Next Generation Writing and Performance Workshops 1st & 3rd Saturdays
1st Saturdays: 4-6 pm @ Half Price Books, 5803 E. NW Highway
3rd Saturdays: 4-6 pm @ Oak Cliff Cultural Center, 223 W. Jefferson
WordSpace Next Generation Project supports the development of young writers, presenting writing and performance workshops mentored by top Dallas poets and educators. The workshops are open to ages 13-19. Selected participants also have the opportunity to appear in WordSpace Salons alongside experienced writers. Traveling writers visit workhops as special guests and young writers are given opportunities to submit their work to publications and performances.
Atma Bhakti Yoga Center offers a weekly Monday night yoga class benefiting WordSpace Next Generation youth projects. Suggested Donation: $5-15. Mondays, 6:30, 6315 Lindsley Ave, Dallas, TX 75223 in East Dallas near Lindsley Park.
Taught by an Experience Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 500 hour), this gentle yoga class culminates with a writing exercise and open floor reading by participants. Or bring your own rigorously self-investigative poems to share.
Youth Poets Workshops 1st & 3rd Saturdays
1st Saturdays: 4-6 pm @ Half Price Books, 5803 E. NW Highway
3rd Saturdays: 4-6 pm @ Oak Cliff Cultural Center, 223 W. Jefferson
Youth Poets Workshops is a component of WS Next Generation Project in support and development of young writers. WordSpace presents workshops mentored by top performance poet and Dallas Youth Poets Executive Director, Joaquin Zihuatanejo and co-founder Alexandra Marie Thurston. They provide poetry and slam outreach to area youth in two great locations. The workshops are open to ages 11-17. Participants receive instruction in writing and performance with a chance to compete for the Dallas Youth Poetssponsored team that will represent Dallas in the annual conference, Brave New Voices. The workshop participants are also eligible to compete in other area youth team competitions.
Joaquin Zihuatanejo (born in Dallas, Texas) is an award-winning American slam poet and teacher. In 2004, Zihuatanejo competed in the National Poetry Slam as part of the Dallas Poetry Slam team, which placed third. He also appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry in 2005. In 2008, he won the Individual World Poetry Slam and was the winner of the World Cup of Poetry Slam in 2009. Currently, Zihuatanejo resides near his hometown of Dallas with his wife and two daughters. Outside of poetry, Zihuatanejo taught English and creative writing for seven years.
Alexandra Marie Thurston, is a writer from Los Angeles and Director of the Dallas Poetry Slam. She bring years of service to the poetry community and inspiring mentorship to young writers. Alexandra Marie Thurston serves as the board of directors of WordSpace.
WordSpace is honored to partner with Oak Cliff Cultural Center to produce Youth Poets Workhops at their facility. Funding for this program is made possible by City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs and WordSpace Members.
Special Thanks to Half Price Books, sponsors of WordSpace at The Kessler, for use of their facilities for this program. WordSpace is also honored to be a 2014 recipient of TACA’s generosity.
Fernando Flores Signing at CentralTrak
When: Thursday, April 17, 7 pm
Where: CentralTrak, 800 Exposition Ave, Dallas, TX 75226
McAllen, Texas is the indie-rock capital of the world; or at least it would be, if all their bands didn’t have the pesky habit of disintegrating before ever having their first big success. That’s the central premise of Austinite Fernando A. Flores’ literary debut, and anyone who’s ever pawned their guitar to buy more beer will find much in this book to celebrate. Working from the conceit that all acts of creativity are vital to human happiness, no matter what the public reaction, Flores presents a smorgasbord of interconnected tales about artists who can’t quite seem to get their act together–from the performance artist whose most important work was only ever seen by five people, to the revered punk singer who never recorded a single album, to the bar band who accidentally become pawns of a local political campaign–and shows how in all these cases, the mere existence of these artists is a magical antidote against day-to-day ennui and adversity, and that it’s actually the rest of the squares who are the true bullshit artists. By turns hilarious, heartbreaking and infuriating, this compact story collection is a loving ode to small-town music scenes in all their messy glory, and a welcome slap in the face to our “Yes We Can” times.
