On this MLK Day, do we share a dream

Cross posted from Petaluma360.com

by In.Her.Own.Write

Martin Luther King, assassinated at a tender 39 years of age, continues to catch our hearts and minds with his I have a Dream speech and his brief lifetime of work, calling to us to stand up for social justice and overcome racial discrimination wherever it exists in our land. He also called for service, an idea that brings honor, satisfaction.

Sunday radio was saturated with fine words about MLK – and his own words stung. We’re out of touch with the angst of the Civil Rights movement here. Our lovely city-country lifestyle in Sonoma County doesn’t include race riots or in-your-face discrimination against black residents – but talk to a few Latinos and well, that’s another story. Yes, there are occasional attacks on Petaluma’s Latino residents, based on nothing but ethnic background. But today is MLK’s day. His message mirrors much of what we believe the American Dream is about – justice for all.

I appreciated Obama’s comments today on the heels of the terrible Tucson shootings. “We must learn to speak to each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds,” he said. Wish Obama would be the orator MLK was, the leader. But I give him cred for a solid effort.
At a time when violent rhetoric is rampant as more and more people purchase guns, MLK’s message of peace is more relevant than ever.

Watch him deliver his famous speech at or read the whole thing and analysis of it at

Here’s a big chunk I love: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Wow.

“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Westside Stories - Leaping into Improv

Westside Stories – making the leap into improv

by In.Her.Own.Write

My friend of the arts, writer/producer Nancy Long, sent me and others an invite/email this week: “AND, Wednesday, January 12th at 7:00pm at the Pelican Art Gallery is Storytelling Night. Those of you that went last month…wasn’t that so fun! Dave from Cinnabar Theatre has a winner and I highly recommend this event. People show up to tell a 5 Minute true story of their life with NO paper. Winner wins $50! at the end of the night. The subject is: Starting Over. You do not need to sign up and tell a story…just show up and listen! (BUT, then again…you COULD give it try…what the heck!)”

So I told a few friendly souls (a few so I wouldn’t be scared off) I’d recite a True Story for the Westside Stories series, Pelican Gallery 2nd Wednesdays of each month, 7pm. This theater can’t be more local – sounds like super fun … but I feel so – EXPOSED. I tell my story – WHAT IF no body likes it? Some will. You take yer chances.

And then there’s the fact that a friend, Laure Reichek, won the first prize, so, ha, I can win, right? Only her story involved living in Paris surrounded by Existentialists. No matter; I feel winning is being gutsy enough to stand up and tell your story at all.

“Take in a story slam with Dave Pokorny” I read in Petaluma Patch this week, the email listing of local stuff through AOL. I’ll meet the editor of that new online pub, Katrina, at Vine and Barrell on Petaluma Blvd. Jan. 13th at 5:30pm.

Instigator of Westside Stories is Dave Pokorny. We saw him recite a story of his own as part of Twisted Christmas at Glaser Center in December. Ironic, funny, twisted.

Read that Pokorny was a comedian, on the road, working with Ellen DeGeneres and Jim Carrey doing stand-up in Las Vegas. Not surprised noting his polished style.

The Petaluma Patch story says Pokorny “likes nothing better than getting up in front of a bunch of strangers and telling stories. So when he and his wife Juliet saw a show at The Moth in Brooklyn, N.Y. – inspiration struck.

“They had 300 people lined up on the street, waiting to put their names in a hat to tell stories; stories from people’s hearts. That’s where we learned about these story slams and we wanted to get involved,” Pokorny said.

Described by The Wall Street Journal as “New York’s hottest and hippest literary ticket,” The Moth was founded in 1997, dedicated to the art of storytelling. It is now in four locations including: Brooklyn, Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Pokorny is running Westside Stories in conjunction with Cinnabar Theater where his wife works as well. This next Wednesday will be month 3 with themes thus far “the first time,” “the most awful thing,” and now “starting over”.

Westside Stories works this way: You pay $5 at the door and put your name in a hat if you wish to recite. About ten people go on stage when their names are drawn. And a final name is pulled from the hat tob e judge of who presents the best five-minute story. Winner gets $50 and wine and beer sales benefit the Cinnabar Theater.

Another local theater night upcoming: Nancy Long handed me a postcard in Aqus Cafe’ last night as we watched the fine LOCAL food film, Turning Point, based a lot on experience of people at Findhorn in Scotland with a number of incredible people including Joanna Macy, the Buddhist scholar and author and Richard Heinberg, the Post Carbon Institute guy. Nancy wanted to be sure I wouldn’t miss Petaluma Readers Theatre appearance at Aqus Tuesday, January 18th at 7:30pm. This event is co-hosted by Nancy with Susan Bono of Tiny-Light Publications with the theme: Brats, Bullies and Bras: Stories from Childhood. It is an affordable fundraiser for Petaluma Readers Theatre at only $5.00! Glad to say these events do get packed, so come early.