by Portia Choi | Dec 21, 2016 | Featured Poet, Pictures
photos by Greg D. Cook story by Portia Choi Ara Shirinyan was the last guest poet of the Bakersfield Fan Forum at California State University Bakersfield (CSUB) Todd Madigan Gallery. He performed at the gallery on November 30, 2016. Shirinyan is a poet,...
by Portia Choi | Dec 14, 2016 | Featured Poet, Pictures
The Open Mic for December 2016 featured Yaritza I. Castro. Castro has been an active member of the poetry community and has performed at the Open Mic several times. She read from her first poetry book “Unfinished Poems for a Lover.” To read more on Castro...
by Portia Choi | Dec 7, 2016 | Events, Featured Poet, Pictures
By Portia Choi, with contributions by Martin Chang Photos by Martin Chang On December 1, 2016 the California Poet Laureate, Dana Gioia, was the presenter at the December Room of the Walter Stiern Library at California State University, Bakersfield. He was...
by Portia Choi | Nov 30, 2016 | Featured Poet, Pictures
Story by Portia Choi Photos by Martin Chang Yaritza I. Castro is another poet who found a place to express her writing at First Friday Open Mic at Dagny’s Coffee. She started attending First Friday Open Mic at Dagny’s Coffee in summer 2015. Castro found out about the...
by Portia Choi | Nov 23, 2016 | Events, Pictures
Story by Portia Choi Photos by Greg D. Cook Don Thompson, the Kern County’s first-ever Poet Laureate, spoke at the Writers of Kern (WOK) meeting on November 19, 2016. Thompson has written about Kern County for over 50 years in his poems. He was born in Bakersfield,...
by Portia Choi | Nov 17, 2016 | Events, Pictures
story by Portia Choi November 7, 2016 was the opening of The Bakersfield Fan Forum at the Todd Madigan Gallery at California State University Bakersfield. It is being presented by The Poetic Research Bureau through the visiting artist, Joseph Mosconi. The...
by Portia Choi | Nov 10, 2016 | Events, Pictures
Story by Portia Choi There was extraordinary excitement at the First Friday Open Mic on November 4. There was a standing-room only crowd. That wasn’t all. There have been other evenings with persons where persons stood to listen to poets perform their word...
by Portia Choi | Nov 2, 2016 | Events, Pictures
These were photos taken at Dagny’s on October 7th 2016. The featured poets were Heavy Vinyl who performed their new song “Rock and Roll Beauty Queen” and between songs describes their process behind the songs they have...
by Portia Choi | Oct 27, 2016 | Featured Poet, Pictures
Mateo Lara performs his poems regularly at the First Friday Open Mic at Dagny’s for over a year. He has recently published his first collection of poetry, “Keta-Miha and Other Poems.” Mateo will be the featured poet at the next Open Mic on November 4. He is a Cal...
by Portia Choi | Oct 13, 2016 | Events, Pictures
By Martin Chang “Words Come to Life” was an event held to benefit CASA and celebrate the poetry and art of Kern County. In her opening remarks Diana Ramirez, the organizer of the event, was emotional, and barely held back tears. She said, “Look at...
