Listen to the voices of urban and immigrant youth on THE BRIDGE: Arts for the 99%, May 25, 2:30 p.m.

Join us on THE BRIDGE tomorrow, 5/25, at 2:30 p.m. to hear the voices of the BOOKS OF HOPE (BOH) poets, urban and immigrant youth ages 13-25, a segment of the 99% we don’t often hear from. We do hear a lot ABOUT these young people, much of it from an outsider perspective, and much of it negative, but we are rarely exposed to their voices, their ideas, their stories, and we don’t have a very good idea of what the world looks like from their points of view. Books of Hope gives us the chance to hear from them directly, as they read their own poetry, and give us their thoughts and feelings on life and art in a round table discussion. Join us tomorrow on THE BRIDGE where we will also hear from Soul Brown, the inspiring Director of BOOKS OF HOPE.

Under the direction of Soul Brown, the poets of BOH not only write poetry, they publish their own books and sell them on the upcoming Mystic Ink tour – go to their website for info on BOH and venues on the Mystic Ink Tour:
http://www.booksofhope-ma.org

And join BOH for Teen Open Mic night.
Arts at the Armory
191 Highland Ave
Somerville Ma
6-8 pm

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Join four remarkable young poets on THE BRIDGE:

Next on The Bridge: Arts for the 99%, May 25, 2:30 p.m. Books of Hope, “a dynamic youth literacy empowerment program inspiring the next generation of young authors through writing, publishing, performing, and entrepreneurship.” This program features Soul Brown, Director of Books of Hope, and four young writers reading their poems and discussing their work in a round-table format moderated by host Janet Gillespie.

Most of us are aware of the importance of the arts in expressing and sharing experience and ideas, and showing us new perspectives on the worlds we live in, and we understand the value of arts activities for young people. The young artists of Books of Hope do more than creative writing however; in addition to writing and performing their poetry, they also publish their own work and sell their books.

Without the publishing/entrepreneurship components of their project, I would have never known about Books of Hope.

I first became aware of Books of Hope in 2009 when I attended the Mass Poetry Festival in Lowell MA. There, among the crowd of adult, mostly white poets and their shiny books, I found three vibrant young women of color at a table displaying an impressive number of slim books of poetry. They told me about their project, which involves not just writing poetry, transforming their experiences and ideas into art, but also publishing their work, creating and selling the books I was holding in my hands. As I leafed through their books, I was caught up in their vision and their voices, their imagery, their ferocious honesty and, yes, their hope. I bought three books and used them in a writing class I was teaching at the Boston Campus of Springfield College. My students loved the poems and stories and clearly resonated with them as art and as social commentary.

Join us on The Bridge: Arts for the 99 % on May 25, 2:30 p.m. to meet Soul Brown and the remarkable young poets of Books of Hope.

To learn more about Books of Hope, visit http://booksofhope-ma.org

 

Meet Abe Rybeck, Founding Artistic Director of The Theater Offensive, Friday, on The Bridge

I’m so happy to be working with Linda on this radio project and thanks to Sarah at Occupy Boston Radio for teaching us so much and being incredibly supportive with our first efforts at radio programming & production. The Bridge: Arts for the 99% is truly a collaborative project.

Developing the next program on The Bridge, an interview with Abe Rybeck, Founding Artistic Director of The Theater Offensive (broadcasting on Friday May 11, 2:30 p.m. on Occupy Boston Radio) has been exciting and enlightening for me. I had begun to think of the 99% only as an oppressed group, victimized by the political/economic power purchased by the obscene wealth of the 1%. However, hearing from and about Theater Offensive’s Out in Your Neighborhood strategy, the True Colors Out Youth Theater, and TO’s upcoming production The Secret History of Love, gave me a new perspective. Of course the 1% are having a devastating impact on our lives and the lives of our neighbors, but the youth who make up True Colors, young, queer, people of color who come, for the most part, from the lower levels of the 99%, are definitely not victims. Their energy, their creativity, their thoughts and ideas, have been supported and developed through the guidance of the Theater Offensive into vibrant theater productions; their vision is fierce and clear as they show us the world through their experience, and their joy and positive energy are contagious as they welcome us into a truly inclusive community. The Boston Stonewall Generation folks whose stories and voices are a major force in the East Coast premier of The Secret History of Love also inspire us with their courage, their humor, their integrity.

Please join Abe Rybeck and me on The Bridge: Arts for the 99% on Friday May 11 at 2:30 and let us know what you think.

 

First episode of THE BRIDGE tomorrow!

Radio | Occupy Boston

We are thrilled to be broadcasting on-line the first episode of, THE BRIDGE, Arts for the 99% tomorrow May 4th at 2.30pm Boston time, 7.30pm UK time. I’m Linda Carmichael and my friend, Janet Gillespie is the Co Host, fellow producer and editor of this 1/2 hour arts program.

We look forward to your comments and suggestions for future programing.

The line up for May:

Episode 1 May 4th Interview with musician/composer, Dave Kobrenski from The Black Bear Moon Project. He will talk about what it is like to be an independent musician in the corporate climate of today’s music scene, his travels in West Africa to learn that country’s traditional music, and we will hear some truly spectacular Afro Funk Jazz.

 

 

Black Bear Moon Cultural Project: West African Djembe, Dunun, Fula flute – Performances and Workshops, New Hampshire

 

Episode 2 May 11th Interview with Abe Rybeck Executive Artistic Director of The Theater Offensive. The Theater Offensive’s mission  is to form and present the diverse realities of queer lives in art so bold it breaks through personal isolation and political orthodoxy to help build an honest, progressive community. This show is incredibly moving with some spectacular pieces of theater from their up-coming work.

Home | thetheateroffensive

 

Episode 3 May 18th  Explores Political Theater with interviews with Oscar winner Ernest Thomson who wrote ON GOLDEN POND. He will talk about his recently written series of plays collectively entitled Political Suicide, and Actor/writer Danny Bryck, who is working on his one man show, No Room For Wishing, based on his interviews with the Occupy Boston inhabitants of Dewey Square.

 

Whitebridge Farm Productions LLC – Ernest Thomson’s company

http://dannybryck.com/about/

Episode 4 May 25th We spend time with BOOKS OF HOPE, a dynamic youth literacy empowerment program inspiring the next generation of young authors through writing, publishing performing and entrepeneurship. We will have some of their work in the second part of the show.

http://booksofhope-ma.org/about.html