Proof: Trump's GAY tendencies revealed

• 

  Deep down [his throat], DJ Trump is with us!

  (The Jimmy Dore Show) Jimmy Dore and wife Stef Zamorano showcase gay humorist who has detected what MAGA afficionados try their hardest to deny. Surely an incestuous sexist pig, rapist, child molester who creeps female children and women could never be G-A-Y, not in the slightest. Except maybe he's so horny, so unrestrained, that like a pirate he'll do his sons and boys Epstein and Maxwell employ or men under him to satisfy his ego and deep emptiness? See more on The Jimmy Dore Show website: jimmydore.com
• WatchMojo; Jimmy Dore, Aug. 27, 2025; Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Poetry events in Los Angeles (7/26)

This week is the end of Love's Labour's Lost and start of Doctor Faustus at Griffith Park

The Bard: Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford

This town is full of rebellious writers, standing up to Trump's fascist agenda with his Gestapo ICE. But LA does it differently, with flare and pizzazz, poetry and spoken word. Come out to Santa Monica's historic Rapp Saloon inside the Youth Hostel to see it live. There's more going on. On Sunday, the Village Poets have a regular reading at Bolton Hall in Sunland/Tujunga, right in the foothills. Next weekend, the Eagle Rock Library hosts an open mic with that this month features Lynda Crawford. The SPARC (South Pasadena Arts Council) has a reading every Third Thursday. For anyone looking for the Bard himself, IndieShakes.org is at Griffith Park all summer with FREE Shakespeare in the Park. Or, if Hollywood is your bag, the Emmys are coming up soon.

• What happens at these poetry readings?

Eagle Rock is on the Eastside of Hipsterville

Next weekend, in the afternoon, Eagle Rock Library (part of LA County's system) has its bimonthly Open Mic: Open Mic Poetry | Los Angeles Public Library

• 5027 Caspar Avenue
• Eagle Rock (Los Angeles), CA 90041
• Phone: (323) 258-8078
• lapl.org/branches/eagle-rock
• Instagram

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC: Share your original poems, lyrics, spoken word, or just enjoy listening. Each poet will have five (5) minutes to read an original work. To read, sign up on arrival.

Poetess Lynda V. E. Crawford (Poets & Writers)

The featured speaker will be Lynda V. E. Crawford, who says of her poetry, "I write poems to sneak behind eyes, blow through ears, and stretch voices." Crawford was born and raised in Barbados and now lives in California. Both home countries sway her writing. The Pushcart Prize nominee's work has appeared in national and international journals including Prairie Schooner, ArtsEtc Barbados, The Caribbean Writer, The Galway Review, The Bookends Review, California Quarterly, and Exposition Review. Crawford is the author of the poetry collection Washing Water (World Stage Press, October 2024).

For ADA accommodations, call (213) 228-7430 at least 72 hours prior to the event. Para ajustes razonables según la ley de ADA, llama al (213) 228-7430 al menos 72 horas antes del evento. More

3-minute history of Los Angeles' Rapp Saloon in Santa Monica

What happened?

3rd Thursday Poetry: SPARC (7/17)

It's every third Thursday (except December). Tonight's show put the spotlight on two artists featured on Wisdom Quarterly, an environmentalist and a poet dealing in race and esteem issues as a Vietnamese American poet. We discovered a new talent that stole the show, painter Ekaterina Sky. She was performing Earthcentric slam poetry, passionate about restoring nature from all of our manmade disasters.

What else you got?

There is no ART without ARTists who share.

Poetry is running rampant across the city, spreading culture and resistance, saying "no" to Trump and ICE, fascism and racism, Tinsel Town excesses and the dumbing down of a digitally-addicted society. There's more. Tonight (Friday, July 17, 2025) is Rapp Saloon's 14th anniversary with Hostess Elena Secota at the Youth Hostel in Santa Monica.

• The Rapp Saloon (historical 1st brick building)
• Hostelling International, Santa Monica
• 1436 2nd Street, Santa Monica
• FREE/all ages (donations appreciated)

Sunday inside historic Bolton Hall

Bolton Hall Museum historical landmark (Sunland/Tujunga, Southern California)

 

Poetess Maja Trochimczyk

Village Poets of Sunland/Tujunga is happy to welcome poets Hilda Weiss and past Poet Laureate Maja Trochimczyk on the Third Sunday (July 20th), 4:30 pm at Bolton Hall Museum. There is also an open mic where poets are invited to participate in the open reading segment of the event. It is hosted by Alice Pero.

• Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga
• Bolton Hall Museum
• 10110 Commerce Ave. (off of Foothill),
• Tujunga, California 91040
• Village Poets of Sunland & Tujunga: Calendar

Bolton Hall is a Los Angeles Historical Landmark built in 1913. Reading starts at 4:30 pm and goes to 6:30 pm. Refreshments served. Free street parking available and at Elks Lodge, 10137 Commerce Ave. Park, behind the building, a short walk from Bolton Hall, across the street and down the block.

• Independent Shakespeare Co., Griffith Park, Los Angeles
• Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Navajo: Response to hateful Coulter

What do the Indigenous want the other Americans to know?

Who said, "We didn't kill enough Indians," beloved macho-woman and FOX (News) spirit Ann Coulter? Just when she had mellowed, turned on Trump and MAGA, she's back to offend. Just when the comedians had roasted her alive, she's back to spew more hate, racism, and right wing rhetoric? Maybe it was just said for shock value and out of massive patriotism, sleeping with the flag between her legs as she does, worshiping in the Christian Church of the Holy Genocide(s), saluting one or more German leaders of the past. Oh, c'mon, you know Ann. She's nothing if not brassy, sassy, and full of false bravado. Why would she say such a thing? She said it in response to Native American professor discussing decolonization. One presumes Coulter is pro-settler colonial projects like "Israel" in Palestine and the ongoing-slow-mass genocide our government is committing in the USA.

The Roast of Ann Coulter (and poor Rob Lowe)

What has Coulter done now?

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) emphatically condemns the hateful, genocidal statement of Ann Coulter on July 6, 2025, through a post on the social platform X, declaring: “We didn’t kill enough Indians.” There is no place in society for this direct incitement of hatred and violence toward American Indian and Alaska Native people.

Continual growth through different planes of existence (as in Buddhism)

“These words are not provocative social commentary; they are a violent attack on Native people and Tribal Nations

Celebrating genocide against Tribal Nations crosses every moral line,” said NCAI President Mark Macarro. “Careless comments like this glorify the darkest chapters of U.S. history and actively endanger Native peoples' lives today. We will not sit silently at attempts to normalize this abhorrent behavior. We demand an immediate retraction and public apology — and we expect leaders of every political persuasion to denounce this abomination without equivocation.”

“Free speech does not confer a license to advocate for or justify mass murder — past or present,” added NCAI Executive Director Larry Wright, Jr. “When a public figure with more than two million followers romanticizes extermination, it fuels harassment, hate crimes, and political violence. Silence from elected officials and media outlets will only normalize this genocidal history. We call on them to speak up now.”

NCAI further demands that X enforce against vitriol like this and send a message that such inciting hate speech will not be tolerated by banning this individual from their platform. Instead of amplifying divisive and inhuman perspectives, let us turn our attention to celebrating the powerful, nation-building contributions of Tribal Nations to the United States. More

• Demanding Justice and Mutual Respect (Native American Rights Fund)
• Condemning Ann Coulter's statement | Meskwaki Nation
• Ann Coulter Says, ‘We didn’t kill...' (92QJams Baltimore | Facebook)
• Dine (Navajo) Elder (NavajoTraditionalTeachings.com), YouTube; Xochitl, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Spelling Bee 100 (Monty Python, Ananda)

Mmm, is it S-U-P-E-R-C-A-L-A-F-R-A-G-E-L-I-S-T-I-C-E-X-P-I-A-L-I-D-O-C-I-O-U-S?

(Scripps National Spelling Bee) 2025: 100 YEARS OF THE BEE

Monty Python's Flying Circus competitive mass spectacle sport of Novel Writing (The Final Rip Off)

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A century of spelling keeps going strong

A field of 243 top young spellers will converge on National Harbor, Maryland, from [today] May 27 to May 29, 2025, to compete in a historic Scripps National Spelling Bee.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the iconic American competition, which was first held on June 17, 1925, with just nine participants.

