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Komohanaokala
23 May 2009 @ 09:49 pm
It's time for the 2009 Worcester Slam Finals at the Poets' Asylum.
Sunday, May 24: The top finishers on will represent Worcester at the 2009 Nationals
being held in West Palm Beach, FL in August. Join us as Liz Heath, Trevor Byrne-Smith, Cowboy Matt, Danny Balel, Dave Keali'i, Danielle, Aslan King and McKendy compete in four rounds of poetic mayhem. It's bound to be a hot night with great poetry and top rate performances from everyone. Come join in the fun at Jumpin' Juice and Java (335 Chandler Street, Worcester). The reading starts at 6:00 p.m. No cover; please throw some money in the bucket to support the slam team.
http://www.poetsasylum.org
Sunday, May 24: The top finishers on will represent Worcester at the 2009 Nationals
being held in West Palm Beach, FL in August. Join us as Liz Heath, Trevor Byrne-Smith, Cowboy Matt, Danny Balel, Dave Keali'i, Danielle, Aslan King and McKendy compete in four rounds of poetic mayhem. It's bound to be a hot night with great poetry and top rate performances from everyone. Come join in the fun at Jumpin' Juice and Java (335 Chandler Street, Worcester). The reading starts at 6:00 p.m. No cover; please throw some money in the bucket to support the slam team.http://www.poetsasylum.org
19 April 2009 @ 09:51 am
April 16, 2009
A federal judge in Brownsville, TX issued an order today granting the federal government's request to condemn the ancestral land of the Tamez Family, who are Lipan Apaches. Although this land has been in the Tamez family prior to the Spanish colonization, and also designated to them through Spanish Crown law (1767, as of today, it is in the possession of the United States Department of Homeland Security.
The landowner, Eloisa Tamez, heard about Judge Hanen’s order while participating in the Western Social Sciences Association Conference in Albuquerque, where she was participating in a Three part panel: "Indigenous People's and the U.S.-Mexico Border: Militarization, Resistance, and Rights." She is with a group of colleagues from several bi-national Indigenous Border communities and experts on militarization and the impact of the border wall.
The Tamez family reports that this is an urgent situation which needs international attention and wide press coverage.
Opportunities for press interviews will be held at the WSSA Conference location, at the Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 330 Tijeras NW, following the panel discussions below.
Panel II Friday April 17 8:00am-9:30am Sendero Room 1 “Militarization”
Panel III Friday April 17th 2:45pm-4:15pm Sendero Room 2 “Resistance”
Contacts:
Cynthia Bejarano 575-571-7359
April Cotte acotte@igc.org
*******
This is another great case of US colonial law striping Native people of their rights.
For more context on this issue head over to: Indigenous Politics from Native New England and Beyond for an interview with Eloisa's daughter Margo.
A federal judge in Brownsville, TX issued an order today granting the federal government's request to condemn the ancestral land of the Tamez Family, who are Lipan Apaches. Although this land has been in the Tamez family prior to the Spanish colonization, and also designated to them through Spanish Crown law (1767, as of today, it is in the possession of the United States Department of Homeland Security.
The landowner, Eloisa Tamez, heard about Judge Hanen’s order while participating in the Western Social Sciences Association Conference in Albuquerque, where she was participating in a Three part panel: "Indigenous People's and the U.S.-Mexico Border: Militarization, Resistance, and Rights." She is with a group of colleagues from several bi-national Indigenous Border communities and experts on militarization and the impact of the border wall.
The Tamez family reports that this is an urgent situation which needs international attention and wide press coverage.
Opportunities for press interviews will be held at the WSSA Conference location, at the Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 330 Tijeras NW, following the panel discussions below.
Panel II Friday April 17 8:00am-9:30am Sendero Room 1 “Militarization”
Panel III Friday April 17th 2:45pm-4:15pm Sendero Room 2 “Resistance”
Contacts:
Cynthia Bejarano 575-571-7359
April Cotte acotte@igc.org
*******
This is another great case of US colonial law striping Native people of their rights.
For more context on this issue head over to: Indigenous Politics from Native New England and Beyond for an interview with Eloisa's daughter Margo.
07 April 2009 @ 10:49 am
"I wasn't ashamed of what I done with him. Never was, deep down. Never regretted it. Because at the time there was nothing else to do; and because in a time like that I knowed I would do it again. Only hoped it would be someone different, not a person who seen only what he wanted in the moment he wanted it; someone who could talk to my own loneliness, visit it kind-like instead of using it with no more care than he used his own hand on himself."
Johnny, _Watermelon Nights_ by Greg Sarris
***
Ever read something that just pops out at you? This is one for me. I wish I had read that 10 or 9 years ago. Something to keep in the back of my head ... because that is exactly what I've been looking for.