Youth Poets Workshops 1st and 3rd Saturdays
Hosted by: Alexandra Marie and Joaquin Zihuatanejo, founders of Dallas Youth Poets
3rd Saturdays: 4-6 @ Oak Cliff Cultural Center, 223 W. Jefferson
Youth Poets Workshops is a component of WS Next Generation Project in support and development of young writers. These workshops are mentored by top performance poets and Dallas Youth Poets founders, Joaquin Zihuatanejo and Alexandra Marie Thurston. They provides poetry and slam outreach to area youth in two great locations for young writers to meet and open to ages 11-17. Participants instructions in writing and performance culminate in eligibility to compete for Dallas Youth Poets sponsored Team,representing Dallas in the annual conference and competition, Brave New Voices. The workshop participants are also eligible to compete in other area youth team competitions.
Joaquin Zihuatanejo (born in Dallas, Texas) is an award-winning American slam poet and teacher. In 2004, Zihuatanejo competed in the National Poetry Slam as part of the Dallas Poetry Slam team, which placed third. He also appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry in 2005. In 2008, he won the Individual World Poetry Slam and was the winner of the World Cup of Poetry Slam in 2009. Currently, Zihuatanejo resides near his hometown of Dallas with his wife and two daughters. Outside of poetry, Zihuatanejo taught English and creative writing for seven years. Alexandra Marie Thurston, (seen right) is a writer from Los Angeles and Director of the Dallas Poetry Slam. She bring years of service to the poetry community and inspiring mentorship to young writers. Alexandra Marie Thurston serves as the board of directors of WordSpace.
WordSpace is honored to partner with Oak Cliff Cultural Center to produce Youth Poets Workhops at their facility. Funding for this program is made possible by City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs and WordSpace Members.
Special Thanks to Half Price Books, sponsors of WordSpace at The Kessler, for use of their facilities for this program. WordSpace is also honored to be a 2014 recipient of TACA’s generosity.
Youth Poets Workshops 1st and 3rd Saturdays
Hosted by: Alexandra Marie and Joaquin Zihuatanejo, founders of Dallas Youth Poets
3rd Saturdays: 4-6 @ Oak Cliff Cultural Center, 223 W. Jefferson
Youth Poets Workshops is a component of WS Next Generation Project in support and development of young writers. These workshops are mentored by top performance poets and Dallas Youth Poets founders, Joaquin Zihuatanejo and Alexandra Marie Thurston. They provides poetry and slam outreach to area youth in two great locations for young writers to meet and open to ages 11-17. Participants instructions in writing and performance culminate in eligibility to compete for Dallas Youth Poets sponsored Team, representing Dallas in the annual conference and competition, Brave New Voices. The workshop participants are also eligible to compete in other area youth team competitions.
Joaquin Zihuatanejo (born in Dallas, Texas) is an award-winning American slam poet and teacher. In 2004, Zihuatanejo competed in the National Poetry Slam as part of the Dallas Poetry Slam team, which placed third. He also appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry in 2005. In 2008, he won the Individual World Poetry Slam and was the winner of the World Cup of Poetry Slam in 2009. Currently, Zihuatanejo resides near his hometown of Dallas with his wife and two daughters. Outside of poetry, Zihuatanejo taught English and creative writing for seven years.
Alexandra Marie Thurston, is a writer from Los Angeles and Director of the Dallas Poetry Slam. She bring years of service to the poetry community and inspiring mentorship to young writers. Alexandra Marie Thurston serves as the board of directors of WordSpace.
WordSpace is honored to partner with Oak Cliff Cultural Center to produce Youth Poets Workhops at their facility. Funding for this program is made possible by City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs and WordSpace Members.
Special Thanks to Half Price Books, sponsors of WordSpace at The Kessler, for use of their facilities for this program. WordSpace is also honored to be a 2014 recipient of TACA’s generosity.
WordSpace Tribute to Alan Lomax
Author Jerry Kelley presents an entertaining and enriching multi-media tribute to the historic work of Alan Lomax.
Where: Salon in Private Residence – RSVP wordspace@wordspace.us, 214-838-3554
When: Thursday, November 13, 7 pm
Refreshments Served: Thank you Spiral Diner and Ben E. Keith
Alan Lomax (January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was one of the great American field collectors of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a folklorist, ethnomusicologist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activist, oral historian, and film-maker. Lomax also produced recordings, concerts, and radio shows in the US and in England, which played an important role in both the American and British folk revivals of the 1940s, ’50s and early ’60s. During the New Deal, with his father, famed folklorist and collector John A. Lomax and later alone and with others, Lomax recorded thousands of songs and interviews for the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress on aluminum and acetate discs.