• Bee Week starts today (May 27, 2025) | Scripps National Spelling Bee (spellingbee.com)
• L.A., Orange County students to begin competing in National Spelling Bee

“Reaching 100 years is more than a milestone — it’s a testament to the enduring power of words, learning and the human spirit,” said Corrie Loeffler, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Scripps National Spelling Bee declares first-ever group of co-champions

I always knew I'd do it! Yes! Thanks, Saraswati!

“For a century, this competition has brought people together through eras of profound change — from world wars to the digital age — and still, the Bee continues to inspire excellence, curiosity, and connection. It’s a living piece of American history, and we’re honored to celebrate its legacy.”

This year’s 243 national qualifiers advanced through local and regional bees that took place through the end of March. All rounds of this year’s national competition — preliminaries, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals — will take place at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Maryland.

Monty Python's Flying Circus - "Working Class Playwright"

Highlights of 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee field

Yes, well, it comes as no surprise really. *Yawn*

The spellers range in age from 8 to 14. Only 53 spellers return from the 2024 field, and 178 spellers – 73% – are competing in their first Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Only one 2024 finalist advanced to the 2025 national competition: Faizan Zaki, who finished second last year behind Bruhat Soma, following his record-breaking spell-off.

Tarini Nandakumar is competing in her fifth consecutive Scripps National Spelling Bee. She was a finalist and finished ninth in 2023.

Navtaj Singh, Micah Sterling and Avinav Prem Anand are competing in their fourth straight national competition. Harini Murali is in her fourth Bee overall, as is Zaki.

There are spellers from all 50 states and the [ruling imperial seat of power known as the] District of Columbia [Columbia being the original name of "America," after the titular goddess who was buried and erased from U.S. history, as if Amerigo Vespucci gave the Americas their name].

Texas has the largest representation with 22 national competitors. California is next with 20, followed by Ohio with 15, and Illinois with 13. Florida and New York have 12 each. There are 13 competitors from outside the 50 United States, representing the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Guam, Kuwait, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More

Celebrating a 100-year tradition...

2025: 100 YEARS OF THE BEE

(Scripps National Spelling Bee) 2025 - For a century, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has been much more than a competition. It has become a symbol of perseverance, intellect, and community. From its humble beginnings to becoming a cornerstone of American culture, the Bee has empowered millions of students, fostered lifelong friendships, and united communities in the love of language and learning. Through the words we spell, we tell stories — stories of personal triumph, academic achievement, and the diverse fabric of the American experience. As we honor this incredible milestone, we celebrate not just 100 years of history but 100 years of making an impact on generations of learners and the communities they inspire. Join us in commemorating this momentous occasion, as we reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and look forward to an even brighter future.

What is spelling but memory? Memory, like most things, is due to karma: Ananda

Ananda recounting all the suttas, beginning each with, "Thus have I heard." (First Council)

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This is the Middle Way avoiding extremes

Among all the disciples of the Buddha, foremost in memorization was his personal assistant [and possibly one of his sons with a dancing girl named Mriga, according to some traditions, which would make him Ven. Rahula's half-brother] Venerable Ananda.

• [It makes sense that Ananda would also be the Buddha's son but that this would have been suppressed or discarded in most traditions. One shining piece of evidence is when Ven. Rahula (whom the Buddha had ordained at age 7) was 18, he was getting very frisky and overwhelmed by sensual craving, presumably due to hormones at that age and the luxurious life he had left behind in the palace in his former kingdom of Kapilavatthu. He was walking with the Buddha and Ananda, if memory serves, making comments about how at that moment there were in the world only three people with the past karma to become "world monarchs" (cakkavati or chakravartin rulers).

• 

  Ven. Rahula, the Buddha, and Ven. Ananda

  Prince Siddhartha had turned his back on that possibility, forecast by soothsayers when he was a child, much to his father King Suddhodana's delight. Ananda was already a monk for a long time. And there was him. If Rahula disrobed, returned to the palace, and let nature take its course, he could become king of this world. Such talk worried the Buddha, who instructed a monk that -- after 11 years in the robe learning the basics -- Ven. Rahula was now ready to intensively put the Teachings into practice. He did and thereby attained arahantship. If the other person there was Ananda, it would be among these three close relatives that the karma existed to attain to the status of a world-monarch.] Was Ananda the Buddha's son?

