which was used to organize protests for January’s presidential inauguration. The Justice Department, which handles local prosecutions in the District of Columbia, issued the warrant to Dreamhost in mid-August, according to Dreamhost, which required the company to produce “all files” in connection with disruptJ20. This would include logs for each visitor to the site.

The logs include detailed information: the time and date of the visit, the internet address of the user and the pages each visitor viewed. Combined with other easily obtainable information, police could then trace the specific computers of the more than 1.3 million visitors for which Dreamhost has logs. As of August, local D.C. police have arrested more than 200 protesters en masse, including a number of journalists, and have charged them with felony rioting. This could result in decades-long jail sentences.

“I am one of the more than a million people who visited this website, and who will be swept up by this obscenely broad search warrant—all because it’s my job to follow these things,” said Gabe Rottman, PEN America’s Washington director. “How many other journalists, academics, lawyers, peaceful protesters, and even Trump supporters visited this website? They will all be under a microscope if the court lets this dragnet stand.”

Dreamhost is currently challenging the warrant under both free speech and privacy grounds. Among other things, the company is arguing that the warrant would sweep in completely innocent, and constitutionally protected, communications without any indication that the communications are in any way relevant to wrongdoing. Those affected would include journalists, writers, academics and students just handling their assigned responsibilities.

Brett Max Kaufman, a staff attorney with the ACLU Center for Democracy, writes that this action is a “clear threat to the Constitution.”

“One of the core principles enshrined in the Fourth Amendment is a prohibition on general searches — meaning, the government cannot simply go fishing for a wide range of information in the hope that some kind of useful evidence will turn up. But that’s exactly what the government appears to be doing with a newly revealed search warrant seeking reams of digital records about an Inauguration Day protest website that could implicate more than 1 million users.” More HERE.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is working with Dreamhost to fight this:

“[This is] just one example of the staggering overbreadth of the search warrant, it would require DreamHost to turn over the IP logs of all visitors to the site. Millions of visitors—activists, reporters, or you (if you clicked on the link)—would have records of their visits turned over to the government. The warrant also sought production of all emails associated with the account and unpublished content, like draft blog posts and photos.” More HERE.

RELATED:

Both illustrations are in the public domain. This feature is primarily courtesy of the following organizations:

PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.

DREAMHOST is a Los Angeles-based web hosting provider and domain name registrar. It is the web hosting and cloud computing business owned by New Dream Network, LLC, founded in 1996 by Dallas Bethune, Josh Jones, Michael Rodriguez and Sage Weil, undergraduate students at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California, and registered in 1997 by Michael Rodriguez. DreamHost began hosting customers’ sites in 1997.

The ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. EFF provides funds for legal defense in court, presents amicus curiae briefs, defends individuals and new technologies from what it considers abusive legal threats, works to expose government malfeasance, provides guidance to the government and courts, organizes political action and mass mailings, supports some new technologies which it believes preserve personal freedoms and online civil liberties, maintains a database and web sites of related news and information, monitors and challenges potential legislation that it believes would infringe on personal liberties and fair use, and solicits a list of what it considers abusive patents with intentions to defeat those that it considers without merit.

ACLU CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY, under the direction of Cecillia Wang, works to strengthen American democratic institutions and values, promote human rights, ensure government accountability, and protect the rights of immigrants in our national community. The Center for Democracy includes the National Security Project, the Human Rights Program, the Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, the Voting Rights Project, and the Immigrants’ Rights Project.

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SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS: Calls for Submissions, Contests, Events and Other News and Information

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

Opportunity Knocks

BLUE EARTH REVIEW, MINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY, MANKATO’S LITERARY MAGAZINE publishes a journal bi-annually, which includes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and art. Submissions are read year-round. Details HERE.

THE MILLIONS “regularly publishes pieces from guest contributors.  The Millions also has several paid staff writers.  The number of staff writer spots is limited and we typically pull from our frequent guest contributors when adding new staff writers.” Details HERE.

PROLE “is a print magazine that publishes high quality, accessible poetry and prose. We aim to challenge, engage and entertain – but never exclude.” Submission guidelines HERE.

THE 2018 FILM AND VIDEO POETRY SYMPOSIUM is accepting “submissions of poetry films, filmpoems, digital-poetry, poetry video, Cin(E)-Poetry, spoken word films, videopoema, visual poetry, poetrinca, media poetry, and all films that are visually driven by text. Performance material, virtual reality projects, installation proposals, and video art presentations that hybrid or contain strong aspects of poetry are encouraged.

“The Film and Video Poetry Symposium also calls for experimental film and video work that explores language and/or literature whether it be oral, written, visual, or symbolic. This includes the film essay or cinematic essay, non-narrative work, and the avant guard. We will also strongly consider work that challenges traditional and current visual communication methods while continuing to function as a mode for exploring narrative and personal expression.” Further detail HERE.

JEWISH FICTION . NET is “currently the only English-language journal, in print or online devoted exclusively to publishing Jewish fiction.”  The zine is currently open to submission of literary short-fiction or excerpts from novels – longer than flash fiction but no longer than 6,000 words. Details HERE.

THE FLORIDA REVIEW and AQUFIER: THE FLORIDA REVIEW ONLINE publishes work from the international community and welcomes emerging writers and those who are well established. The review is published semi-annually. The Aquifer is a new online supplement. Further details and submission guidelines are HERE.

