The Chills at Will Podcast

Episode 20, "Voices of California" Event from October 2, 2020-Karla Brundage Reads

3:44-6:29-Karla reads "Wannabe White Girl"

6:37-7:38-Karla reads "She's a Mulatto"

7:44-9:20-Karla reads "Inheritance"

9:43-10:37-Karla reads her poem about Melania Trump

10:45-12:17-Karla reads "Over Pahoehoe" 

 

Karla Brundage is a Bay Area based poet, activist, and educator with a passion for social justice. Born in Berkeley, California in the summer of love to a Black mother and white father, Karla spent most of her childhood in Hawaii where she developed a deep love of nature. She is the founder of West Oakland to West Africa Poetry Exchange (WO2WA), which has facilitated cross-cultural exchange between Oakland and West African poets. Her musical loves include Hawaiian, West African, and Hip Hop sounds. Her work can be found at http://westoaklandtowestafrica.com/ as well as on https://www.karlabrundage.com/

Episode 20, "Voices of California" Event from October 2, 2020-PART II: Magali Sanchez-Hall Speaks about Her Work in Community Organizing

Magali Sanchez-Hall speaks about her inspiring and passionate community organizing, particularly her work to bring out Latinos in the upcoming election and beyond to use their vote to bring about change.

 

Magali Sanchez-Hall is President of the Chicano Democratic party and a member of Communities for a Better Environment in California. Her Public Policy Master's degree allows her  to further analyze important factors when working in projects, research or work in general. She is very involved in her community, and considered an activist on social economic justice and environmental justice. Her stated goal is to bring some relief to her community by pointing out core issues affecting children and women with the intention to bring quality of life.

Episode 20, "Voices of California" Event from October 2, 2020-Magali Sanchez-Hall Speaks about Her Work in Community Organizing

Magali Sanchez-Hall speaks about her inspiring and passionate community organizing, particularly her work to bring out Latinos in the upcoming election and beyond to use their vote to bring about change.

 

Magali Sanchez-Hall is President of the Chicano Democratic party and a member of Communities for a Better Environment in California. Her Public Policy Master's degree allows her  to further analyze important factors when working in projects, research or work in general. She is very involved in her community, and considered an activist on social economic justice and environmental justice. Her stated goal is to bring some relief to her community by pointing out core issues affecting children and women with the intention to bring quality of life.

Episode 20, "Voices of California" Event from October 2, 2020-Huda Al-Marashi Reads the Powerful "An Index of Small Stings"

Huda Al-Marashi reads from "An Index of Small Stings":  1:15-10:41

 

Huda Al-Marashi is the Iraqi-American author of First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story, a book the Washington Post called "a charming, funny, heartbreaking memoir of faith, family, and the journey to love. If Jane Austen had grown up as a first-gen daughter of Iraqi parents in the 1990s, she might have written this.”

Excerpts from this memoir have also been anthologized in Love Inshallah: The Secret Love Lives of Muslim American Women, Becoming: What Makes a Woman, and Beyond Belief: The Secret Lives of Women and Extreme Religion.

Her other writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, al Jazeera, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a Cuyahoga County Creative Workforce Fellowship and an Aspen Summer Words Emerging Writer Fellowship. First Comes Marriage was longlisted for the Chautauqua Prize and a finalist for the Southern California Independent Booksellers’ Award.

Huda currently resides in California with her husband and three children.

Episode 20, "Voices of California" Event from October 2, 2020-Helena Maria Viramontes Reads "The Moths"

Luis Rodriguez and Helena share some interesting stories about their writing groups from decades ago and their continued belief that community and the written word are transformative.

4:45-9:15: Helena Maria Viramontes reads "The Moths"

Helena Maria Viramontes was born in East Los Angeles, one of eight siblings in a working-class family. Her career began with her work for the avant-garde Chicano magazine ChismeArte. Assigned as literary editor, she began to develop a style that reflected her understanding and upbringing in the streets of East Los Angeles. 