Ananda lived one kappa = 120 years

It is only because of Ananda that we have "Buddhism" as we do. When the Buddha passed into final nirvana, having established the Sangha (the Buddhist Monastic Community) and left in place the Noble Sangha (the community of enlightened disciples in any of the four stages of awakening), Ven. Maha Kassapa took it upon himself to begin a religion. He did this by calling together the First Buddhist Council of fully enlightened disciples (theras and, presumably, theris). The texts say 500 arahants (fully enlightened beings) attended, but this number simply means "a large number." It was almost 499, as it were, because Ananda was the most important person to be invited, but he did not qualify to attend. He was needed to recount the suttas (sutras, sermons, narrated teachings, the Buddha's "discourses").

Another monk was put in charge of the Vinaya (Monastic Disciplinary Code rules). But Ananda was only a stream enterer at the first stage of awakening. So he made a strenuous effort to put into practice all that he knew, had heard directly from the Buddha, and committed to memory. It was no use. He failed. This path cannot be accomplished simply by a "sense of urgency" (samvega), which is important to recognize the meaning of the Buddha's last words to be a lamp unto oneself and work out one's own salvation with diligence (to mindfully put into practice the theory of the Teaching in so consistent a manner that one makes an end of all suffering in no long time). Because he tried so hard, Ananda failed. He had slacked off for years, so he never attained arahantship, full realization.

Now the opposite problem was impeding him -- to much efforting, too much strain, too much craving and grasping. He needed santosha ("contentment") to ease his mind so it could blossom. The night before the Council was to meet, he practiced intensive meditation deep into the night. Finally, he recognized his failure with frustration and exhaustion, so he gave up and decided to go to sleep.

Laying off the pressure (surrendering, giving up, letting go of craving it and needing it), he began to lie down. He was going from the extreme of too much to the other extreme of too little, at one moment achieving balance between the two, the Middle Way that avoids extremes of austerity and luxury. He became the only disciple to achieve awakening outside of one of the "four bodily positions" (lying down, sitting, standing, or walking). He attained, because he let go, between sitting and lying down.

He sat right up and experienced the paths-and-fruits of self-realization (magga-phala). He was welcomed into the Council by the other fully enlightened beings and recited all the discourses he had heard over the preceding 25 years as the Buddha's chief assistant. This is why all sutras begin not with "once upon a time" but rather "thus have I heard" (Evam me sutam).

• Buddhist tradition maintains that the disciple Ānanda used the formula for the first time, as a form of personal testimony... [to say that he himself was attesting that this is what the Buddha had said]. Scholars may rightly doubt that this could be true for all sutras, certainly not applying to later apocryphal Mahayana inventions, which have become some of the most famous "sutras" [sutured together sermons with a single throughline or thread] of all, namely, The Heart Sutra, The Diamond Sutra, The Lotus Sutra... More

Nevertheless, it is undisputed that Ananda had a tremendous memory like a spelling bee champion. And one is forced to wondered what it is about India (ancient Maha Bharat, Jambudvipa, Asoka's Empire) that produces to many remarkable memory banks in little boys and girls of Indian origin.

• Is it Goddess Saraswati's doing?
• Is it the clean vegetarian (ahimsa) diet?
• Is it past study of the Vedas (in previous lives) as Brahmins memorizing countless slokas?
• Is it genetically handed down?
• Is it training and the way the Indian system chose to educate its children?
• Is it rich minerals in the soil coming down from the Himalayas nourishing the babies?
• Is it Hinduism (or Islam or Jainism or Sikhism)?
• Is it yogic magic?
• Is it British colonial rule, forcing everyone into a Western model of learning and punishment and stealing Indian and Islamic innovations (in mathematics and sciences, like the invention of "zero" and the Ayurveda or "health sciences") and calling them British?

No, it's not likely this last one, but possibly any of the previous ones.

The Buddha praises Ananda

“The foremost of my monastic disciples who are very learned is Ānanda… with a good memory is Ānanda. ...with an extensive range is Ānanda. ...[foremost] in retention [memory] is Ānanda. ...[foremost] as a personal attendant is Ānanda.” Source: AN 1.219–234: Catuttha Vagga—Ven. Sujato (trans)

• Scripps National Spelling Bee; Monty Python; Ven. Sujata (suttacentral.net); memory and the story of Ananda explained by Dhr. Seven; Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Altadena Library's Poetry & Cookies (5/17)

WHAT HAPPENED?

