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JUSTICE ACTION MONDAYS: Flash Advocacy

Unitarian Universalist Church of San Mateo California

Rev. Benjamin Meyers and the congregation of the Unitarian Universalists of San Mateo (UUSM) invite friends and neighbors in San Mateo to take part in Justice Action Mondays: Flash Advocacy. This Monday/April 10, we’ll write postcards protesting the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts.  We’ll continue making posters for those participating in the local Climate Marches in San Jose and Oakland on Earth Day, April 29. Snacks, supplies and pleasant, like-minded company provided.

Justice Action Mondays: Flash Advocacy!
Every Monday from 5:30-6:30 pm in Beck Hall
Unitarian Universalists of San Mateo
300 E Santa Inez Avenue
San Mateo, CA 94401
650 342 5946
Office Hours: Tu-Fri 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Apropos this effort: Lesson Fifteen: Practice Corporeal Politics. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen.  Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people.  Make new friends and march with them.” Prof. Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.

The quote and recommended reading suggestion are from me, not UUSM. Justice Action Mondays are, however, a good way to implement this lesson and something that can be implemented by any organization almost anywhere in the world.

Peace! Hope! Joy!

Love, Jamie

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the mind and love, like two wings

Furious dreams, rivers of bitter certainty,
decisions harder than the dreams of a hammer
flowed into the lovers’ double cup,

until those twins were lifted into balance
on the scale: the mind and love, like two wings.
– So this transparency was built.

– Pablo Neruda
One Hundred Love Sonnets: Cien sonetos de amor (English and Spanish Edition)
translation by Stephen Tapscott

Regarding the flower photograph: As you may have noticed over the past few days, I’ve been experimenting with special effects for flower photographs. This flower photo put me in mind of Neruda’s poem. (Everything he wrote seems to stay in memory.) Originally the photograph wasn’t meant to be blurry but The Bax was pulling me along as I was clicking away and some photos got “ruined.” In the end, I appreciated the misty mysterious quality that the blurring gave this one. Some of the best things happen by accident – or at least partly by accident.

“In politics being deceived is no excuse.” Leszak Kolakowski

Recommended read: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder. Left, right or center – American or not – it’s a must read for our chaotic times … and not just the list of lessons but Prof. Snyder’s commentary on each. This book is a rational enlightening little gem and a powerful wake-up call.

Lesson Five: “Remember Professional Ethics When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important.  It is hard to subvert a rule–of-law state without lawyers, or to hold show trials without judges. Authoritarians need obedient civil servants, and concentration camp directors seek businessmen interested in cheap labor.”

THE WORDPLAY SHOP: books, tools and supplies for poets, writers and readers

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LATE BREAKING NEWS: Contests from PEN America and (3) University of Arkansas Press

opportunity knocks

The PEN Center USA Literary Awards, Calls for Submissions:”… is accepting teleplays by writers living west of the Mississippi River. Entries are reviewed and judged by panels of distinguished writers, critics, and editors. Winners will be announced in the late summer of 2017. Each winner receives a $1,000 cash prize, a one-year membership to PEN Center USA, and two tickets to the Literary Awards Festival in the fall of 2017.” Further Details HERE.

The University of Arkansas Press has deadlines coming up on three contests:

  • $5,000 Miller Poetry Prize deadline is September 30, 2017.  The judge is Billy Collins and the entry fee is $28.  This is for collections. Further details HERE.
  • 2018 $1,000 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize for a second book of poetry in English by a writer of Arab heritage.  “Since its founding in 1996 the Radius of Arab American Writers has celebrated and fostered the writings and writers that make up the vibrant and diverse Arab American community; and the University of Arkansas Press has long been committed to publishing diverse kinds of poetry by a diversity of poets. The series editors are Hayan Charara and Fady Joudah, and the prize is named in honor of the world-renowned poet, novelist, essayist, and artist Etel Adnan.”  $25 entry fee. Hayan Charara and Fady Joudah are judges and the series’ editors. Further detail HERE. April 15, 2017 is the dealine to be considered for the 2018 prize.
  • 2018 $1,000 CantoMundo Poetry Prize for “a book of poetry by a Latina/o writer. Since its founding in 2009, CantoMundo has cultivated and supported a community of Latina/o poets and the poetry they create, and the University of Arkansas Press has long been committed to publishing diverse kinds of poetry by a diversity of poets.” Deborah Paredez and Celeste Gúzman Mendoza are the judges and the series’ editors. $28 entry free. Further detail HERE. April 15, 2017 is the deadline to be considered for the 2018 prize.
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At 6 p.m.: The Scent of Onions, a poem . . . and your Wednesday Writing Prompt

Seriously, she considered murder by food,
sausage, potatoes, and Boston Cream Pie
Gleeful, she stuffed his arteries with salami,
used suet in pasties and plum puddings,
sought quietus from onions fried in bacon fat
Strategizing slow-death by Swiss fondue,
she dreamed of being single while sharing
broccoli trees with the toddler on her knee

© 2012, poem, Jamie Dedes, all rights reserved

WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT

When people can’t speak-up and speak-out, they can give “voice” to their frustrations in odd ways.  What kinds of strange rebellions have you observed? Tell us about that experience in poem or prose.  If you feel comfortable, share the link to your work in comments section below or, if the piece is short enough, share the piece itself.  Responses will be featured here next Tuesday.

“In politics being deceived is no excuse.” Leszak Kolakowski

Recommended read: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder. Left, right or center – American or not – it’s a must read for our chaotic times … and not just the list of lessons but Prof. Snyder’s commentary on each. This book is a rational enlightening little gem and a powerful wake-up call.

Lesson Three: Beware the One Party State. “The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not omnipotent rom the start.  They exploited a historic moment to make political life impossible for their opponents. So support the multiparty system and defend the rules of democratic elections  Vote in local and state elections while you can.  Consider running for office.”

THE WORDPLAY SHOP: books, tools and supplies for poets, writers and readers