THE BeZINE September issue is the prequel to our virtual 100,000 Poets for Change (100TCP) 2017 event on September 30. Michael Dickel is master of ceremonies.  Watch this site for more detailed info or email Jamie Dedes at bardogroup@gmail.com. There are no demographic restrictions. The submission deadline for the magazine is the 10th as always and then visit on the 30th to participate in the virtual event.

CONTESTS

Opportunity Knocks

BLUE EARTH REVIEW, MINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY, MANKATO’S LITERARY MAGAZINE annual summer contests (poetry, creative nonfiction and flash fiction) will close on August 15. Submission is electronic. If you have something prepared you can submit it in time. $5 entry fee. Cash awards. Details HERE.

PROLE is accepting submissions to its Laureate Poetry Competition, 2018 through January 31, 2018. Cash award. £3.00 for first entry, £2.00 for any subsequent entries. Details HERE.

UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS, UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM, Etchings Press Whirling Prize for recently published books on Social Justice. Two $500 awards. Deadline September 17. Eligibility and other details HERE. (Thank you, Michael Dickel.)

EVENTS

  • New Orleans Poetry Festival and Small Press Fair, 2018 “will feature three days and nights of poetry readings and performances, panel discussions, fiction events, a small press fair with books for sale and display, musical acts, slam events, walking tours, open mic at the famous Maple Leaf Bar, and much more…” Further details HERE.
  • Bridgewater International Poetry Festival, 2018 at Bridgewater College, 402 E. College St., Bridgewater, VA 22812 Details and registration HERE.
  • World Poetry Day, 2018, to be held world-wide. on March 21. Details and history HERE.
  • The 2018 Film and Poetry Video Symposium, April 27 & 28, Details HERE.

NOTE: On The Poet by Day Facebook Page, I often post events, news, calls for submission that never make it here due to timing or space. For example, as they’ve been coming in through various venues, I have been posting the 100,000 Poets for Change events from around the world.

KUDOS

  • Carole Bromley and Mendes Biondo: to Carole for the publication of her new children’s poetry collection Blast Off and to Mendes for his interview of Carole, an award winning poet
  • James Burkowitz for the inclusion of his poem Tears for Peace in an upcoming (2018) anthology from San Francisco Peace and Hope
  • Diaphanous Press and DeWitt Clinton for the upcoming publication of Fishing with the Chinese Masters, poems by DeWitt Clinton. This will be Diaphanous Press’ first book publication. It’s first journal issue was published earlier this year.

OTHER NEWS AND INFORMATION

YOUR SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS may be emailed to thepoetbyday@gmail.com. Please do so at least a week in advance.

If you would like me to consider reviewing your book, chapbook, magazine or film, here are some general guidelines:

  • nothing that foments hate or misunderstanding
  • nothing violent or encouraging of violence
  • English only, though Spanish is okay if accompanied by translation
  • though your book or other product doesn’t have to be available through Amazon for review here, it should be easy for readers to find through your site or other venues.

DISCLAIMER

Often information is just that – information – and not necessarily recommendation. I haven’t worked with all the publications featured in Sunday Announcements or elsewhere on this site. Awards and contests are often a means to generate income and publicity for the host organizations, some of which are more reputable than others. I am homebound due to disability and no longer attend events. Please be sure to verify information for yourself before submitting work, buying products, paying fees or attending events et al.

Affiliate Links Disclosure:
Some product links within posts are Amazon affiliate links. The Poet by Day is supported in part by these links. Your use of them costs you nothing and helps to keep this site running. When you click on a affiliate link (not all links are affiliate) and/or make a purchase I sometimes receive a small percentage of the purchase price. Thank you for your support.

ABOUT THE POET BY DAY

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Consolation, fun and gusto . . .

“I am a product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms, upstairs indoor silences, attics explored in solitude, distant noises of gurgling cisterns and pipes, and the noise of wind under the tiles.  Also, of endless books.” Surprised by Joy, The Shape of My Early Life, C.S. Lewis

Life happens – sometimes with breathtaking speed – until it doesn’t; so we are happy after all with the activities of these times:  dealing with some rather major life-changes … along with balancing work on The Poet by Day, the evolving Coffee, Tea and Poetry, and monthly issues of The BeZine, themed theatre for August. I am excited to be collaborating on this issue with my son, Richard Lingua, as well as a cascade of talented writers and poets and The BeZine core team (The Bardo Group, now The Bardo Group Beguines), recently dubbed The BeZiners by John Anstie.

This year has been a struggle and I’ve finally have to admit that the practical strategy for the moment is to cut back on various activities until I can reorganize to accommodate new circumstances. I know you understand. No one’s life is free of challenges to the status quo. That is, perhaps, a good thing.

“It is a very consoling fact that so many books about real lives – biographies autobiographies, letters, etc. — give one such an impression of happiness, in spite of the tragedies they all contain … Perhaps the tragedies of real life contain more consolation and fun and gusto than the comedies of literature?” The Letters of C.S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves

Meanwhile, I am determined at the very least to bring you Sunday Announcements (yesterday’s will post later today), Tuesday responses to Wednesday Writing Prompts, and Wednesday Writing Prompts. They may go up late, but they will go up.

Having said that, I have a slew of reviews and other material to share with you – all resting in wait for time and energy to do right by all the fine poets and writers I love and love to share with loyal and supportive readers who just happen to be writers and poets as well. You rock. Things are looking up even for bringing back the American She-Poets series. Please bare with me. Thanks for your patience … and poem on. Reading and writing is the stuff of magic. Literature, like life, does in fact offer consolation, fun and gusto. One vs. the other might just a matter of degree.

Warmly,
Jamie

ABOUT THE POET BY DAY