Last week, I attended TWO writing events. That’s a big week for writing events! The first one was an in-person writing workshop taught by Ariel Gore on Saturday, 1/28. Ariel is the editor and founder of Hip Mama magazine, and she is a brilliant writer and writing teacher. I’ve taken online classes from her a couple of times, but I was especially excited for the analogue version. It was a great chance to meet in person some writer’s I’ve seen around online and to catch up with the work of some writers I already know.  I shared two pieces about my grandmother, one fiction and one nonfiction, that I’ve been working on and will submit for publication soon. I love sitting around with other writers, reading each other’s work and giving feedback. I guess that’s why I became an English teacher, so I can get paid to do that kind of thing. I’m so appreciative of writers like Ariel and Tomas Moniz (who hosted the workshop at his house) who work to create community among writers in the bay area and beyond, so hermits like me don’t moulder away alone in their dark coffee shop corners. 

And then on Thursday, 2/5, Zocalo Spits premiered in San Leandro with the most amazing lineup of readers and musicians! Hosted by the always fabulous Michelle Gonzales and Soma Mei Sheng Frazier, this event played to a packed house at Zocalo Coffeehouse, which is easily the best coffee shop in the east bay or probably the world. It’s a giant space with easy parking access, reliable wifi, tons of power outlets, and great coffee, tea, and food–perfect for any work-from-home types.  I have met so many incredible writers at Zocalo, and tons of teachers, all of us hunched over our laptops with our headphones on. Two of those writer/teachers, Michelle and Soma, decided we should look up from our work for a few hours once a month and celebrate all the great talent in San Leandro and the Bay Area. This month featured readings by Ariel Gore, Paul Flores and Jackie Graves, and incredible music by Candace “Antique” Davis. My friend Diane Rinella also read during the open-mic portion of the evening.  It was so moving to see such amazing artistry right where I usually grade papers and write novels, and to know that my friends made it happen. Some day I will have to give back to the community and organize my own event. But for now, it’s nice to sit back and enjoy all the events going on around me all them time. 

Last week, Tom Hanks wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about his positive experiences at Chabot College (in support of Obama’s proposal to offer two free years of community college  for all students). Chabot is in my college’s district, so of course everyone was really excited. Hanks talked about the specific lessons he learned from his instructors, the classes he loved and those he hated, and how community college gave him the opportunities to do the same things students at more expensive, prestigious universities did: study, learn, goof off, explore, and find temporary and life-long passions. One of the most interesting parts to me was that he called Chabot “my alma mater” and told his children, “That place made me what I am today.” After Chabot, he transferred to Sacramento State, but never completed a degree: “After a year there I moved on, enrolling in a little thing called the School of Hard Knocks, a.k.a. Life.” The last course of schoolwork he completed, evidently, was at Chabot College. 

Hanks wouldn’t be considered a failure, I don’t think, for ultimately dropping out of college. And yet, in the last few years of lean budgets, the California community colleges have cut their funding for people who don’t want to get a degree or certificate but just want to take some classes. The state can’t afford to pay for retired people to take art classes or for confused eighteen-year-olds to try out a bunch of different majors before one sticks. My college’s mission used to have the words “lifelong learning” in it; now they are gone, replaced by the word “completion.” 

One of my favorite aspects of community colleges, one of the reasons I chose to teach in one, was the way they served as a resource for all the community’s educational needs, whether they added up to a degree or not. If community colleges gain funding through Obama’s plan, I hope some of it can go not just to the students trying to complete their degrees, but also those who just want to drop in and learn a few things. 

Hi, everyone. I’m excited to unveil this site, which is more clean and fancy and official-looking than my Smythologies site. Please feel free to look around and make yourself at home.

I’m also excited to tell you about an awesome new literary series at one of my favorite coffee shops, Zocalo in San Leandro. Zocalo Spits: Arts in the Dro is organized by two fabulous writers: my friend/literary life partner/office wife Michelle Gonzales and my new friend and inspiration Soma Mei Sheng Frazier. It’s happening on the first Thursday of every month. 

From their Facebook page: Zocalo Spits: Arts in the Dro launches February 5 @6:30 PM. Featured readers include Ariel Gore, Paul S. Flores, and Jackie Graves — Zocalo Coffeehouse 645 Bancroft Avenue, San Leandro!

Please come check out some incredible literary talent right here in the east bay!