by Portia Choi | Mar 22, 2017 | news
Story by Giovanni Lopez with contribution by Portia Choi (Photos of Jack Hernandez by Giovanni Lopez and Juan Felipe Herrera by Blue Flower Arts) Juan Felipe Herrera, the current (and first Latino) United States Poet Laureate, will be speaking on “Surveillance,...
by Portia Choi | Mar 13, 2017 | Events, Featured Poet, Interviews, Pictures, Poems
Shanna O’Brien was the featured performer at the Open Mic on March 3. The Open Mic is held at Dagny Coffee, downtown Bakersfield, every First Friday at 6:00 pm. O’Brien has performed since 1980. A few of the places were the Mandarin Hotel in Singapore and MGM...
by Portia Choi | Mar 2, 2017 | Events, Featured Poet, Interviews, Poems
Night of Poetry at Levan Center, Bakersfield College The “movers and shakers” of poetry were together to read poems of nationally acclaimed poets at the Levan Center on February 16, 2017. Each of the presenting local poets read a poem by another nationally known poet...
by Portia Choi | Feb 12, 2017 | Events
Don Thompson, the first Poet Laureate of Kern County, is hosting an event on February 16, 2017 at the Norman Levan Center for the Humanities on the Bakersfield College campus. Thompson stated that the “San Joaquin Valley is known for agriculture, oil, and...
by Portia Choi | Feb 8, 2017 | Featured Poet, Features, Pictures
Tony O’Brien was the featured poet at First Friday Open Mic on February 3, 2017. O’Brien is also a photographer and a jazz musician. He melded his talents of being a poet and a photographer for his performance. At the open mic, he had participants hold up...
by Portia Choi | Jan 25, 2017 | Interviews, Kern County Poet, news, Poems
Story by Portia Choi Nancy Edwards passed away on January 5, 2017. Nancy was a poet. She was also a professor of English at Bakersfield College from 1968-2009. When poets and friends of poets were informed of her passing, there was a profound sense of loss. This...
by Portia Choi | Jan 20, 2017 | Events, Pictures
Story by Portia Choi with Contributions by Martin Chang There was a first time event in poetry for Kern County on January 18, 2017. It was the Poetry Out Loud competition in which high school students recited famous poems by memory. The event took place at the...
by Portia Choi | Jan 11, 2017 | Events, Pictures
by Portia Choi The day was dawning when I arrived at Dagny’s Coffee at 6:55 am. The front door was locked, and there were workers inside with dim lights. When the main lights went on and the door was unlocked, several cars parked and several men got into Dagny’s. ...
by Portia Choi | Jan 11, 2017 | Featured Poet, Pictures, Poems
story by Portia Choi On the First Friday of January 2017, the featured poets at Dagny’s Coffee were Joseph Mosconi, Barry Michael and Maryah Paige Chester. They read from their poetry books which were in themselves a work of art. Each book was unusual and unique in...
by Portia Choi | Jan 5, 2017 | Featured Poet, Interviews, Pictures, Poems
Story by: Martin Chang Photos by: Greg D. Cook and Martin Chang top box photo provided by Chris Fendt Chris Fendt is inspired by different aspects of life. For Fendt, a chance meeting with a stranger, his favorite music, or quiet moments in Bakersfield, can...