Johnny, _Watermelon Nights_ by Greg Sarris
***
Ever read something that just pops out at you? This is one for me. I wish I had read that 10 or 9 years ago. Something to keep in the back of my head ... because that is exactly what I've been looking for.
04 March 2009 @ 12:01 am
One of the reasons I embrace my Hawaiianess (for lack of a better word), the part of me that is `Oiwi is because the culture was/is rooted in acceptance. In the old days, and as late as the mid 1800's, my loving men would not have been a huge deal. Some of you have heard a poem I used to do about that very issue. It is telling that there is not equivalent of the word "faggot" in the Hawaiian language.
Part of why I identify so strongly as Hawaiian-Kanka-`oiwi is because as a Hawaiian I can be a whole person. This issue of sexuality has not always been an issue.
That's changed over the course of 200+ years of Western contact and Christianization. This is evident via the photos of the protests against civil-unions in the sate of Hawaii. So many showed up. So many of the people listed as speaking or in photographs were listed as having Hawaiian names. The color of the shirts worn by those opposed to civil-unions was red. The same color of the shirts worn FOR Hawaiian rights and sovereignty.
James Baldwin mentioned that he could handle attacks and criticism from white Americans, but to experience the same from Blacks was more than he could bear.
For me gay-rights and Hawaiian sovereignty are entwined. It wasn't just our land, government and culture that was colonized; our bodies and self-image were colonized also.
As a side note: for me identity is not a static thing, but something always changing and growing. The way I see my self as a gay, Hawaiian, as American is always evolving. How couldn't it?
25 February 2009 @ 08:25 pm
Here are some articles from the local Hawaii papers about the arguments before the US Supreme Court. The comments on these articles are, interesting to say the least. Many comments are downright racist and condescending towards Hawaiians.
Links to full articles are in the headlines.
Links to full articles are in the headlines.
Hawaiians turn to tradition for help in ceded-lands fight
About 300 people supporting the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' position on ceded lands gathered from 4 a.m. today at the state Capitol and held a series of chants and prayers.
The action was part protest against the Lingle administration, part calling on the kupuna, or ancestors, to help them fight the appeal.
***
State, OHA argue over ceded lands before U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — Hawaii Attorney General Mark Bennett asked the U.S. Supreme Court today to overturn a state court decision blocking the state from selling or transferring any of 1.2 million acres of former Hawaiian monarchy lands it manages.
The court is expected to issue an opinion in the case before its term ends on June 30.
***
By Associated Press
POSTED: 11:51 a.m. HST, Feb 25, 2009
WASHINGTON >> A congressional resolution apologizing for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 does not strip the state of its authority to sell or transfer any of about 1.2 million acres of land, Hawaii Attorney General Mark Bennett told the U.S. Supreme Court today.
24 February 2009 @ 07:03 pm
Here is an article related to the case that goes before the US Supreme Court tomorrow. This is the case my aunt has been working on. In fact her and my parents are in DC right now to hear tomorrows oral arguments.
This is an op-ed piece I posted in my face book as well: http://www.starbulletin.com/columnists/o
This is an op-ed piece I posted in my face book as well: http://www.starbulletin.com/columnists/o
Hawaiians hold their breath as high court takes up case
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Feb 01, 2009
It is a wound that has not healed and its treatment becomes more vexing as more entities enter the picture.The wound is the process of Hawaii going from an independent kingdom to the 50th state.
How that happened is not in dispute, but what should be done still reverberates 116 years after the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani.
Hawaii entered the union with an estimated 1.8 million acres that were ceded to the United States in 1898 by the then Republic of Hawaii upon annexation.
When the U.S. admitted Hawaii, it said those lands would be a public trust for the support of public schools, for the betterment of the conditions of native Hawaiians, for the development of farm and home ownership, for making public improvements and for other public use.
This month the question of precisely who controls those lands plops down for the U.S. Supreme Court to answer.
( The rest of the article )</span> </div>
22 February 2009 @ 11:12 am
We have an Open Qualifying Slam for the 2009 Worcester Slam Team &&&&& a spot light feature by Jadon Woodward! We are at Jumpin Jucin Java: 335 Chandler Street, Worcester. We start at 6 pm.
No cover; please throw some money in the bucket to support the features
and bring some money to buy a tasty beverage or something to eat.
No cover; please throw some money in the bucket to support the features
and bring some money to buy a tasty beverage or something to eat.
11 February 2009 @ 06:50 pm
In the West the land is productive if it is utilized to make money and support development. End of discussion.
Rarely is productivity viewed as support or self-sufficiency. It is never enough to produce what one needs and share what is extra. If a people are self-sufficient, if they produce what the need to survive, why are they viewed as letting land go to waste?
