from ArtsRGV

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from RGVArts

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by Rudy García
There he stood,
All proud and honored and bought
Barato, yet proud, to be the center of attention for someone else`s intention.
In a room filled with us, people
He speaks star-crossed
Selected and chosen and fronted,
By the white rancher, just as it happens, every two years, for years, and years and years.

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by Rudy García
I am the border patrol agent
Who carries with me,
In my border patrol car, truck, helicopter, horse, boat,
Body bags…
One size fits all.
For the dead people I often find.
To the alive and too the barely alive
Ones I encounter
I spic Spanish, too
That’s what I`m trained to do.
I spic it very well .
¡Alto! ¡manos arriba, donde estan [...]

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by Gene Novogrodsky
He’d throw slow
Curve balls, a break
From the eggs and chickens and feed
Of the farm ….
I’d catch some,
Then miss ….
The ball would roll down
The pebbled driveway,
Past the fruit-dropped
Peach, peach and apple trees,
Past the frost-killed brown pasture,
Past the half-sunken springhouse ….
I’d run down the ball,
But when back up the slope
He’d be gone, inside,
To work ….

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by Gene Novogrodsky
Impossible
It’s impossible.
When the parade starts
Not to see the last float,
Stray confetti, barricades down ….
And when the first
Pitch of Spring is delivered,
I already see Fall, empty seats ….
The eyes.
Across a table.
They’ll go, and the seat
Will be vacant.
”
The young readers,
Soon they’ll set the books
Aside, on shelves, in boxes.
Pass on parades, games,
Eyes and books ….
Go, move [...]

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Intellectual theft by Stan

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by Jack Moffitt
Farmers Market Communications – Century 21, Decade 2
Until recently there was no need for much communications in the farmers market environment. Probably anyone you met in any small town, 100 years ago, could tell you what days and times perishables were sold at public market, in their town. Surely that person would be [...]

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Hello Mr. Jack,
This is Max reporting today. The biggest problems about having chickens that are free-roaming are dogs and raccoons. Last week I was sitting at the kitchen table doing my spelling when Nana (my grandmother, who lives next door) came bursting in! She started screaming, “There’s a chicken being attacked by [...]

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by Jack Moffitt
Elect a carrot and finally get what you voted for.
It is that time of year when elections make newspaper filler regularly. Street corners at busy intersection have sprouted the annual crop of election signs. Even if your worst nightmare of a candidate gets elected, you have cast many votes more important to your [...]

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at the Galeria 409
Who: Ensamble La Misiøn, Joey Tamayo, and Marla
What: Music, live performance
When: Sunday, 14 February, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Galerîa 409,
Admission: $5, includes refreshments

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by Jack Moffitt
Locavores, vegephiles and connoisseurs de jardin, take note:
We are deep into the season the vegetables love. Cool weather, regular rains, foggy mornings. It takes a little getting used to, for farmers and shoppers, but the harvests make it worth any inconveniences from weather. I understand there will be some cooking demos this week, [...]

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by Gene Novogrodsky
Her coffee-drinking and bus-riding friend died.
Then she quit smoking.
Then she left her provider work.
And then she lost 17 pounds, going down to 93.
What’s left?
A six-day-a-week walk to check on scratch tickets,
And then the walk back ….
Deep deep lines in her tiny face,
Mouth pinched ….
She loses more than she wins.
Eugene “Gene” Novogrodsky February 2010

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from ArtsRGV
Friday, February 19, 2010, 7 pm
UTPA Social and Behavioral Sciences Building
Room 101 Auditorium
JOHN ROSS
1810-1910-2010
Cycles of the Mexican Revolution

Co-sponsored by
UTPA Mexican-American Studies
Saturday, February 20th, 7 PM
El Monstruo Book reading/signing at the Narciso Martinez Cultural Center
225 E. Stenger
San Benito, Texas
$5 donation (956) 367-0335

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An invitation
Call for Submissions Has Opened! (All Submissions Via E-mail Only)
Boundless: The Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival Anthology 2010
Deadline: Received by March 21, 2010
Boundless will be published this year as a perfect bound edition with an ISBN.
As always, poets do not have to attend our festival or register for our festival in order to [...]

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From Politico.com
Sen. Al Franken ripped into White House senior adviser David Axelrod this week during a tense, closed-door session with Senate Democrats.
Read the rest on Politico.
Perhaps we need more comedians in politics. Since Lenny Bruce, quite a few comedians have schooled themselves on speaking truth to power. Think of Bill Hicks (the most astute in [...]

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by Jack Moffitt
Hello Brownsville!
Carrots are now showing up regularly at the Market. The seed doesn’t want to germinate when it is hot, and they grow a little slower than some of the other crops that are now old hat, this time of year.
In a country where the pursuit of cheap food is king, the Imperator [...]

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by Gene Novogrodsky
Black street,
Puddles, pooled
Shine white-yellow
In stilled darkness ….
The rain.
Rain of violent departures.
Rain of dark love.
Rain of shut doors.
Knives drip blood.
Lovers stand, look away.
Sealed to passersby.

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Intellectual theft by Stan
Flash: Satirists detecting a trend.

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by Jack Moffitt
Greetings locavores!
How about some cauliflower! Last weekend we had the pleasure of setting up shop next to Dave and Nancy of DNR Maters and More, after they harvested a big trailerload of cauliflower. Earlier in the week, I had the pleasure of seeing some beautiful cauliflower under production at Acacia Farms (Bud and [...]

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from Gene’s Notebook

…in corners, on benches, through busted doors and windows, ripped siding, the man finds rest, dozing, heavy belly heaving, maybe one eye open …and yesterday, sitting on a guardrail, he was shampooing his wild grey hair and wild grey beard, shampooing without rinse water ….
…in the foggy dawn, two cars pull into the [...]

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The New York Times has an interesting device that runs the video and tracks the text of a speech side by side. It’s a good way to watch / read an oration. Here is the President’s speech.
-stan

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Intellectual theft by Stan

Austin’s Ben Sargent hits it on the head again. To my mind, corporations should have NO free speech rights, nor should they be recognized as a “person.” Now this would include non-profits and unions, the poor person’s corporations. What we should have as a legal standard is something akin to the idea [...]

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