Abena Songbird's poetry displays a rare understanding of both Native people from the country and from urban settings-the street. I'm very touched always by Abena's poetry and I'm so glad she's published! Now it will be easier to share her words and meanings with friends and family. Reading Bitterroot sometimes I just weep. Sometimes I dance and am delighted. What more can you ask of a poet than that? Once in the yuwipi ceremony I came to this wonderful clear meadow, removed from all the stress and anxiety of living today. And this is a place that Abena can take me to in her poetry. She is indeed a poet in her very thinking. She has captured bubbles of worlds that are vastly different and strung them together making the beading of her work very rich, very colorful, very sensitive. Bitterroot is a special medicine. Teveia Clarke WebWorks Indigenous People's Archive

Bitterroot

Literature & Fiction

Songbird, Abena

Poetry

Freedom Voices Publications

Hobos to Street People: Artists’ Responses to Homelessness From the New Deal to the Present offers a comparison of the culture and politics of homelessness as seen through artwork since the Great Depression. The book is based on the touring exhibition of the same name that first opened in early 2009-the time of the greatest economic downturn since the 1929 Stock Market Crash. As the numbers of people living in poverty continues to swell, this book looks to the past for lessons for today. A wide range of artists have brought attention to the issue, including historical figures such as Rockwell Kent, Fritz Eichenberg, Jacob Burck, Dorothea Lange and contemporary artists Kiki Smith, Sandow Birk, Eric Drooker and many more. The text, written by artist and curator Art Hazelwood, places the artwork within the history of social and political responses from the New Deal, through McCarthyism, to the rise of modern homelessness in the 1980s. Sections of the book focus on different aspects of homelessness including day to day life, displacement, rural poverty and political struggle. Emphasis is also given to the means by which artists have been able to get their message out whether through publications, government programs of the New Deal, street posters, exhibitions, or alliances with activist groups.

Hobos to Street People: Artists' Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to the Present

Arts & Photography

Hazelwood, Art

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

Glance around. Imagine that all the scenery beyond these words isn't real, nor are they. Instead, imagine that you're actually locked up in a jail cell, and the "reality" around you is nothing but a digitally created illusion generated by a microchip implanted in your brain. Would you rather continue dwelling in the comfortable world you've always known, even if it's not real, or would you prefer to pursue the mysterious truth about the terrible thing that has appened to you? This provocative question lies at the heart of the gripping techno-dystopian thriller by San Francisco author Margot Pepper. Set in the late the 21st century, the story follows Ian, a successful graphic designer working for a San Francisco biotech fi rm, and his alluring bohemian co-worker Robin on a neo-Orwellian quest to uncover the shocking truth behind their incarceration. As with any visionary fiction, American Day Dream paints a world that is only a slightly exaggerated version of our own-a world of people made to think that they have more control over their lives than they actually do. Highlighting the Bay Area's iconic landmarks, the tale delves into the darkness of our day, restoring light to an otherwise bleak landscape, and inspiring us to contemplate the direction we're heading in while there's still time to change it. *** "A great dystopian read that takes you on a journey around the streets and scenic marvels of San Francisco. More than an Orwellian dystopia, American Day Dream draws on the revelations of Edward Snowden, imagining where the National Security State might lead us. Added to this mélange is a passionate romance between the two main characters, the utopian counterpoint of the story." -Roger Burbach, author of Fire in the Americas. "Pepper's engaging characters suck you right in. What's powerful is the way the story shows the soft line between our present society and the world that Pepper has envisioned. Unlike so much science fi ction that lacks that connection, its symbolic value relates directly to our historic moment...." -Art Hazelwood, artist and author of From Hobos to Street People. "Pepper creates a world of insidious virtual realities in the tradition of The Matrix and other science fi ction, only here she brilliantly uses a surreal futuristic prison story to uncover the unnerving nuances of our addiction to a hollow and oppressive economic structure. Reality slips in this magic realist tale written in the true San Francisco rebel spirit." -Director Mary Liz Thomson, Huffington Post "Margot Pepper's literary incursion into science fiction is just like her- daring, brave and fully imagined. She is a story goddess living in and out of verses, whose political stance is vital and necessary. -Luis J. Rodriguez, author of Always Running and It Calls You Back