It rained lightly, just a mist, as poets gathered to get on the open mic list or read from their forthcoming anthology (online publication). There will be another event when it finally comes out. One reader got up to chant Sanskrit as part of extended piece that was both comedic and skillful, revelatory and astounding in its sophistication. The Poets Laureate Sarwar and Lennon welcomed all and promised more events.

• AltadenaLibrary.org
• New Poets Laureate for 2024-2026 — Altadena Library District
• Anthology: Golden Foothills Press | Pasadena, CA 91104
• Support: Friends of the Library — Altadena Library District

Kamala interviewed by 60 Minutes

Kamala Harris: The 2024 60 Minutes interview

Yay, we get served salad tonight!

(60 Minutes) Oct. 7, 2024: Watch as VP Kamala "Word Salad" Harris discusses the economy, immigration, and the ongoing US proxy war in the Mideast, as well as the differences between herself and ex-Pres. Trump during a 2024 election interview that was planned and staged and used softball questions to not provoke her into a fugue state as usually happens when she's put on the spot.

• Kamala Harris debates herself on 60 minutes without Donald; political scientists weigh in on whether the interview matters without him
• Trump falsely claims Biden used FEMA funds for migrants, which is something he did himself, the hypocrite

"60 Minutes" is the most successful TV broadcast in history, so long as Family Guy, The Simpsons, I Love Lucy, South Park, and Bonanza are not counted as broadcasts. Offering hard-hitting investigative reports, interviews, feature segments and profiles of people in the news, the broadcast began in 1968 and is still a hit, over 50 seasons later, regularly making Nielsen's Top 10.

Alan Watts: Zen meditation, Why Not Now?

Sunday morning is the time for Alan Watts. He is featured on Something's Happening with Roy of Hollywood on KPFK 90.7 FM every week at 8:00 am for 30 minutes. Listen now through the online archives (kpfk.org) for 60 days. Today (June 9, 2024, at 8:00 am) Watts teaches the basics of Buddhist meditation.

Alan Watts | Zen & Meditation | Why Not Now

(Official Alan Watts Org) "Why Not Now" is a discussion from Alan Watts' Zen & Meditation collection. In it, he discusses how we need silence -- not mere absence of external sound but of the internal compulsive chattering of words and calculations inside our heads. Only by such silence can we get into firm touch with the real world which our languages, signs, symbols, and mathematics represent (somewhat crudely) but are not. Such silencing of head-chatter is known in the orient as yoga, dhyana (jhana, absorption), zen (chan, seon), or the art of meditation, in which we discover by direct experience who or what we really are -- by feeling rather than verbal definition. The reason is simply that too much chattering, not only in the head, but also in listening to radio, reading newspapers, watching TV, and interminable discussion of our various political, social, legal, philosophical, and psychological hangups has put us far out of touch with the real world, which isn't words. #alanwatts #alanwattsspeech #nonduality

• For commercial-free Alan Watts talks: play.alanwatts.org/alan-watts...

Who is Alan Watts? | alanwatts.org/life-of-alan-watts... “Perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, Alan Watts had the rare gift of ‘writing beautifully the un-writable.’ Watts begins with scholarship and intellect and proceeds with art and eloquence to the frontiers of the spirit. A fascinating entry into the deepest ways of knowing.”  — Los Angeles Times

• Purchase Zen & Meditation | alanwatts.com/products/zen-and... 
• AlanWatts.org (Something's Happening with Roy of Hollywood, in memoriam, June 9, 2024, Pacifica Free Speech Radio, kpfk.org); Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Poets @ Deep End Club: What happened?

The Deep End Club (Instagram) RSVP (FREE) thedeependclub@gmail.com for new address

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What happened?

