JULY 2021

July 3

No Workshop

July 10

Miguel Escobar

Notes on Abstract Poetics and the Linguistic Sublime, Part 2: Aesthetic Difficulty

Miguel Escobar is a musician, song, and poetry writer forced at a relatively young age into practicing a different profession for most of his life, but in retrospect, not regretting it. A native of Southern California, with a childhood stint in Detroit, and educated in both the United States and Mexico, Miguel received a BA from the University of the Americas, in the city of Puebla, south of Mexico City. He writes from near the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers in Northern California.

Most active now in smallish Art and Literary circles on social media, Miguel has over the years also published poems in a smattering of on-line poetry and art journals, including Luciole Press, VEXT Magazine, and Diaphanous Micro. Miguel holds fast to the idea that experimentation with form and substance are key to most effectively approaching the sublime in linguistic expression.

July 17

Jeff Kaliss

Breaking Down the Genre Border Walls: How the Muse Migrates

This workshop will examine why and how creative writers can and should express themselves in poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and scriptwriting, and how all of these forms support each other. There will be discussion of ekphrastic poetry, and other sources for writers in the visual and musical arts. Participants will free-write their own responses to artistic prompts.

Jeff Kaliss is a longtime music and entertainment journalist and the author of books, album liner notes, festival program notes, and the like, in connection with music. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, and his poetry has been published in college literary journals and read online across the US and in two foreign countries.

July 24

Bryan Franco

Breaking Rules and Inventing New Poetic Forms

Bryan Franco is a poet/spoken word performer from Brunswick, Maine who has been writing poetry since the 1990’s. He was a member of the Portland Maine Rhythmic Cypher slam team that competed in the 2014 National Poetry Slam in Oakland, California and is also a painter, sculptor, gardener, and culinary genius.

Bryan , with Dane Ince from San Francisco and Michael Sindler from Denver, Bryan formed the poetry group Beardo Bards of the Bardo and performed at the Stay-At-Home Fringe Fest in Glasgow, Scotland on May 21, 2021. Since February he has been a feature/guest poet at online open mics They Call Me Mitch in San Francisco, Mahopoc Writer's Group in New York, 1428 Poets in San Francisco, The Word is Write in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Creative Expressions in New York City, Port Veritas in Portland, Maine, the Phynnecabulary podcast on March 9, and the Irish internet show Friday Night Live.

In 2021, his poetry has been published or is forthcoming in Down in the Dirt Magazine (Austin, TX), Anecdote Literary Magazine (Anchorage, AK), C C & D Magazine (Austin, TX), Moonstone Arts Center The American War Against Herself Anthology (Philadelphia, Pa), Moonstone Arts Center Nonsense Verse Anthology, Moonstone Arts Center 25th Annual Poetry Ink Anthology Love Letters to Gaia Anthology (NYC), Sinew: 10 years of Poetry in the Brew! (Nashville, TN), 2020 Writing from Inlandia Anthology (Riverside, CA), and Globalisation Anthology (Australia) and one of his poems was chosen to be part of Los Angeles Poet Society’s Poet Tree Project.

July 31

Denise Saenz

Healing through Poetry and Magia: merging ancient practices with creativity as medicine for

the wounded soul

Denise Saenz is a chicana poet who uses poetry and writing to help her heal herself and her community, drawing on knowledge of the past to understand the origins of her experience with colorism, racism and misogyny. History is often mixed in her poetry to help others better understand what leads us to certain points in our lives. Struggling with mental health her whole life, poetry has become a sort of therapy, letting her emotions write the words to leave them on paper. Poetry took the burden so she could begin healing the inevitable wounds we all sustain.

Denise is currently working on her degree, raising two teenagers, and living between three sister cities on the border of two countries. She has chosen to write her own story and to become a vessel for the stories of her ancestors. Mixing research and mystical practices, every word comes from a place deep within her being. There is a vulnerability to her words as she leaves it all on the table, naked, afraid, hurt, and wounded, yet all overcome with strength, determination and self-love.

