Spoken word Jam, con't

The program was hosted by Marissa Lopez of the Freedom Bound Center and began with Carl Pinkston, also of the Freedom Bound Center, sharing some thoughts about the necessity of continuing to build the peace movement. The first poet on the stage was Sacramento’s Poet Laureate, Jose Montoya, whose son Tomas, also a poet, performed later in the program. Performers were mostly local, but some came in from Berkeley, San Jose and Los Angeles, including the feature poet/activist, Cesar Cruz. A panel of three spoken word artists/activists evaluated the performances, and the top ten will be produced on a cd. The panelists included Samuel Iniguez, Mario Ellis Hill, and Christina Rodriguez. Samuel and Mario performed some of their own spoken word, and their performances, as well as Cesar Cruz’s, will be included on the cd.The event clearly was a success as many in the audience expressed their gratitude and appreciation for the powerful and inspiring words of these young activists/artists. The cd will be available in about 4-6 weeks through either Peace Arts Xchange or the Freedom Bound Center.

Many thanks need to be given to Pat Driscoll, of Veterans for Peace, for providing the p.a. system, to Russell Brown, for audio-recording the event, and to Ken Russell for video-taping the event. Also, thanks must be given to the members of PAX who came out to the event to help and who, also, provided food and drink for the participants. And finally thanks go to Carl Pinkston and Marissa Lopez of the Freedom Bound Center for working with PAX to make this a terrific event.

photos by Jay Spooner