She is the author of The Moths and Other Stories and two novels Under the Feet of Jesus and Their Dogs Came With Them.  She has also co-edited with Maria Herrera Sobek, two collections: Chicana (W) rites: On Word and Film and Chicana Creativity and Criticism. A recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the John Dos Passos Award for Literature, and a United States Artist Fellowship, her short stories and essays have been widely anthologized and her writings have been adopted for classroom use and university study. Her work is the subject of a critical reader titled Rebozos De Palabras edited by Gabrielle Gutierrez y Muhs and published by the University of Arizona Press.  A community organizer and former coordinator of the Los Angeles Latino Writers Association, she is a frequent reader and lecturer in the U.S. and internationally.  Currently she is completing a draft of her third novel, The Cemetery Boys.

Her works have been canonized in some of the most important textbooks and anthologies, including those used by academia. Viramontes is a professor of English at Cornell University. She received the Luis Leal Literary Award in 2006.

Reviewers have written of her: “Her groundbreaking narrative strategies, combined with her sociopolitical focus, situate her at the forefront of an emerging Chicana literary tradition that redefines Chicano literature and feminist theory.” 

AND “Viramontes’s stories convey the impact of repression on women’s lives and graphically depict the price paid by women who dare to challenge a misogynist social system that moves rapidly to squelch their every attempt toward self-definition… The result is a rich, challenging narrative that rewards the reader with insight to the passions and torments that drive the characters.”

Episode 20, "Voices of California" Event from October 2, 2020-Mike "The Poet" Sonksen Reads

3:04-4:32-Mike reads an excerpt from "THE MURAL MILE ~ A HISTORY OF PACOIMA TOLD THROUGH THE TAPESTRY OF STREET ART"

 

5:30-10:34-Mike reads "The Ode to LA Writers"

 

 

Mike Sonksen aka Mike the PoeT is a 3rd-generation Los Angeles native. Poet, professor, journalist, historian and tour-guide, his latest book Letters to My City was published by Writ Large Press. His poetry’s been featured on Public Radio Stations KCRW, KPCC & KPFK & TV programs like Spectrum News. Sonksen taught high school for five years and now teaches at Woodbury University. Find more info here.

Episode 20, "Voices of California" Event from October 2, 2020-Luis Rodriguez Reads "Tia Chucha," "Make a Poem Cry," and "Heroin's Soundtrack" Poems

2:25-Luis describes the background of and inspiration for the "Tia Chucha" poem

4:20-6:16-Luis reads the poem "Tia Chucha"

9:22 to 10:40- Luis reads "Make a Poem Cry"

10:40-12:23-Luis reads "Heroin's Soundtrack"

Episode 20, "Voices of California" Event from October 2, 2020-Matthew Mejia Reads His Untitled Poem

Matthew's poem ends at 2:38

 

Matthew Mejia is the publisher of Nervous Ghost Press, a poet, and a professor at East LA College.

Episode 20, "Voices of California" Event from October 2, 2020-Pete Reads "The Death of Humility, An Elegy in Six Parts"

Pete introduces the show, discusses his love of literature, and reads his piece "The Death of Humility, An Elegy in Six Parts."

 

The reading of the prose starts at 2:33 and ends at 7:58.

 

Allusions Used:

Trump Brings Up "Pocahontas" at Event Honoring Navajo Code Talkers

Episode Nineteen with Brilliant Writer, Educator, Spoken-Word Performer, and LA Raconteur, Mike "The Poet" Sonksen

On Episode 19, Pete talks with Mike “The Poet” Sonksen, a brilliant writer, educator, spoken-word performer and Los Angeles raconteur. Mike has an encyclopedic knowledge of LA's history and its present, and his subject matter and genuine love for all of LA show through in his rhythmic and soulful poetry and prose.

An exciting event is coming up this Friday, October 2, at 6pm, on Nervous Ghost Live on YouTube. "Voices of California" is a virtual open mic held in support of the  Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural in Sylmar, and it features Mike The Poet, Luis Rodriguez, Myriam Gurba, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Allan Aquino, Helena Maria Viramontes, and Karla Brundage, among others. The event is cosponsored by the dynamic members of Nervous Ghost Press and The Chills at Will Podcast.

 

You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, find the pod on Spotify, and, as of last week, on Amazon Music as well! Follow Pete on IG, where he's @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he's @chillsatwillpo1.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he's convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and this song is used through ArchesAudio.com.