American Day Dream

Pepper, Margot

Margot, Eve Pepper

Literary

CLASS ENCOUNTERS Poetry by Maketa Smith-Groves ... Maketa Smith-Groves is a reincarnate William Carlos Williams, recording specifics of an urban world so down and out that only those born of it are permitted to wander its ghost realm. When she brings this sensibility to a more familiar scenery, it is with compassion for its discarded broken denizens and exhausted working class ignored by the entitled, such as in L.A.'s bright horrors. Moving, accurate snapshots without a tough persona or preaching rhetoric. You haven't been here before. Marc Olmsted -poet, and author of Don't Hesitate Knowing Allen Ginsberg. Maketa Smith-Groves has given her life to the poem, as these works so clearly and beautifully demonstrate. Her voice is strong, as she continues to practice the art and craft of poetry, with true devotion. This collection will take its place on the shelf of literature that lasts. Neeli Cherkovski -poet, memoirist and literary chronicler. His latest book of poetry is, The Crow. The poems ... are marvelous! Elias Schneitter -poet, novelist, and co-founder, Sprachsalz Literary Festival. Co-author of, The Two Austrians of North Beach. Maketa Smith-Groves is a truly important representative of American poetry. Her poetry unites the blues of Mississippi, the harshness of the struggle to survive in Detroit, and the sensitivity of an outsider in San Francisco. Hers, is a distinguished voice in American Literature. -Sprachsalz Literary Festival Review, Innsbruck, Austria About the Author International poet Maketa Smith-Groves, a native of Detroit, Michigan, has lived in California for many decades. For her first collection of poetry, Red Hot on a Silver Note (Curbstone Press), she received the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award. In 2014, she was honored with the Acker Award for exemplary Avant-Garde excellence. She currently divides her time between the U.S. and Europe

Class Encounters

Smith-Groves, Maketa

House Keys Not Handcuffs is a reflection on over 30 years of homeless organizing in San Francisco. It is an attempt to sort out what went well and what went not-so-well as a community began to organize in order to hold public and private institutions accountable. Its purpose is not only to distill the lessons we have learned, but to encourage others to document and reflect on their own experiences in the hope that we can collectively contribute to a stronger, more broadly-based movement.

House Keys Not Handcuffs

Paul Boden

With grit, grace, and elegance Faithful Fools (a live/work non-profit) has collected an anthology of anthologies representing over 100 poets selected from five different volumes originally published by Will to Print Press. Edited by the University of San Francisco MartIn-BarO Scholars (2014-15), and produced by Freedom Voices Press, this collection will take you into the streets of San Francisco's Tenderloin District where you will hear a panoply of voices sharing art and wisdom drawn from harsh experience and existential joy. ******** Welcome to Living in the Land of the Dead... Understand: this book contains road maps, accident reports, and prayers and is filled with human life crying like a helpless baby or the blast of a lonely horn..." --Ed Bowers, a Faithful Fool and Tenderloin Poet ******** "This book is a crossroads. A crossroads of people: a place where poets meet one another, where students meet poets, where faculty meet Fools. This book is a crossroads of life: a place where words meet the page, where truth meets dreams, where the past meets the present. It is an oasis on the long Silk Road of poetry that connects distant corners of the world." -- Sam Dennison, a Faithful Fool

Living in the Land of the Dead: An Anthology of Anthologies Faithful Fools Poetry 2004 - 2014