From my own readings on the colonization of the Pacific it becomes clear that Westerners have always assumed that the way land was utilized in Europe (pre-industrial, industrial and post industrial) is the best and only way land should be used.
Why does “progress” = destruction of resources, alteration of the land and profit only for a few?
**
Somewhere in the back of my head I believe there is a way to combine the individual and communal rights. History tells me otherwise. Native Americans, on the whole, have not benefited from individual rights. Individual rights do not adequately address a people who are trying to assert themselves as a culture. Individual rights do not adequately protect a people from cultural annihilation.
Why do you think so many movements work as a collection to bring change?
We may be individuals, but we come together to collectively move forward.
E, just thinking…
03 February 2009 @ 10:11 am
and what so many people who have been colonized would say to the colonizers:
"You walked into my home as if it were your home. How, then, could I make you welcome?" - Jean-Marie Tjibaou, Kanak Independence Leader
Jean-Marie Tjibaou worked for the independence of Kanaky (aka New Caledonia) from French Colonial rule. I'm currently reading a book about him entitled: _Jean-Marie Tjibaou: Kanak Witness To The World, An Intellectual Biograpy_ by Eric Waddell.
"You walked into my home as if it were your home. How, then, could I make you welcome?" - Jean-Marie Tjibaou, Kanak Independence Leader
Jean-Marie Tjibaou worked for the independence of Kanaky (aka New Caledonia) from French Colonial rule. I'm currently reading a book about him entitled: _Jean-Marie Tjibaou: Kanak Witness To The World, An Intellectual Biograpy_ by Eric Waddell.
01 December 2008 @ 07:20 am
Here is a gift of spirals:
Bone and nephrite carved into pendants
darkened over time from human oils.
This solid echo of tattoos from the homeland
was carried over waves, buoyed to star changes
lashed to (by) coconut fiber rope (twine).
In time only bone and ivory blossomed
in the mind of the carver.
This is what can be dedicated to the God
in this new land,
a fresh offering chiseled then polished.
A whales tooth held close to the neck
by chords of human hair points the prerogative
of sacred laws made flesh: Na Ali`i.
Today spirals are gone.
Instead, hooks tapered to degrees of fashion
recall islands fished out of
the sun slick ocean.
Some memories persist well over 15 generations:
This echo of tattoos remains nestled
deep in the memory of voyaging canoes.
The gift has morphed, found new materials
but remains essentially ours to cherish
to carry with us to new homes where
we well fish new islands, make new canoes.
Bone and nephrite carved into pendants
darkened over time from human oils.
This solid echo of tattoos from the homeland
was carried over waves, buoyed to star changes
lashed to (by) coconut fiber rope (twine).
In time only bone and ivory blossomed
in the mind of the carver.
This is what can be dedicated to the God
in this new land,
a fresh offering chiseled then polished.
A whales tooth held close to the neck
by chords of human hair points the prerogative
of sacred laws made flesh: Na Ali`i.
Today spirals are gone.
Instead, hooks tapered to degrees of fashion
recall islands fished out of
the sun slick ocean.
Some memories persist well over 15 generations:
This echo of tattoos remains nestled
deep in the memory of voyaging canoes.
The gift has morphed, found new materials
but remains essentially ours to cherish
to carry with us to new homes where
we well fish new islands, make new canoes.
22 October 2008 @ 08:53 pm
Kukailimoku
I.
If you had heard the Idol
cry out in battle you would know
the full effect of feathers, shells and teeth
molded over a wicker frame
then imbued with sheer spiritual energy.
II.
The appearance of that Idol
predicated spears, stone axes
war clubs, flesh ripped apart.
III.
The God Snatched The Land.
IV.
Better to drown,
die in sleep, suffocate.
Better to be prayed to death
than feel the shriek of The God
along the edge of your spine.
V.
If you see his eyes while
in the hot-lurching belly of war,
prepare to leap back to the ancestors.
***
Comments, questions or suggestions welcome.
I.
If you had heard the Idol
cry out in battle you would know
the full effect of feathers, shells and teeth
molded over a wicker frame
then imbued with sheer spiritual energy.
II.
The appearance of that Idol
predicated spears, stone axes
war clubs, flesh ripped apart.
III.
The God Snatched The Land.
IV.
Better to drown,
die in sleep, suffocate.
Better to be prayed to death
than feel the shriek of The God
along the edge of your spine.
V.
If you see his eyes while
in the hot-lurching belly of war,
prepare to leap back to the ancestors.
***
Comments, questions or suggestions welcome.
22 September 2008 @ 09:11 pm
Just discovered coffeegeek.com and my are there some nice things to look at on that site.
For example, you may not know what a siphon coffee maker is like, but now you can! The mild steam-punk geek in my went all orgasm over the thought of seeing one of these things in action.