JUNE 2021

June 5

Kit Wren

The New Intelligence:

Timothy Donnelly

Kit Wren has participated in the Tumblewords Project since he was 12 years old. During his time studying English literature at the University of North Texas, he was nominated for an award for achievement in short fiction. His sportswriting has appeared in The Dentonite. Since moving back to El Paso in 2014, he has been active in Tumblewords and the Barbed Wire Open Mic Series. His poetry is published in Barrio Panther and in Chismosa Press. Kit is a frequent presenter of workshops for the Tumblewords Project.

June 12

Steve Brown

Bluish- Green and Foaming Pink: Eroded Poems

on the Suburban Frontier

Steve Brown is a poet, writer and educator. He lives, gardens and blogs at Dry Creek Farm in rural Utah. He’s currently working on memoir/travelogue hybrid tentatively titled Heat, Blue Sky and Roads that Go Forever: The Great Texas Road Trip Thank-You Tour currently published in blog-format at https://greysealtravel.blogspot.com/. Of his poetry and this workshop, Steve says, “Writing for me has always been an associative process.

I sit down with a single image, thought, or feeling, and then rummage through the equivalent of old magazines in my mind, ripping out bits and pieces, like a collage artist. Then, I assemble them bit by bit, hoping they'll lead to some sort of semblance. I want something that shimmers like the world through a rain-dappled window at night--blues, yellows, reds and purples pocked and streaked in sub-narratives that mix and mingle and diverge again.

What I really want my writing to do is dazzle. If pushed, I'd probably have to say, I'm for style over substance. I don't mean any particular style. I just mean sound. Visual sound. Auditory sound. The power of words as words. Sure, I'd like to say something worthwhile in the process. But, the truth is, I write to write. To reach into that cool deep well and pull out some slick, dripping image, and to hear that translucent sound layered up, as I stack image on image.”

June 19

Juba the Griot

Juneteenth, a Day of Celebration

Sarah Addison aka Juba believes that stories are more than entertainment, they play an important part in social change. The power of sharing stories builds communities and bridges difference in our society. Most importantly they nurture the imagination in children and can heal wounded spirits. As a storyteller and teaching artist, she shares what she knows to help others grow.

For many African Americans, June 19 is considered an Independence Day. On June 19, 1865 Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, TX with news that the Civil War was long over and slavery in the United States had already been abolished. On that day 250,000 enslaved people were freed despite the message to stay and work for their owners. Many left in search of family members who were sold during slavery.

Juba‘s grandmother Sara Jane was born in 1863 the year that President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. When Sara Jane was 2 years old, she and her mother Sadie were finally granted their freedom. They remained on the plantation and became sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta.

Juba will share Juneteenth poems.

June 26

Sheryl Luna

River of Words: the Border, Boundaries, and Bridges

Are borders necessary or bad for us? Are we naturally driven to connect with others or does some mistrust and apprehension hold us back? The U.S./Mexico border can be shown via crisp and clear imagery, and we can connect that imagery to our innermost fears and desires. In other words, we can examine both our internal and external landscapes. We will review “Body of Rags, International Bridge Between the U.S. and Mexico” by Ray Gonzalez. We may also review one of my own poems as a model.

Sheryl Luna’s Magnificent Errors received the 2020 Ernest Sandeen Poetry Prize from University of Notre Dame and is forthcoming in 2022. Pity the Drowned Horses (University of Notre Dame Press) received the Andres Montoya Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. Seven (3: A Taos Press) was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. She has received fellowships from Yaddo, Canto Mundo, the Anderson Center and Ragdale. She received the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation Award and was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. Recent poems have appeared in Poetry, Huizache and Pilgrimage.

MAY 2021

May 1

María R Pérez

and

Victoria R Meek

ART SEEDS-Cultivating Vision, Hope and Possibilities

María R Pérez, MSSW grew up with a disability, which may have made her mind nurture complex possibilities. A lifelong resident of the El Paso/Cd. Juárez border area, María is sensitive to the immigration issues of the Frontera. Ms. Pérez is a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso and University of Texas at Austin. She is retired, yet continually engaged with the El Paso border community. She is a founding member of The Tornillo Collective.

Victoria R Meek, MA loves all kinds of art, particularly drawing. She was born in Kingsville, Texaas, and reared in Mississippi by a mom from El Paso and a dad from Kentucky. Victoria earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing & Painting from University of Southern Mississippi, and a Master of Arts in Museum Studies from New York University. She currently serves as Special Initiatives Director at the Mississippi Arts Commission.