Writers Mentioned, Allusions, and Texts Referenced (with links) During the Episode:

Quetzal

Reyner_Banham

Audrey Lorde: “Poetry is Not a Luxury” 

Rebecca Solnit

Episode Highlights and References/Links

6:56- Mike talks about his connection to hip-hop group The Visionaries, featuring 2Mex, Key-Kool & Rhettmatic (The Beat Junkies), among others, and their influence on his life and his writing

13:40-Horace Tapscott and the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra and Steve Isoardi and Kamou Daoud

32:00-Mikes shares a cool story about “magical performance” from Saul Williams and BESSKEPP

33:00-Mike Davis is discussed as a source of inspiration 

33:50-Mike lauds Lynell George and her outsized influence on his work

34:20-Mike talks about Dolores Hayden’s The Power of Place and its influence on his writing and world view

36:45-Brian Taylor and how he introduced Mike to Biddy Mason and her incredible story

40:20-Mike describes the “magic” of Huell Howser

42:06-Mike describes the origin of ‘Mike the Poet”

43:43-Mike reads, freestyling the dulcet words of “I am Alive in Los Angeles!”

47:00-Chick Hearn and Vin Scully and their influence on Mike

48:12-The Unfortunate History of Chavez Ravine

48:30-The sinister “Santa Ana Winds” and Raymond Chandler’s famous quote

50:00-Chuck D and his rap style and cadence influenced by Marv Albert

51:50-Mike cites examples of short texts he reads with his college classes, as a way to lead them to other interesting texts; Chapter 1: “COLUMBUS, THE INDIANS, AND HUMAN PROGRESS” from A People’s History of the United States and Luis Rodriguez’s piece in LAtitudes: An Angeleno's Atlas

53:12-Mike shouts out the excellent poet/DJ F. Douglas Brown and talented artist Umar Rashid

54:11-Mike talks about Peter Elbow, a big proponent of freewriting, and Julia Cameron’s “Morning Pages,” and how they inform Mike’s writing and teaching

58:15-Author Sandro Meallet’s quote, “Writing is Thinking” provider fodder for Pete and Mike to discuss its implications in the classroom

59:16-Mike discusses his future works, including a manuscript of poems, and a book of essays about Nina Revoyr, Wanda Coleman, and Naomi Hirahara, among others

1:01:44-Mike discusses his piece in Writing for Life from Nervous Ghost Press and its inspiration from Judy Baca’s mural-the poem is “WHOSE STORY DO WE TELL?”

1:02:42- Mike provides information on his writing and performance and where to buy his book, Letters to My City!

1:05:25-Pete gives information about this Friday, October 2, and “Voices of California” virtual open mic to be held at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural (donate to this great bookstore and community center here!), livestreamed at Nervous Ghost Live-featuring, among others, Myriam Gurba, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Allan Aquino, Helena Maria Viramontes, Karla Brundage, Mike The Poet!

Episode Eighteen: Incredible Endings as Seen in Antonya Nelson's "In the Land of Men"

SHOW NOTES: ** Trigger warning: the featured short story and my discussion include violence and rape.**

On Episode 18, Pete discusses “Incredible Endings,” through the insular and male-dominated spaces in which the victimized narrator of Antonya Nelson’s “In the Land of Men” exists.

You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Spotify, and, as of this week, on Amazon Music! Follow me on IG, where I’m @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I’m @chillsatwillpo1.

This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I’d love for your help in promoting what I’m convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

You can find the literature referenced today through the short story collection of the same name In the Land of Men, published in 1999 by Scribner.

The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.

Thanks again for listening, and I hope that these quarantine days bring you texts by writers with MAD Skills whose work gives you    chills     at     will.

The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other cool song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental Version”) by Matt Weidauer, used through Arches Audio. Matt’s artist page can be found here.

Authors Mentioned and Allusions and Songs Referenced During the Episode:

Kate Tempest

Kate Tempest’s Let Them Eat Chaos

Antonya Nelson

“Everlong” by Foo Fighters

Episode Seventeen: "Incredible Endings and Mother, Grandmother and Child Relationships," Featuring Pat Mora and Helena Maria Viramontes (Spotify-Friendly)

SHOW NOTES:

On Episode 17, Pete discusses “Incredible Endings and Mother-Child Relationships,” as seen in writing by Pat Mora and Helena Maria Viramontes. Mora's poem, "Elena" has been a favorite of Pete's in his high school classroom for years. The poem, about an immigrant mother and her isolation as her kids learn the English language that eludes her, is alternately beautiful and sad and resonant. 