All this because I had an espresso craving...
For example, you may not know what a siphon coffee maker is like, but now you can! The mild steam-punk geek in my went all orgasm over the thought of seeing one of these things in action.
All this because I had an espresso craving...
15 September 2008 @ 08:36 pm
October 12 2008 the Poets' Asylum will hold a Four Round Slam to select a representative to send to the 2008 Individual World Poetry Slam. Up to 12 performers will compete in a 4 round poetry slam and be judged by 5 randomly chosen audience members. Visit the Asylum's slam page for more info on the format for the slam.
Join us and help determine who will represent Worcester in Charlotte, NC for iWPS '08.
http://www.poetsasylum.org
***
All right fuckers, get ready!
Join us and help determine who will represent Worcester in Charlotte, NC for iWPS '08.
http://www.poetsasylum.org
***
All right fuckers, get ready!
11 September 2008 @ 08:22 am
The Poets' Asylum is pleased to particpate in the 2008 West Boylston Arts Festival on September 20th. The festival will be held at Goodale Park and the West Boylston Middle/High School playfields (125 Cresent Street, West Boylston) and will run from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with night event continueing until 11:00 p.m. Admission will be $5.
In addition to running a booth to share info about the Poets' Asylum and sell merchandise we will offer a workshop from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. and host an open reading between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. The workshop will feature a 5 or 10 minute writing prompt followed by critique of one poem that a poet is working on. Participants are encourage d to bring one poem they are working on that may need work. The maximum number of participants is limited to 8 to 10 people so that individuals can get the attention they need. The workshop will be conducted by Poets' Asylum co-host Dave Keali'i.
We will need poets to read in the open as well. Please come out and visit us at the West Boylston Arts Festival.
********************88
So, poets who wants to read in our open mic to show off what we offer?
10 September 2008 @ 07:28 pm
Still reading Girl Genius, the online steampunk fantasy comic book. I nearly squeeeeed out loud in the library because they made a refernce to poetry slams.
That's all.
If you are at all into steampunk or the like than this comic is for you.
That's all.
If you are at all into steampunk or the like than this comic is for you.
09 September 2008 @ 04:53 pm
We still miss you, Tutu.
Christine "Maggi" Johnson MacKenzie, 75, of Kailua, a retired medical secretary, died Saturday in Kailua. She was born in Honolulu. She is survived by daughters Irene Hiilei Chung and Melody-Kapilialoha Araki, son Guy Jr., sister Jane DeMello and six grandchildren.
1925 to September 9, 2001.
Christine "Maggi" Johnson MacKenzie, 75, of Kailua, a retired medical secretary, died Saturday in Kailua. She was born in Honolulu. She is survived by daughters Irene Hiilei Chung and Melody-Kapilialoha Araki, son Guy Jr., sister Jane DeMello and six grandchildren.
1925 to September 9, 2001.
02 September 2008 @ 08:38 pm
I've been reading Girl Genius, an online steampink comic. Well this made me so happy:
Zetha: "Agatha?"
Agatha: "... I've never had coffee. Lilith said a young lady shouldn't drink stimulants."
Zetha: "Drink your coffee like a warrior."
Aratha: "...Yes, Zetha."
Or you can view it here http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.p
Zetha: "Agatha?"
Agatha: "... I've never had coffee. Lilith said a young lady shouldn't drink stimulants."
Zetha: "Drink your coffee like a warrior."
Aratha: "...Yes, Zetha."
Or you can view it here http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.p
02 September 2008 @ 06:00 pm
Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab
Wednesday night at 8 *
open mic, featured poet, poetry slam *
738 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Mass.
$3 cover(go in and take the immideate right down the stairs)
Featured poet is David Keali’i - a poet who was born and raised in the city
of Springfield, Massachusetts with strong family ties to both
New England and The Hawaiian Islands. His work has been
published in The November 3rd Club, The Ballard Street Poetry Journal,
Ashe, and Look Up In The Sky! an anthology of comic book poems.
He has been a poetry open mic host for about five years,
and currently co-hosts the Worcester Poet’s Asylum.
He does not take kindly to accusations of pineapple chucking.
Wednesday night at 8 *
open mic, featured poet, poetry slam *
738 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Mass.
$3 cover(go in and take the immideate right down the stairs)
Featured poet is David Keali’i - a poet who was born and raised in the city
of Springfield, Massachusetts with strong family ties to both
New England and The Hawaiian Islands. His work has been
published in The November 3rd Club, The Ballard Street Poetry Journal,
Ashe, and Look Up In The Sky! an anthology of comic book poems.
He has been a poetry open mic host for about five years,
and currently co-hosts the Worcester Poet’s Asylum.
He does not take kindly to accusations of pineapple chucking.