María and Victoria created an art kit as a therapeutic intervention for dozens of Hispanic children who were left without parents after the August 9th, 2019 immigration enforcement raids at several meat-packing companies in Mississippi. The Mississippi Museum of Art made printing possible, and coordinated the creation of the art kit and accompanying booklet. Victoria, as Associate Curator of Studio and Family Programs at the Mississippi Museum of Art, made the drawings used in the booklet and kit. María translated the English to Spanish.

(Markers or colored pencils are recommended but not mandatory.)

May 8

Luis “Sito” Negron

Green & Gray

Luis “Sito” Negron has been a reporter, editor, communicator, and policy aide. He started his career at the El Paso Times, where he worked for almost 10 years as a news assistant, reporter and Assistant City Editor.

Subsequently, he worked as a reporter, editor, and manager, in independent and corporate print and electronic media, for more than 10 years. Negron joined the staff of state Senator José Rodríguez in 2012 as Communications Director, and worked as part of the Senator’s legislative team for four sessions of the Texas Legislature. Most recently, he served as District Director for Senator Rodríguez. Negron is active in local issues, advocating for transparent government, respect for cultural and historic community assets, and neighborhood quality-of-life.

He is president of the Sunset Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association, and a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso. In his workshop, Sito will address the question of how our words and art use color to balance our individual and collective health.

May 15

Leslie Ullman

Poetry and Prose in

Conversation with Itself

April 3

Richie David Marrufo

Mixtape Muze(sic)

Richie David Marrufo is an educator, MC, project director, show host, and spoken word poet. He is the current Project Director of The Barbed Wire Open Mic Series. A writer for the film/production studio Power at the Pass where he also produces and hosts The BWOMS Podcast. During the pandemic, he has kept the open mic alive via live sessions on Monday nights called TheRichie has performed in unique shows and venues throughout the Southwest and has conducted various writing workshops within the city for people of all ages. He is an advocate for the creative voices of the community and the support of local artistic endeavors. Stay at Home Open Mic.

From playing music on street corners and mountaintops to speaking in front of classrooms, Richie is happy to share his love for music, poetry, and improvisation with others.

April 10

Mónica Gómez

100 Days into 2021

Mónica Gómez has made her living as a writer, performing songwriter, recording artist, voice talent, motivational speaker, creative writing teacher, martial arts instructor, television reporter and radio broadcaster.

Based on extensive experience working with diverse populations, Mónica’s creative writing workbook, EXPRESSERCIZE: Write Answers, contains more than 100 exercises in reflection, expression, discovery and actualization.

April 17

Robin Scofield

Metaphors Be with You

Robin Scofield, author of Flow (Street of Trees Projects), winner of the Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association, has poems appearing in Rio Grande Review, The Main Street Rag, and The Texas Poetry Calendar 2022. She writes with the Tumblewords Project in El Paso and attends the San Miguel Poetry Week.

April 24

Kimberly Klorer

Prose Poetry/ It’s Enough

A mathematical equation in a few sentences or more. In her workshop Kim will encourage participants to enter unexplored territory with the work of Robert Bly, James Wright, and W.S. Merwin. She will facilitate participants’ willingness to be surprised and in wonder- without rhyme, reason, or rhythm.

Kim memorized poetry as a child, was encouraged to write poetry by Sister Kathleen O’Hanlon, CSJ and Texas poets Walt McDonald and Leslie Ullman. The study of Oral Interpretation with Vera Simpson, from Charlotte Lee, led her to perform an MA Reader’s Theatre of Anaïs Nin and to read for poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Kim participated in a women’s writing group and poetry performance at native El Paso poet Ricardo Sánchez’s bookstore in San Antonio.

APRIL 24

ONLINE READING

In celebration of National Poetry Month, Tumblewords Project will be having a reading hosted by Richie David Marrufo. The reading will take place at 7 pm Saturday, April 24, 2021 via zoom. Please check the forthcoming event announcement and posts on the Tumblewords Project sites. The week of the event, please contact Donna Snyder for the zoom link information.

