Mrs. Maybe 3, Arnieville, being Ba-roke

Mrs. Maybe #3 party, poetry reading, tamale-fruit pie-red bean bonanza. Thanks Lauren, Jared and Catherine! Got over the feeling that I read poems which unfortunately strain to be stories and lean too heavily on articles, the the and a's, a kind of perfunctory agony, eyelids sticking to eyeballs and such. There were, after all, vuvuzelas and avatars and I had Bubo, Athena's blinkity owl, in attendance.

afterward, Ashby flea market

in which i paid a thin square slice for some tangly gridded colored space to get light to suffuse through. Michelle Puckett, this is my visual answer to the New Ba-roke Poetics. golden lyrics and such. remember when i said it was Bunnicula that made me want to be a writer? well, it was also Charles Wallace's brothers and sister, dancing, backlit, greeny gold, with his mitochondria.

and then Arnieville (i.e. Depression era Hooverville)

a certain kind of sudden embarrassment, that i call myself a disability service provider and advocate and that i work at a large service agency in SF, but had not gotten over to this traffic island to show my support. the tent city protest has been there for several weeks and will hopefully continue to be there as the budget for in-home care for CA disabled and seniors is facing cuts by %50. why do you see more disabled poeple out and about in CA? because the state in-home care system helps them to live independently in their homes, instead of institutions. please drop by and show your support for that crucial way of life.

Food Not Bombs folks were bringing the Arnieville protesters dinner when we arrived, so they were sort of busy rustling up containers for the change-over of tureens. We gave them some tamales K. made. Met Jean Stewart and Robin Earth from Center for Independent Living Berkeley, said I would make it back soon.

This Saturday, Country Joe McDonald is performing, while the giant paper maiche bloody hatchet Schwarzenegger wobbles along in the median wind. I hope the people who whiz by this strip off of Russell and Adeline get it--it is a small campsite yes, but it is different than other types of sleep-out protests. The sparseness (in terms of tents/protesters) does not mean that the issue is less than vital. These campers are folks who use ventilators, voice machines, electric wheelchairs, etc which is just to say that this type of sleep-out presence as social action/protest is packed with, well-- a lot of presence.

You can find them on Facebook by searching Arnieville. if you cannot make it out of your home or residence, this is a great way to connect and contribute.