Blue Mountain Center

Rory was fortunate to be selected for a small cash grant from Idea Capital, a new artist-run group based in Atlanta. http://www.ideacapitalatlanta.org/ The grant will cover some costs for a project he's preparing to do called "You Think I Can Eat All That Chicken Here?" The project will trace the path of a runaway slave whose journey takes 150+ years to get from the South to Ohio with many, many stops along the way. I’m planning to include tar drawings, book art and other media in the project.

October 18-January 4, 2009:
Ina Archer's 1996 video, "1/16th of 100%?!", is included in Cinema Remixed & Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image since 1970, a group exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston TX.
http://www.camh.org/exhib_MAIN.html
and
Ina's video installation, "Union" is included Red Badge of Courage ReVisited. http://www.artcal.net/event/view/21/7982

The Newark Arts Council is pleased to announce the opening of Red Badge of Courage ReVisited on Sunday, October 26th when it will present new work created specifically for this exhibit by 31 artists from New Jersey and New York in a 14,000 square foot space in downtown Newark .

Curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud, the exhibition is based on the life and work of 19th century writer/poet/journalist Stephen Crane, a native of Newark .

Although he died young -- at age 28 -- Crane's work and life have inspired many artists throughout the years: His portrait was used by the Beatles on the cover of their album "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band". The 2001 film The Dark Riders was based on a Crane poem. And there have been a number of film versions of "The Red Badge of Courage," the most famous of which was directed by John Huston and released in 1951. "The Red Badge of Courage" tells the story of a young man’s life as a soldier during the American Civil War.

More than one hundred years after Crane’s death, the artists in the show “Red Badge of Courage ReVisited” will use historical references as a tool to interpret and represent their concerns with contemporary society. Newark is a city rich in history, from the 19th century manufacturing boom through the depression years and past that to the infamous 1960's riots. But today’s Newark is also going through many changes as it is on its way towards becoming a major economic and cultural center again.
http://www.artcal.net/event/view/21/7982

Judith Stein curated "Jules Olitski: An Inside View" at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center and wrote the introduction, "What Will It Look Like?" for the catalogue of the exhibition.

We wanted to let you know about a few opportunities to view Carolyn's art. She has just posted her new website which has work from her latest series lovely, dark, and deep as well as some examples of her earlier projects.

http://carolynmonastra.com

The second chance will be at a silent auction for The Camera Club of New York. It will be held on Monday November 10th at Calumet Photographic, from 6.30-8.30 pm. Calumet is located at 22 West 22nd Street, (between 5th and 6th Avenues) and the auction will be in the second floor event space. I will be sending out an email reminder of this as the time gets closer. http://www.cameraclubofnewyork.org/

And for those of you who want to get a little sun while seeing a lot of art and beautiful people, Susan Eley FIne Art will have some of Carolyn's photographs at the Bridge Art Fair in Miami from December 4 - 7. http://susaneleyfineart.com/

And one last opportunity for those of you who like to plan ahead and like to travel abroad will be at Context Gallery in Derry, Ireland in the Spring of 2009. Here is their blog if you want to learn more about the gallery's current activities. http://contextgalleries.blogspot.com/

New York, October 1—The Academy of American Poets announced today that Henri Cole's Blackbird and Wolf (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) was chosen by poets Lucie Brock-Broido, B. H. Fairchild, and John Koethe to receive the 2008 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, which awards $25,000 to the most outstanding book of poetry published the previous year.

About Henri's winning book, judge John Koethe remarked:

Henri Cole has become one of his generation's most assured and
accomplished poets, and Blackbird and Wolf is a powerful and
masterful book: powerful in the psychological directness of its
self-scrutiny, and masterful in its achievement of a poetry so
artful it almost seems artless.

Aleta has a few things out:

In the food section of today's San Francisco Chronicle, she have an article
about organic walnut farmer, Craig McNamara:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/15/FDJK13AC3Q.D...

(If the link doesn't work, go to sfgate.com and search for "Terroir lessons
in a nutshell")

There's also her regular "Ear to the Ground" column in Bay Nature magazine,
available at newsstands and at:

http://baynature.org/articles/oct-dec-2008/ear-to-the-ground

Coming up, she has two short department pieces in the November and December
issues of Smithsonian magazine.