March 6

Julia Quintana

Year in a Hellscape:2020

Julia Quintanar is a bilingual writer of poetry and short story from El Paso, TX. Her work is featured in Mezzcla: Art and Writing from the Tumblewords Project, and in Rincon Bohemio's chap books Calaveras Fronterizas - Que Siga El Entierro and Dias d los Muertos, Amor Compassion y Muerte. She has performed at the Smithsonian Lationo Virtual museaum's Day of the Dead Festival week through the internet. She has presented readings and workshops for Tumblewords Project.

March 13

Juba the Griot

Animals Sharing their Stories

Juba is a wife, mother of 7, grandmother of 14, and great grandmother of 10. She is employed full time at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico, as a Credentialing Specialist. Her main focus is to verify that the credentials of health care professionals are in compliance with state and federal standards.

Juba currently serves as President of The Majestic Toastmasters Advanced Club, in El Paso, Texas. She earned the Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award in 2019, which represents the highest level of educational achievement in Toastmasters. Her current goal is to become an Accredited Speaker. Juba is also the immediate Past-President of the Storytellers of New Mexico.

Juba says that storytelling is her passion. Her mission is to share what she knows to encourage other to live and enjoy their best life. She grew up on a farm in Kansas. Having no siblings, the farm animals became her siblings and friends. She loved reading to them and telling them stories, especially the chickens in the hen house. While sitting in their nest, a captive audience, Juba would sit on egg crates and share her stories with them. As she grew older she realized that nimals have feelings. Soon, she began to share their stories with others, the good, bad and the sad. You can find out more about her at sarah.addison@@lpnt.net

March 20

Leslee Becker

J. S. Bach

Wrote the Bible

Leslee was born and reared in El Paso, Texas, where she began playing the cello at age 10. A recipient of the Charley Wootan Grant, she earned her degree in Cello Performance from the University of North Texas in Denton. Her passion for music has taken her all over the world, to stages in Japan, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Boston, New York, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and cities all across Texas.

She cherishes performing and storytelling through classical music in professional symphony orchestras, chamber music ensembles, and musical theater. In Pittsburgh, she is a member of Camerata 33, a Latin chamber orchestra. Ms. Becker is also an accomplished recording artist, working as a freelance cellist and vocalist in all genres of music, and had the distinguished honor of participating in Denton’s 5th Rock Lottery. Her lifelong dedication, though, has been to teaching.

She has advocated the enjoyment, transcendence, and education of music to students in El Paso, the Dallas-Fort Worth-Denton Metroplex, and Pittsburgh for over 20 years. Leslee is also avid about charitable work such as donating music to pet orphanage fundraiser events and special education graduation ceremonies, organizing benefit concerts for communities in need, and creating a music scholarship for high school students. In her free time, she enjoys astronomy, a quest for the best tacos, and taking her dog to play disc golf.

March 27

León de la Rosa Carrillo

Do haikus dream of animated gifs?

León de la Rosa Carrillo is a pedagogue and remixologist. He teaches and researches audiovisual art at Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. His poetry is typically audiovisual and his artwork is typically poetry-based. León says that la frontera smashed him into shape. His website is found at: http://leondelarosa.org

FEBURARY 2021

Feb 6

Kit Wren

Against Love Poems

Kit Wren has participated in the Tumblewords Project since he was 12 years old. During his time studying English literature at the University of North Texas, he was nominated for an award for achievement in short fiction. His sportswriting has appeared in The Dentonite. Since moving back to El Paso in 2014, he has been active in Tumblewords, the Barbed Wire Open Mic Series, and in FrontEra Slam. Kit is a frequent presenter of workshops for the Tumblewords Project.

Feb 13

Maria R. Palacios

Writing for Our Lives: Poetic Story - Telling

Maria R. Palacios is a polio survivor, disability activist, feminist poet, writer, and artist whose creative expression is one of the tools and weapons of her activism. She believes that art itself can narrate the story of our collective struggle.

Maria's work includes various genres of art ranging from published written collections of rebellious poetic storytelling, to passionate spoken word and sarcastic illustrations of disability themed cartoons aimed at calling out ableism.

Maria R. Palacios is the author of several publications, including two volumes of disability centered poetry, women empowerment journals, a book of disability humor and satire, and a collection of poetic storytelling through which she shares her personal experiences of motherhood and disability. Maria is also a professional workshop facilitator whose work has been presented at various colleges and universities around the nation. She is a spoken word performer who has been collaborating and performing with Sins Invalid, a disability justice performance organization, since 2007. In the artistic world, Maria R. Palacios is known as the Goddess on Wheels.