Next show, larger venue: prs.org

We gathered under sullen skies with breaks of sunshine and a slight chill in the air. Finding The Deep End Club is not a straightforward proposition now that it's moved from Echo Park, but it's within sight of the 110 Fwy. The sign was not yet put up. It's a gorgeous space, only three blocks from the massive local yoga studio and a few blocks offset from a place we once performed in concert. Before hipsters crowded in, there were kids. Tennessee, the owner had a newborn at her bosom, and one in a Rancid vegan-pleather jacket was monkeying around, all in good fun. The reading began with Mandy Kahn, who alternated with Current Pathways on a mix board and mic, making trippy sounds with Indian raja aspects. Then before Seven was brought up to the mic to read humorous pieces, which involved Sanskrit and Pali incantations, Gaelic, and more rapid-fire verse than most minds could comfortably accommodate -- it happened. A massive snowstorm struck. Snow in sunny Southern California? There was discussion if it was actually graupel, hail, loamy winter's breath, frozen rain...or ice the size of dimes and quarters. (But as we are not Inuit Alaskans with 100 words for what it might have been, it was snow. The news says hail. Some meteorologists say graupel, toe-may-toe/toe-mah-toe. The 1960s accents and massive mural of an Amanita muscaria made that seem improbable, but the nightly news confirmed it within a few hours. The show went overtime and ended with hugs and handshakes and repeated trips to the refreshment table. The club is three stories, and from the loft, fans looked down and marveled at the spiritual discussion as Kahn quizzed her fellow performers on their daily spiritual practice (yoga, meditation, and mindfulness). Sadhana is vital not only to daily life and sanity in the city but also to the production of art. The next show is on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at 7:30 pm at prs.org:

• Deep Dive Poetry
• The Philosophical Research Society
• 3910 Los Feliz Blvd.
• Hollywood, Los Angeles County, CA

EVENT DETAILS

Poet Seven (art by Lorna Alkana)

🩷The Deep End Club💚is so excited to be hosting a very special event at our new space in Highland Park, Los Angeles. Our very favorite local poet and peacemaker Mandy Kahn (@mandykahn) will be reading to us from her exquisite new book Holy Doors! Plus special guest poet Seven (Wisdom Quarterly) and musician Current Pathways. Sunday, March 24, 2024, 2:00-4:00 pm.

RSVP to thedeependclub@gmail.com for address. Space is limited, so RSVP soon. 🚪 Can’t wait to see y'all, Xx! 💚 (Thanks to @cali_wally for the flyer).

• Where's The Deep End Club? (RSVP for new address)

Current Pathways has a new release called Tattvas (Avatar Music Bandcamp.com)

• RSVP on Meetup
• Disclosure Meetup, Los Angeles
• PasaDharma Meetup, Pasadena
• Nature Center Meetup, the Valley
• Vegan Spirituality Meetup, Westside
• The Deep End Club
• Mandy Kahn books

Holy Doors is Mandy Kahn’s newest collection of poems (March 2024).

Mandy Kahn's Peace Class (PRS)

It is a lyrical, luminous, and highly spiritual journey exploring meditation, prayer, the afterlife, the poet’s love of peace, and ever-accessible grace.

It is also a record of what life is like as our spiritual nature begins to live more fully in the body. Each of Kahn’s poems begins with earnest inquiry and ends with an ecstatic moment of communion with the part of the self that is connected to all things.

Holy Doors (Mandy Kahn)

A poet working within the traditions of the form, Kahn calls upon formal devices, such as iambic pentameter, slant rhyme, and end rhyme.

But it is done in so soft and deft a manner that one almost doesn’t notice the musicality prevalent in the work.

Kahn’s technical skill makes tradition feel suddenly fresh, soft, casual, and alive. With Holy Doors, we’re watching a poet both seeking — and finding — the holy in the everyday.

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The poems in the collection suggest then that the holy need not be pursued. It need only be noticed. For doors to ecstatic experience, as Kahn reminds us, are everywhere. More

Lorna Alkana (lornaalkana.com)

US Youth Poet Laureate Salome Agbaroji

The Prose Bowl: A Night of Spoken Word with Get Lit | LAist; Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

I was the first U.S. Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman in 2017 at the White House

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I may not be Amanda Gorman, but I rock.