Moustafa (and his publisher) wanted to alert you to his recently published book, titled How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America. In the book, he write about seven young Arab Americans from Brooklyn New York, and how their lives have become more complicated since September 11, 2001. The book also provides some historical background and comparative perspectives. It’s published by The Penguin Press, and should now be available near you.

Thus far, How Does It Feel has garnered some excellent attention. More information about the book, including an excerpt, can be found on Moustafa's website http://www.moustafabayoumi.com.

Susan has an essay up at RH Reality Check today. http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/
It's a republishing of the essay she had in the anthology CHOICE (Macadam/Cage) last year. http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008/09/18/all-that-we-have-chosen
If you have a chance (and are so inclined), she would be very grateful for any supportive comments...

Jay is editing and writing a book, A Field Guide to the Commons, as part of a partnership between On The Commons and the New Press. The Commons refers to all those things which we own together—from the natural environment and the internet to cultural traditions and public space—and want to pass on to future generations undiminished.

Jay is looking to you to help him gather the best material on the subject.

Please send him your recommendations of what should appear in this book—from your own work and that of other people engaged in the subject. This could include anything from a blog entry you think captures some essential point about the commons to a meticulously thought-out manifesto or artwork.

Jay would ideally hope to see your recommendations by October 21. Don’t labor over your selections; he hopes you can contribute already-done writing, photos or art that will enhance the book. Please email (jay@jaywalljasper.com)or mail to him (Jay Walljasper, 4053 Garfield Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55409).

Jessie is the new Web manager for www.artiseducation.org.
Check it out!

"The Kitchen", paintings by German Perez, poem by Kathy Engel, now available through Lulu. See link below and find by entering The Kitchen or Keywords: Visual Poetry Listed in: Poetry

http://www.lulu.com/author/index.php

We are pleased to announce that three works of Joyce's have been selected for the foundation collection of TCMOCA ( Twin Cities Museum of Contemporary Art) which will be opening soon.

Last year we had the notion to start a "Giving Circle" - in the hopes
that our 12 year old church could finally have annual finances and multi-year
planning, presided over by people who know about mature activist institutions.
Some of you getting this letter agreed to be in the Circle, but we haven't found
the right person to convene it. So the Circle has become occasional bursts of news from Savitri and I, between touring, writing retreats and weekends in jail.

We have just returned from a tour with 25 singers up to Utica and Syracuse.
After a show at Hamilton College, we met with members of the "Syracuse Peace
Council" and the "Syracuse Solidarity Network" in a series of radical-religio rituals
at the proposed "biggest mall in the world" - Destiny USA.
Our work manifests as concerts, peace parades, as "retail interventions" against
sweatshop companies, and so forth. But giving energy to exhausted local activists is what satisfies us so much. Syracuse wants badly to rejuvenate its
local neighborhoods and it has been over-run by this super mall.
Now construction has halted, and they sense an opportunity.

Lisa Dillman has been named an ensemble member with Chicago's Route 66 Theatre Company and a 2008-2009 playwright-in-residence at American Theatre Company.

Kermit's play, SMOLDERING FIRES, is now available for purchase online from the Dramatic Publishing Company. The Website is www.dramaticpublishing.com.

Just Published!!!

WONDERLAND: A Fairy Tale of the Soviet Monolith
Author: Jason Eskenazi
Distributed through Consortium
ISBN: 978-0-9742836-7-8

Exhibited at the Leica Gallery, New York; 670 Broadway, 5th floor
Books now available. Book signing coming soon.
Read review from the New York Sun
also available from:
Amazon
photo-eye

Colombian-born author James Cañón has won "Le Prix des Lecteurs Vincennes 2008" for his novel "Tales from the Town of Widows. The award will be presented during the Festival America in Paris on September 27th, 2008. Cañón's debut novel was a finalist for the 2008 "Edmund White Fiction Award," the 2008 “Lambda Award for Best Debut Fiction," and the “One Brown Book, One Nation” Program. It was also chosen as a 2008 “Best Adult Book for HS students" by the American School Library Journal, and as a “Top Pick for Reading Groups” by Kirkus Reviews.

Watch a video by Scott about what is going on with the shaky economy in this country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7MCohPgkXo

Read Toby's article My Choices vs. Obama's at the Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/toby-barlow/my-choices-vs-obamas_b_120802....

Read Susan Ito's article "Packing" at Literary Mama:

http://www.literarymama.com/columns/sandwich/archives/2008/08/packing.ht...