Feb 20

Miguel Escobar

Notes on Abstract Poetics and the Linguistic Sublime

Feb 27

Michelle Murray

The Road to Sellable Writing

Michelle Murray is a native Texan, and combat Veteran of the United States Army. Prior to a career in the United States Army, Michelle was a member of the Ft Worth Police Department’s arm of the federal drug task force, and was a part of the department’s Kid’s Code Blue Program, a program which helped rehabilitate juvenile offenders and provide opportunities to at-risk youth. She also worked as the law enforcement mascot, McGruff the crime dog. Currently, Michelle works as a novelist, screenwriter, producer, model, and actress. She writes about her son, three cats, various cultural experiences in law enforcement, and in her spare time pursues the hobbies of SCUBA diving, camping, hiking, horse-back riding, a few sports, and extensive travel.

Her most recent novels are available in both e-book and traditional formats. She currently serves as writer and Executive Producer for “Mendacity," as well as writer for Blogtalkradio’s “The Kendal Murray Show," and her own talk radio program "Chelle's Three Cents." Michelle’s resume also includes Will Smith’s movie “Bright”, Season One of the CBS show “Man With a Plan," "Crazy Ones" with Robin Williams, and "The Mentalist."

Michelle is the 2019 Ms. North Hollywood for the Ms. California Plus America Pageant. She is an avid community volunteer, as well as founder and head instructor of KMP Entertainment's Professional Development Academy, which offers real world training for novelists, screenwriters, actors and other Entertainment Industry Professionals. Michelle holds a Bachelor degree in Entertainment Business and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Business Administration.

JANUARY 2021

Jan 2

NO WORKSHOP

Jan 9

Mónica Gómez

Spectrum: Life on a Sliding Scale

Jan 16

María Pérez

Dark Side of the Moon:

Musings and Writings on

Living with Mental Illness

Maria R Pérez is an artist, writer, theologist, and retired social worker who also started her own business – Somos Familia Genealogy Service. As a contributor to El PasoNews.org, she writes on genealogy. She is a strong advocate for the disempowered and a founding member of The Tornillo Collective – individuals calling attention to the plight of migrant families and children in US detention facilities through the arts. Five dogs and a feral cat named “Mascara”, plus her two siblings share her home.

She is highly creative and imaginative. María grew up with a disability. She says that maybe her physical limitations made her mind nurture possibilities!

Contact: mrperez13@yahoo.com

Facebook: Maria R Perez

Facebook: Somos Familia Genealogy Services

somosfamiliagenserv@yahoo.com

Jan 23

Miriam Sagan

Keeping a Poetic Journal

Miriam Sagan is the author of over thirty books of poetry, fiction, and memoir. Her most recent include Bluebeard's Castle (Red Mountain, 2019) and A Hundred Cups of Coffee (Tres Chicas, 2019). She is a two-time winner of the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards as well as a recipient of the City of Santa Fe Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts and a New Mexico Literary Arts Gratitude Award. She has been a writer in residence in four national parks, Yaddo, MacDowell, Gullkistan in Iceland, Kura Studio in Japan, and a dozen more remote and interesting places. She works with text and sculptural installation as part of the creative team Maternal Mitochondria in venues ranging from RV Parks to galleries. She founded and directed the creative writing program at Santa Fe Community College until her retirement. Her poetry was set to music for the Santa Fe Women's Chorus, incised on stoneware for a haiku pathway, and projected as video inside an abandoned grain silo in rural Itoshima. Her blog is Miriam's Well.

http://miriamswell.wordpress.com

Jan 30

Carlos Fidel Espinoza

Workshop: I'm an Alligator! Exploring

creative writing through the music and life of David Bowie

Carlos is a taco loving writer, musician, and father. His collection of poetry How to Lie to a Customs Agent was recently published by Floricanto Press. His work has appeared in Accentos Review, Spry Literary Review, and Pilgrimage among others. He teaches literature, composition and creative writing at El Paso Community College and the University of Texas at El Paso. He is the publisher of Barrio Panther Literatura.

APRIL 24

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ONLINE READING

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JANUARY 2021

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