After 1942, when Congress cut off the Library of Congress’s funding for folk song collecting, Lomax continued to collect independently in Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain, as well as the United States, using the latest recording technology, assembling a treasure trove of American and international culture. With the start of the Cold War, Lomax continued to speak out for a public role for folklore,[3] even as academic folklorists turned inward. He devoted much of the latter part of his life to advocating what he called Cultural Equity, which he sought to put on a solid theoretical foundation through to his Cantometrics research (which included a prototype Cantometrics-based educational program, the Global Jukebox). In the 1970s and 80s Lomax advised the Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Festival and produced a series of films about folk music, American Patchwork, which aired on PBS in 1991. In his late seventies, Lomax completed a long-deferred memoir, The Land Where the Blues Began (1995), linking the birth of the blues to debt peonage, segregation, and forced labor in the American South.
JERRY KELLEY holds a BA degree from Harvard University. He has published poetry in The Texas Observer as well as a number of little magazines in North Texas. His fiction has appeared in Southwest Review. Jeremiah is also a founding member of WordSpace Board of Directors and world traveler. Born in Dallas, he attended St. Mark’s School. From Boston and Harvard in the 60s to the Canadian Bush in the 70s, he now lives in Dallas with his wife, poet Patty Turner. His multi-media presentations on writers such as William Blake have been educationally enriching, intellectually stimulating- and very entertaining!
Spiral Diner owner, Sara Tomerlin.
Spiral Diner & Bakery opened its door on August 21, 2002. But first, let’s go back a little further than that. The founder of Spiral Diner & Bakery, Amy McNutt, while making a short film about factory-farmed cows in California she learned about the heartless practices of the dairy and egg industries. Overnight this experience turned the long time vegetarian into a vegan. Amy began to research and study the plight of animals, soon extending her studies to environmentalism as well. She began to take part in educational activism and tried her best to keep an open dialogue with people about Veganism and its relation to the environment. In doing this she discovered that most people, once they have a total understanding of Veganism, agree it’s a necessary step for survival on this planet. However, they have difficulty changing their lifestyles for lack of access to information and most importantly, GOOD VEGAN FOOD. So, after a year of working in the film industry Amy decided to move on to her other love: Food. In an attempt to provide delicious cruelty-free and organic food to those who need it most she left L.A. and moved back home to Texas where she opened Spiral Diner in Fort Worth.
The original location was a small lunch counter at the Fort Worth Rail Market in downtown. There was only 800 square feet of kitchen space, 5 employees, and less than ten items on the menu! After being open a few months Amy and James started dating and after only two months they got hitched. Turns out that James was an old school vegan foodie himself so he quit his lucrative job as a bounty hunter and immediately joined Amy to help run Spiral.
After a year and a half at the Rail Market Spiral was bursting at the seams. The customer base was growing and growing and they were running out of space in the kitchen. They needed a bigger and better place. With financial support from Amy’s wonderful mom and many regular customers who came on board as lenders the move to Magnolia was on. They found an old gutted building in the Near Southside and along with the landlord’s help were able to fix it up. And on their second anniversary Spiral Diner Fort Worth was born anew. With fancy new digs and expanded menu Spiral quickly became a Fort Worth institution and a destination for vegan travelers. All the while they kept a great core crew of employees that stuck with them through thick and thin. In 2007 Spiral pulled off a real coup: The little vegan restaurant in Cowtown, TX was awarded Best Vegetarian Restaurant in America by VegNews magazine!
(That’s right, Texas!).
In 2006, Sara Tomerlin, a recent TCU grad and longtime Spiral employee decided she wanted to share good vegan food with the rest of DFW and she asked if she could open a Spiral Diner in Dallas. Since Sara’s the best, Amy said “yes”. In February of 2008, after two long years of planning and location hunting, Spiral Diner Dallas opened its doors. Located in a beautiful old neighborhood in Oak Cliff, Spiral Dallas has quickly become a second home for many locals and for the 20 employees who work so hard to make the place awesome.
