Looking for Daisy in the Archives of the Saint Paul Public Schools
2013
I wanted a class photo, your name on a staff list. From old city directories I have pieced together a list of the schools where you taught— Cleveland, Lafayette, Edison, Ericsson, Drew— not a one of them standing in the next century. Old photos at the History Center show their stern facades. And what of the faces looking at you every morning?
When Our Elders Perish, an Entire Library Burns to the Ground (African Proverb)
2013
Private Ivy Hagan and Josephine Hicks Hagan became the twenty-something ensemble known as “Aunt Jo and Uncle Ivy.” They mentored children of all ages and needs throughout Saint Paul between 1933 and 1994. They were gifted storytellers, speaking in parables of their African American memories between Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Saint Paul, Minnesota. I listened, observed, and learned.
Nov. 9, 2013 – Reading at Polly’s Coffee Cove with Greg Watson, Nicholas Cetanzi, Susan Downing, and Colin McDonald
2013
Welcome to another reading presented by the Saint Paul Almanac and Cracked Walnut, featuring readings by the city's literary talent, including Greg Watson, Nicholas "Nick" Metcalf-Cetanzi (Yellow Hawk), Susan Downing, and Colin McDonald. Free/donations welcomed, all ages.
November 7, 2013 – Soul Sounds Open Mic with Meta Def with writing workshop
2013
Meta Def is a twenty-six-year-old Saint Paul artist whose love for the art of the written word and various genres of music have added inspiration and emotion to his poetry and songwriting. His pieces, as he likes to call them, are his puzzles—pictures created to enlighten and entertain you. Rhythm is part of Meta Def's soul, and his background in dancing (Popping/Boogaloo) has carried over to his writing, his style and cadences turning silence into music. This poet/emcee is versatile, incorporating his lifestyle of being a father, a carpenter, and a cook into his art—dreaming his painting and then painting his dream...one word at a time.
October 31, 2013 – Soul Sounds Open Mic with Danez Smith
2013
Danez Smith is a proud Cave Canem Fellow, two-time Pushcart Nominee, Best New Poets Nominee, survivor and avid twerker from Saint Paul, MN. He is the author of "hands on ya knees", a chapbook published by Penmanship Books. His full-length collection, '[insert] Boy, will be published in 2014 by Yes Yes Books. His recent writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Ploughshares, Gertrude, Devil’s Lake, PANK, The Cortland Review, Four Way Review, Anti-, and elsewhere. Danez came into writing through poetry slams, and placed 6th in the world at the 2011 Individual World Poetry Slam and is the 2013 Rustbelt Midwest Regional Slam Champion. He is an assistant editor for Muzzle Magazine. He thinks you look good today, now werk!
October 24, 2013 – Soul Sounds Open Mic with deM atlaS
2013
Saint Paul musician, Joshua Turner a.k.a. deM atlaS, first began his journey as a frontman of an alt-rock band called The Argonauts. The experience was essential in helping to propel him into different textures of music ranging from folk to hip hop. Moved by art, spirituality & friendship, deM atlaS conveys through his music the duality between man & god, ignorance & brilliance, enlightenment & what is dim.
October 23, 2013: Ellena Schoop presents “NU GRIOT’s Gumbo Revolution” at the Lowertown Reading Jam
2013
The Saint Paul Almanac is pleased to announce the first in its 2013–2014 season of acclaimed Lowertown Reading Jams, which celebrate the rich literary history of Minnesota's capital city and the widely-popular genre of Spoken Word. Meet writers from the Givens Foundation for African American Literature's Black Writers Collaborative Retreat Program—activists and community artist—as they share their fierce, unapologetic, bold, spicy and healing works. Stirring DNA threads plucked from the bayous of America, Haiti, Nigeria, Brazil, North Minneapolis, and around the globe, into a seasoned and savory word soup, sprinkled with sound and movement.
October 17, 2013 – Soul Sounds Open Mic hosted by Tish Jones
2013
Tish Jones, Community Engagement Director for the Saint Paul Almanac, is a spoken word artist, writer, educator, organizer, and activist in the Twin Cities. She has worked as a teaching artist with Pillsbury House Theater, Intermedia Arts, Plymouth Christian Youth Center, MacPhail Center for Music, Minneapolis Public Schools (Arts for Academic Achievement), Kulture Klub, and many other arts organizations. She received the 2009 Artist of the Year Award from City Pages and was Female Spoken Word Artist of the Year at the Minnesota Spoken Word Association's Urban Griots Awards in 2009.
Open House at the Minnesota History Center
2013
I have been a public employee for nearly a quarter century, in several local and state agencies, doing important yet mundane work that the public never sees. In cynical moments, I have often wondered if anything I do has enduring significance. Then in the autumn of 2009 my wife and I attended a special “open house” at the Minnesota History Center.
Work Avoidance
2013
I would like to propose the following techniques as viable displays when encountering the suckitude of work as developed and employed by my son Dylan, the demonstrative kindergartener...
Of a Kind
2013
Outside Merriam Park Library, a rusty black bike shares a lock with another well-worn bike stowed in the metal rack. Both nose their front wheels into the stanchion like lowly animals...
What Do You Love About Saint Paul?
2013
One of the things that I love about Saint Paul is its wealth of authors, poets and storytellers. As much time as I spend basking in the solitary glow of my screen, I love to break away, get out, and hear real people tell real stories and read from real books. We are so lucky here in Saint Paul. Maybe it’s something in the water…we have so many good writers and an audience that loves and supports them. Tonight was just one of 25 coming nights of literary treasure.