Faithful Fools

Provocative, sad, sexual and compelling—Fractured Utopias is Roger Burbach’s parting gift to the left movements of the Americas and the causes he served for over a half-century. Beginning with his farm upbringing in Wisconsin in the 1950s, Roger portrays his personal encounters with romance, revolution and war in North and South America. Detailed recollections of his time as a Peace Corp volunteer in the Peruvian Andes in the 60s, his first hand reporting of the coup that overthrew Salvador Allende in Chile, and his insider knowledge of the Sandinista Revolution provide vivid testimony on the victories and defeats of Latin American struggles for social justice.In this revealing memoir, Roger brings the unflinching honesty he applied to his political work to bear on his personal passions and paradoxes as a husband, father and amorist. An award-winning author and editor of many books on Latin American social movements, US imperialism, 21st century socialism and globalization, Roger finished this manuscript just weeks before his death in March of 2015.“Roger was truly a remarkable man who never let adversity get in this way. He will perhaps be best remembered for his writings and research, but he was above all an activist dedicated to the fight for a better world and a passionate supporter of the struggles of the people of Latin America. His writings and example provide a powerful beacon for us all.” — Federico Fuentes, Editor of Bolivia Rising, and co-author with Roger Burbach and Michael Fox of Latin America’s Turbulent Transitions; The Future of Twenty-First Century Socialism“Roger faced his disability in the same way he faced the challenges of doing hands-on research and reporting from Latin America: with determination, honesty and a great deal of courage. His physical determination was a reflection of his professional and political determination to honestly analyze and report on the struggles for sovereignty and social justice in the Americas — and on the contradictions that some of those struggles fell into.” — Fred Rosen, Former director and contributing editor of the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) 

Fractured Utopias: A Personal Odyssey with History

Biographies & Memoirs

Burbach, Roger

Historical

This timely collection allows us to hear firsthand the amazingly diverse voices of North American Muslim writers speaking for themselves. Stereotypes are overturned on every page. Shaped by an impressive interweaving of cultures, languages and ethnicities, these writers reflect on what it means to find home-especially when prejudices and distortions abound-and how powerful it can be to feel heard, recognized, welcomed. Through stories, essays and poems, they share their family lore, spiritual journeys, childhood dreams, and memories of homes they left. They offer prayers for our world. They show us how astonishingly vast and varied Muslim American identity and experiences really are-from Mi&#42892;kmaq Muslims to Muslims whose ancestors came on the Mayflower; from Indian Americans to American Indians, from Tunisian-Canadians to Puerto Ricans to Palestinians to Irish-American Muslims inspired to convert by reading Malcolm X, and more. In this chorus of unique voices, there is a unity-whether Muslim-born or a convert, immigrant or North-America-born, a seasoned elder or a budding young poet, each writer invites us to fall in love with their humanity. ___REVIEWS Muslim American Writers at Home is a compelling compilation that sheds light on the lived experiences of Muslims from diverse backgrounds, living in Canada and the U.S. Works like this are especially important in our current times as it is critical that Muslim artists take ownership of their own stories and narratives. - GAMA (Gathering All Muslim Artists) These authentic, diverse and multidimensional voices lift "layers of ignorance" about Muslims and Islam as they take us beyond and beneath the mainstream, fake narrative. Interweavers of creativity and spirituality, these Muslim authors, whether born in, brought to, or fled to North America, take us to their "real" world of being "racialized, minoritized, and thus dehumanized," via firsthand story-tellings of lived experiences, as we forge ahead toward understanding, faith, love, peace and justice, inshallah. An insightful, painful, impressive, hopeful read. - Laila Hasib, Inked Resistance Islamic Publishing At times heartbreaking and beautiful, and at times raw and unvarnished, this worthy anthology provides non-Muslim readers with the perfect antidote to the stereotypes that pervade popular media. This collection contains true gems. - Graeme Truelove, author of Un-Canadian: Islamophobia in the True North This anthology gives voice to diverse Americans and Canadians whose identities include being Muslim. These writings are moving, powerful, and a celebration of our common humanity. It is not a book to be read once and then stored on your library shelf. Rather, these stories should be shared and discussed with others so as to develop a greater understanding of the life experiences of North American Muslims. - Alia Hogben, Former Executive Director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women. These powerful, poignant, personal stories about being a Muslim in North America make for a compelling and very readable collection - one that cries out for our attention. - Linda McQuaig, Canadian journalist & author

Muslim American Writers at Home: Stories, Essays and Poems of Identity, Diversity and Belonging

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Books by Freedom Voices Publications