In January of 2008 Spiral Fort Worth’s wonderful and amazing longtime manager, Lindsey Akey, took over ownership of Spiral Fort Worth. Lindsey’s supernatural work ethic and brains for miles make Spiral Fort Worth awesome. As does the positivity and hard work of our 20 Fort Worth employees who work their little butts off every day in the name of good vegan food and
cool customers.
Today, Amy and James still own and run the company as benevolent overlords while Lindsey and Sara own and run their respective locations. This allows them have more time to work on recipes, teach cooking classes, work on filmmaking and plan the opening of an art house theater in Fort Worth. They love their customers and co-workers who have given them the opportunity to do what they love most… save animals and watch movies!
Michael Hatcher at Dallas Poetry Slam
When: May 16, 2014 at 8 pm
Where: Heroes, 7402 Greenville Ave., Dallas, TX 75231
Hosted by: Alexandra Marie
Admission: $5, WS Members Free
A lifelong lover of lyrics, Michael Hatcher began writing when his lack of rhythm (and singing skills) thwarted any dreams of making music. When Michael was young, he and his best friend created a comic book: Michael wrote the story and his best friend drew it out. Though he studied poetry while in college at the University of North Texas, Michael didn’t start writing in that genre until 2010. Since then, he has made three slam teams, representing his hometown of Fort Worth in 2011, and Arlington (Inkwell) in 2012 and 2013 at the National Poetry Slam.
Describing his style as minimalist, Michael tries to say as much as he can with the least amount of words. Michael writes about the things he has experienced, his insecurities, regrets, and those who have touched his life in some way. Everything inspires him: The way John Frusciante plays guitar, the books he reads, the way his mother smiles, Katy Trail, the poetry community, his Inkwell family, his Dallas Slam family, his Fort Worth Slam family.
Currently, Michael is writing, slamming, and working on a chapbook. What’s next? He doesn’t know, but by the end of it all…
This reading is a Featured Reader Series at the Dallas Poetry Slam.
Roberto Munguia
Who: Roberto Munguia
What: Mighty Fine Arts Series
When: Saturday, March 15, 8:15 pm
Where: From the Ends of the Earth
In conjunction with Frank Lopez’s opening exhibition at Mighty Fine Arts, Roberto Munguia presents a spoken word performance next door at From the Ends of the Earth.
ROBERTO MUNGUIA
Photo Credit: Dallas Arts Revue
“Roberto Munguia likes to work with a number of different media. And at each instance a very different aesthetic emerges. His ink drawings are composed of languorous calligraphic strokes and loosely balanced solid forms, sometimes additionally punctuated with flowering washes of diluted ink. He achieves a nice balance between his flowering forms and lines and the white of the paper. These works reflect a quite and solid sensibility. Munguia’s prints reveal pre-Columbian influences in their titles and Islamic influences in their mosaic-like composition. These works are as enchanting and mysterious as the creatures that inhabit them.”
Sasha Banks at Dallas Poetry Slam
When: April 18, 2014 at 8 pm
Where: Heroes, 7402 Greenville Ave., Dallas, TX 75231
Hosted by: Alexandra Marie
Admission: $5, WS Members Free
Sasha Banks is a poet and educator from Ohio, by way of Alaska, by way of Germany, by way of California. She lives in Ft. Worth, TX, teaching writing workshops for elementary and university level students. She studied creative writing at Texas Wesleyan University where she graduated, in 2012. She has spoken for Arun Gandhi, and was a Golden Poem Award winner and performer at the 2013 National Poetry Slam. Her work has been published in The Austin International Poetry Anthology and was awarded publication in Alight. She is a 2013 Button Poetry Chapbook Prize finalist.
Brando Chemtrails at Dallas Poetry Slam
When: March 21, 2014 at 8 pm
Where: Heroes, 7402 Greenville Ave., Dallas, TX 75231
Hosted by: Alexandra Marie
Admission: $5, WS Members Free
Brando Chemtrails is a poet from Denver Colorado that finds terror in the clean and hope in the hopeless. Brando was a member of the 2011 Slam Nuba national championship team and is the author of seven chapbooks, as well as half of the dance-noise-propaganda-poe
