by Gene Novogrodsky We old men enter McDonald’s yellow As dawn breaks and sharp Venus and faint Mars Spend in the white dawn …. We take separate tables, coffee, some cream, Often sugar, open newspapers and sit and sit …. The drive-in windows are busier than the walk-ins, The walk-ins for us, the old,

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by Gene Novogrodsky Leave the city green to see the drought, To the country’s brown …. Three goats bite for stubble. Six hens scratch for stubble. A funeral procession, A hundred or more vehicles, lights on, To the dry dirt heaped graveside.

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by Gene Novogrodsky Why not? Celebrate? Newspapers scream narco violence. Also femicide. The economy. The drought. But take a break. 2010 nears, the start of Mexican Independence. Year 200. Failed state. Pakistan of Latin America. But take a break. 2010 nears, the start of Mexican Independence.

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From the Edge Tales I walk into the North Dakota night. Below, in the American Legion, a young blues guitarist, fresh from the local blues festival, tears up the floor. I hear on the sidewalk, Spanish, a lot. It drowns the below blues and above US-Mexican border music. Yes, border music and Spanish in North [...]

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by Gene Novogrodsky Mid-day, and the eastern Guanajuato village shuts down In the Sierra Oriental’s direct sun …. A bull paces, caged in the back of a racked farm truck, Is organs huge, and the owner takes a taco and beer break …. Deserted streets, with lunch near, tortillas made, Pick-ups parked; road builders dozing [...]

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From the edge …and in Rensselaer, NY, a lay-over for more than an hour before The Lakeshore Limited leaves for Chicago, so an old man with his former mother-in-law’s cane – (I’m the old man) – and two young men and two young women from Detroit who had been to Boston for a week of [...]

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from ArtsRGV.com The Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg will be having its annual “Dia de los Muertos” (Day of the Dead) Altar Exhibit. If you are interested in creating an altar for “Dia de los Muertos,” contact Melissa Tijerina, Programming Coordinator for MOSTHistory. Participants should contact the Museum no later than September 1. [...]

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from ArtsRGV.com University Theatre Productions of The University of Texas Pan American is set to launch the 2009-2010 season by casting its first play, the stage adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic Of Mice and Men. The play requires nine men and one woman. Auditions are scheduled for Thursday September 3 and Friday, September 4 at [...]

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by Stan Raines “Wow,” he said. “You’re fucked up.” He was maybe twenty, wearing the whites medical corps personnel wear in a clinical setting. The black insignia on his collar made him out to be a specialist, fourth class, as the inductee would learn later, when he began to aspire to have a set of [...]

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C-SPAN recommendation Representative James Moran, Democrat from Virginia, accompanied by Democratic Party National Chairman Howard Dean, held a town hall meeting Tuesday on health care in Reston, VA and impressed his crowd, we think, with the even-handedness with which he dealt with his assembled constituents, including several obviously hostile questioners, a few of whom were [...]

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from CINESOL 4TH ANNUAL CINESOL 36 HR. FILM RACE ANNOUNCES REGISTRATION 36-HR. FILMMAKING CHALLENGE Harlingen, Texas (Rio Grande Valley) – The CINESOL 36 HR. FILM RACE, a 36-hour filmmaking competition, has announced its dates and early registration for entries for the 4th Annual Event for the South Texas Region. CINESOL 36 is the first competition [...]

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from ArtsRGV.com The Texas Film Commission, in partnership with the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, the Rio Grande Valley Film Commission and the Texas Leadership Institute, invites you to join us on Thursday, September 10th, 2009, in McAllen for “When Hollywood Comes to Town,” a day-long workshop to show your community how to put its best [...]

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from ArtsRGV.com TSTC Corporate and Community Education in partnership with the Texas Film Commission will be offering a Production Assistant workshop. The class will take place in Building B room 104 on September 12-13, 2009 from 9am-4pm. The cost will be $75.00 per participant. Please pass this along to whoever may be interested in this [...]

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by Gene Novogrodsky Right in the middle of Mississippi, The City of New Orleans rips south, southwest To New Orleans’ swamps, marshes, lakes, citizens, old and new (Katrina) The Mississippi River …. Heat, and the smokers on rare breaks Step onto the white-hot platforms, puff fast, Hoping the double-whistle, that “all aboard,” will wait ….

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Intellectual theft by Stan; cartoon by Tom Toles A fair assessment of the state of the public discussion so far. People always make the best decisions when they’re driven by fear. Just ask Dick Cheney and George Bush.

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by Jack Moffitt Greetings locavores and vegamaniacs! I’m sure I speak for all of the farmers and vendors when I say “We Miss Ya!”. It’s been a long, hot and dry summer, but the eternal optimism that drives farmers, has us planting in flats and admiring hundred of tiny plants grown under shadecloth. From all [...]

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A plug for Long Time Comin’ Ah, change. Long Time Comin’s engagement this week is for Friday. Another band plays Sunday coming in from Austin. Don’t actually know who they are, but I like it. Change is good, particularly in the business of running a bar and working a band. For one thing, Sunday play [...]

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Noche De Peña XVIII Eddie Torres – New Cuban Charlie Harrison – Popular Songs, New Way Ensamble La Misiøn – World Music, Art Song this Sunday, 23 August at 7:30 p.m. suggested donation $5, includes refreshments Frontera Jazz Quartet with Liz Morphis Singer Liz Morphis joins the Frontera Jazz Quartet to perform songs from ‘The [...]

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by Gene Novogrodsky Coming to peace, coming to sleep, I know my insignificance, But leave ripples until they crash on the lake’s edge …. “So tell me, Why would you stop for me, An old man, why risk insurance problems, Your job?” “OK, I’ll tell you, and don’t feel insulted. I stopped when I saw [...]

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Story by Jack King Melvin Thigpen had eight hours comp time coming, so on Wednesday he took the day off. Arising at daybreak, he dressed himself and went directly to the back yard to make a round in his primary source of solace: his garden. Melvin was a single, middle-aged man with little in the [...]

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by Gene Novogrodsky Thin, long-hair, Cigarette smoke around His long arms, jeans, Backpack ….

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by Stan Raines For all the political junkies out there–and I count myself as a former PJ in remission — the next hot issue shouldn’t be reforming health care or massaging the economy back to life, as important as those may be, but reapportionment, both for the state legislative districts and federal congressional districts. 2010 [...]

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by Gene Novogrodsky The woman in jeans and a pink jacket, Full of sleep and pop magazine reading And some teacher-aide tasks and flat and bored Goes into the mild night, and starts down an incline to a car in the dark …. The woman in a tight dark skirt andv white blouse Alert and [...]

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From Barry Horn, Director The Brownsville Museum of Fine Art is the result of the dedication and inspiration of eight artists who gathered together almost 75 years ago in Brownsville to develop their artistic talents and to provide educational and exhibition opportunities. These eight women would marvel at their legacy.

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By Gene Novogrodsky Early, before the all-you-can eat yellow eggs are placed, The old man has coughed, bent-backed and false-stepped his way Down the carpeted hall to the complimentary breakfast …. Does he live in the roadside motel-hotel? What was he? What is he? Why is he here? Will he die with a next-door-neighbor’s sox [...]

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