Viramontes, with "The Moths," crafts a short but incredibly powerful story about a misfit girl who looks for her place as a woman, a sister, a daughter, and a granddaughter. In the process, she gains an incredible insight into transformation and rebirth.

 

**SPOILER ALERT** As this episode focuses on "incredible ENDINGS," there will obviously be some "plot spoilers," but they are well worth it!

 

 

 

You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Spotify. Follow me on IG, where I’m @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I’m @chillsatwillpo1.

This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I’d love for your help in promoting what I’m convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

You can find the literature referenced today in Pat Mora’s collection from 1984, Chants, published by Arte Publico Press. Helena Maria Viramontes’ The Moths and Other Stories, was published in 1995, also by Arte Publico Press.

The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other cool song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental Version”) by Matt Weidauer, used through Arches Audio. Matt’s artist page can be found here.

Authors Mentioned and Allusions and Songs Referenced During the Episode:

Pat Mora: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Mora

Helena Maria Viramontes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Maria_Viramontes

Definitions and Etymology of Catharsis:

• https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095555720#:~:text=The%20process%20of%20releasing%2C%20and,Dictionary%20of%20Phrase%20and%20Fable%20%C2%BB

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharsis

• https://www.etymonline.com/word/catharsis

 

Episode Seventeen: "Incredible Endings and Mother, Grandmother and Child Relationships," Featuring Pat Mora and Helena Maria Viramontes

SHOW NOTES:

On Episode 17, Pete discusses “Incredible Endings and Mother-Child Relationships,” as seen in writing by Pat Mora and Helena Maria Viramontes. 

You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Spotify. Follow me on IG, where I’m @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I’m @chillsatwillpo1.

This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I’d love for your help in promoting what I’m convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

You can find the literature referenced today in Pat Mora’s collection from 1984, Chants, published by Arte Publico Press. Helena Maria Viramontes’ The Moths and Other Stories, was published in 1995, also by Arte Publico Press.

The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other cool song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental Version”) by Matt Weidauer, used through Arches Audio. Matt’s artist page can be found here.

Authors Mentioned and Allusions and Songs Referenced During the Episode:

Pat Mora: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Mora

Helena Maria Viramontes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Maria_Viramontes

Definitions and Etymology of Catharsis:

• https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095555720#:~:text=The%20process%20of%20releasing%2C%20and,Dictionary%20of%20Phrase%20and%20Fable%20%C2%BB

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharsis

• https://www.etymonline.com/word/catharsis

Episode Sixteen: "Incredible Endings and Mother-Daughter Relationships" with Tillie Olsen, Jamaica Kincaid, and Huda Al-Marashi

SHOW NOTES: On Episode 16, Pete discusses “Incredible Endings and Mother-Daughter Relationships,” as seen in writing by Tillie Olsen, Jamaica Kincaid, and Huda Al-Marashi.  In “As I Stand Here Ironing,” Olsen leaves us with an incredibly apt image wholly representative of the protagonist’s hopes for her daughter. In her short story, “Girl,” Kincaid’s protagonist asks a probing question of both her daughter and the reader in a way that leaves the reader pondering it for a long while after taking her gaze off the page. 

Al-Marashi’s final paragraph is a sort of promise to, and a prayer for, her daughter. Her work is nonfiction, which is a nice addition to the podcast. I actually read a lot more nonfiction than you might think from listening to this podcast, and Al-Marashi’s shining work is a perfect fit for this episode.

Like, share, and  subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Spotify.

You can follow Pete on Instagram, where he’s @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he’s @chillsatwillpo1.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

You can find the literature referenced today in Tillie Olsen’s 1961 Tell Me a Riddle collection, published by New World Writing. Both Olsen’s “As I Stand Here Ironing” and Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” are widely anthologized. Kincaid’s story was published in the collection At the Bottom of the River, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 

Huda Al-Marashi’s “A Birthday at the Cemetery” was published in the August 7, 2020, edition of The New York Times. 

The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other cool song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental Version”) by Matt Weidauer, used through Arches Audio. Matt’s artist page can be found here.