WHAT HAPPENED? Some high school students each got up to perform a spoken word piece with varying degrees of impact and facility with the language. One jock even tried to rhyme and express emotion all with a lot of support from the friendly crowd, a full house of the sold out event. Then it was time and Salome stepped up to wow the crowd. It was like seeing an old soul, a student from Los Angeles studying at Harvard. She's a natural, trained in her youth at Get Lit. Then she began to sing and rap, for the first time she says, as part of her presentation, laughing, and telling stories between pieces of such complexity and depth that it's a wonder the other poets could remain in their seats. But this is not about comparison. Salome got the live DJ to provide a backbeat and she belted it out. Then, too soon, it was over. She was approachable after the show, giving hugs and conversing. We asked what she was studying in at Harvard. She replied that everyone at Harvard begins with a general education before choosing a major. She had ideas for a future in social justice but was open to all she was studying. One couldn't help but feel she was an "old soul" come to the planet for some greatness. And often when she was performing her pieces without artifice or bombast, it really was like being on a platform in the akasha at a Federation of Worlds gathering (UN style) and hearing a visionary. We couldn't tell her that, but she might have happy to hear it. She has her feet firmly on the ground. What will she accomplish? salomeagbaroji.com

The Prose Bowl: A Night of Spoken Word with Get Lit

It’s a celebration of Los Angeles poetry at LAist with Get LitL: Words Ignite! Get Lit youth poets, standout local artists, and a nationally-renowned featured poet (National Youth Poet Laureate Salome Agbaroji) will get together for a night of spoken word performance hosted by Get Lit’s Mason Granger (he/him).

Come early to enjoy snacks, sips, a DJ set from Austin Antoine, and tons of cool people to connect with in the name of poetry. Drinks, music, and treats from Cinnabon start at 6:00 pm, and the show kicks off at 7:00 pm.

The featured poet this time is U.S. Youth Poet Laureate Salome Agbaroji. This program may contain some mature language or themes.

• Friday, Jan. 12, 2024, 7:00-8:15 PM
• The Crawford (KPCC's broadcasting center)
• 474 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, LA, CA
• $0-$15 GET TICKETS

ABOUT MASON GRANGER Mason Granger is the deputy director at Get Lit. Originally from Philadelphia by way of Willingboro, NJ, Mason is a poet with 19+ years of professional experience on stage, and in classrooms across 49 states and six countries as part of the performance poetry trio, The Mayhem Poets. In 2014, he created SlamFind, a digital platform to connect fans of poetry videos with the poets and live poetry venues where these videos are born. Connecting the poetry community to itself and the rest of the world continues to be the foundation of his work to this day. Between 2016-2018, Mason was the official videographer for Poetry Slam Inc., producing several iconic poetry videos that continue to garner millions of views across multiple platforms. In the spirit of his mission of always keeping the "live" in "live poetry," he also hosted the weekly PoetNY open mic at Bowery Poetry Club in NYC from 2017-2019 while also serving as executive director of Bowery Arts & Science through 2019. Now as a Los Angeles resident in his fourth year with Get Lit, Mason continues to pursue creative projects while helping to shape the future of spoken word poetry education in the state of California and beyond.

I was born in Nigeria, Africa, now in the US.

ABOUT SALOME AGBAROJI Salome Agbaroji is a Nigerian-American poet that has written and/or performed spoken word poetry for the Golden Globes Pre-Show, NFL Rams Halftime Show, an Opening Act on Rupi Kaur's World Tour, the likes of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Black Lives Matter founder Patrisse Cullors, Mrs. Tina Lawson, and many more. This year, she is an ambassador for Vans’ global grand campaign.

Salome was a YoungArts winner in Spoken Word and has been honored by the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards, among many others. She has been published in NPR's KCRW, Noema Magazine, the Harvard Technology Review, and more.

Salome currently attends Harvard University, studying government and political science. Her focuses outside of poetry are civic engagement and advocacy about issues such as racism towards minority communities, immigrant stories, injustices in the international community, and more.

ABOUT GLPs The Get Lit Players (GLPs) are award-winning performance troupe of youth poets. They’ve performed at the United Nations, Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, and White House — to name only a few.

Every year they perform live for over 50,000 of their peers, and their videos have been watched online over 300 million times. Each of the Get Lit Players will spend the next year honing their skills and enjoying exciting and unique workshops, paid performance, and networking opportunities, and a lifetime of support from Get Lit’s community.

ABOUT GET LIT Los Angeles-based nonprofit GET LIT ignites student engagement, literacy, and young voices around the globe using the power of spoken word, technology, and community.

• The Prose Bowl: A Night of Spoken Word with Get Lit | LAist

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