 

Authors Mentioned and Allusions and Songs Referenced During the Episode:

Tillie Olsen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tillie_Olsen

Margaret Atwood Speaks of Olsen’s Hectic Life: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/books/03olsen.html

Jamaica Kincaid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica_Kincaid

Huda Al-Marashi’s Amazon.com Page: https://www.amazon.com/Books-Huda-Al-Marashi/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AHuda+Al-Marashi

Huda Al-Marashi’s “A Birthday at the Cemetery”: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/well/family/a-birthday-at-the-cemetery.html

Saudade Description: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade

Episode Fifteen: Interview with Renaissance Man-Former Division I Basketball Coach and Current New Mexico State University Creative Writing Professor, Rus Bradburd

Rus Bradburd is a Renaisssance Man-a former Division I basketball coach, a virtuoso fiddler, an author of four books, and a professor in creative writing at New Mexico State University. His heart-wrenching and impeccably-researched book All the Dreams We've Dreamed: A Story of Hoops and Handguns on Chicago's West Side is discussed, especially with regards to its stalwart mentor/teacher/coach extraordinaire, Shawn Harrington, who was paralyzed while diving on top of his daughter during a 2014 shooting in Chicago. Shawn's GoFundMe, which will allow him greater independence and ADA-accessible housing is here. Please give if you can! 

The discussion of the book and of Shawn Harrington begins at 37:14.

Pete and Rus also discuss Rus' days as a recruiter and coach for UTEP and NMSU, his days as a coach in lowly Irish basketball, his circuitous and unique route to professional writer and writing teacher, among other things. The discussion is rife with great recommendations for chill-inducing authors, books, short stories, and even a documentary!

 

 

 

SHOW NOTES:

Rus Bradburd teaches writing classes in New Mexico State University’s MFA program. A Chicago native, he coached basketball at UTEP and New Mexico State for fourteen seasons before resigning to pursue a writing career in 2000.

At NMSU, he studied with Robert Boswell, Antonya Nelson, and Kevin McIlvoy. His fiction has appeared in The Southern Review, Colorado Review, Puerto del Sol, Freight Stories, and Aethlon.

Since retiring from college coaching, his essays have appeared in New York Times, The Houston Chronicle, El Paso Times, Las Cruces Sun-News, Heartland Journal, SLAM Magazine, Bounce, and Los Angeles Times.

Rus went to Ireland in 2002 to coach Tralee's Frosties Tigers. Paddy on the Hardwood: A Journey in Irish Hoops was his first book, published in 2006. In 2010, he published Forty Minutes of Hell: The Extraordinary Life of Nolan Richardson, and in 2013, a book of fiction called Make It, Take It. 

Our main discussion of his writing on today’s episode will be about his 2018 nonfiction book, All the Dreams We've Dreamed: A Story of Hoops and Handguns on Chicago's West Side. The book is impeccably researched and features Rus himself as a character as he recounts a page-turning set of stories about basketball, gun violence, family and community ties, and redemption.

 

Rus Bradburd Writer Website

Order Rus' Books Here

Info on Bradburd's Dynamic and Newest Book: All the Dreams We've Dreamed: A Story of Hoops and Handguns on Chicago's West Side

 

Selected Publications by Rus Bradburd:

Last man standing: College baller has lost six high school teammates to gun violence (Jan. 21, 2020, in The Undefeated online magazine)

 

Rus and Shawn Harrington's Connections:

2018 WBUR Story about 20 Year+ relationship between the two

Shawn and Rus on HBO's Real Sports

 

Shawn Harrington:

January 2020 Update

KVIA El Paso May 2020 Update

Alma mater NMSU honors Shawn at halftime of 2017 game

"West Side Story: Shawn Harrington"-2015 News Segment from NBC Sports Chicago

"Independence for Shawn Harrington" GoFund Me: All funds go to the ALL THE DREAMS trust, managed by Rus Bradburd. From the website: "A community icon and youth basketball coach, Shawn finally has an opportunity to become independent. Our down payment has secured the condo. Our next hurdle is to make the place totally wheelchair accessible. By helping him pay for this modest condo, we will help him become totally independent, move forward in his life—and continue to help the youth of Chicago through basketball."

Trailer for 2019's ChiTown, which features Shawn

         

Podcast Info and Social Media

Like, share, and  subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Spotify.

You can follow Pete on Instagram, where he’s @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he’s @chillsatwillpo1.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other cool song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental Version”) by Matt Weidauer, used through Arches Audio. Matt’s artist page can be found here.