100 Thousand Poets for Change

12:22PM: Happening now at the Flying Squirrel Community Space (285 Clarissa St.). 11AM - 10PM. All poets artists and musicians in the Rochester and WNY region are invited to join this world-wide, creative action for change. In Rochester, we will cook, serve, perform, and share the call for an end to hunger and homelessness in our communities.
12:26PM: Colleen Powderly is currently reading poetry upstairs. Rochester Indymedia is recording the event; it will be put up on our Blip.TV channel at IndyTV.Blip.TV. Rochester Indymedia is also having a fundraising bake sale. Currently we have vegan zucchini bread ($1), Oreo cookie packs ($1), and fair-trade, organic coffee ($.50). Different items will be appearing throughout the day.
12:29PM: Matt Shackelford is now reading poetry. Apologies on any misspellings of names.
12:33PM: Paulette Swartzfager is reading poetry now.
12:40PM: Alan Murphy is reading poetry to the sweet sounds of Mighty High and Dry. Open Mic in progress right now. Come down and read your work!
1:00PM Mighty High and Dry are playing.
1:11PM New items from Susan at Rochester Indymedia! Fresh picked, local apples ($.50), homemade brownies ($1), and free lemonade! All proceeds go to help out Rochester Indymedia. Rochester Indymedia (aka Rochester Independent Media Center or Rochester IMC) is a non-commercial, democratic collective of Rochester area independent media makers and media outlets, and serves as the local organizing unit of the global Indymedia network.
1:30PM From 2PM-3PM, ASL poetry will begin. Eddie Swayze will host the hour. Laura Klinkon is reading right now.
1:35PM: Dwain Wilder is reading now. Open Mic is on until 5PM today. Come down to the Flying Squirrel Community Space at 285 Clarissa St.
1:38PM: Ryan Cupp—regular at Pure Kona—featured in HazMat—is reading now.
1:52PM: ASL poet Eddie Swayze is being introduced. He will host the next hour of poets.
1:55PM: Vicki Nordquist is reading poetry.
2:05PM: Eddie Swayze is reading poetry. ASL poetry between 2PM-3PM—a part of 100 Thousand Poets for Change. Come down and read your work! Open Mic from 3PM-5PM. Flying Squirrel Community Space, 285 Clarissa St.
2:25PM: Matt Schwartz is reading.
2:32PM: Eddie Swayze is reading again. The Flying Squirrel's monthly Community Dinner starts at 4PM today downstairs.
2:36PM: Matt Schwartz is reading/performing with music.
2:42PM: ASL set has ended. Colleen Powderly is back at the mic.
2:49PM: Open Mic till 5PM; Community Dinner at 4PM. More updates after 4PM!
2:51PM: Alan Murphy is back at the mic.
2:52PM: David Trout is now reading; poet over at Tango Cafe.
4:45PM Open Mic still going strong. 15 minutes left! come down quick! The poets are lining up! David is reading right now.
5:00PM Poets reading over the last hour of Open Mic were Donna, Lori, Vincent, Dwain, Donald, and Anita. Ed Scutt is reading his play "LEGGS" — a play about a future dystopian America. "LEGGS" will go for about an hour until 6PM. Then, from 6PM-7PM will be Pure Kona will Norm Davis and Mike Rae. After that, from 7PM-10PM, featured poets with hosts John Roach and Ren vanMeenen. Also at 8PM, "Flying Words" with Kenny Lerner and Peter Cook.
5:45PM New bake sale item! No-bake vegan cookies! $.50!
6:00PM The play "LEGGS" has just ended. Transitioning.
6:15PM Major Tony Nelson is starting up with some poetry for the Pure Kona portion of the evening.
6:30PM Members of Take Back the Land - Rochester are presenting on their project. Take Back the Land Rochester believes that housing is a human right, not a commodity. We believe that land and housing should be controlled by the community, not the banks. In order to elevate housing to a human right and secure community control over land we defend people from foreclosure-related evictions and assist homeless people to move into vacant, bank-owned homes. In this process we are wresting land from the control of the banks and turning it back to our community in the form of community land trusts—where land can be taken off the speculative market. As long as housing occurs at the whim of the banks and the market homelessness and poverty will plague our community forever. In short, housing should be for people not for profit. That's why we're taking back the land!
6:30PM Norm Davis is up right now reading.
7:30PM John Roach is reading right now.
7:30PM Matt Shackleford is reading right now. Mike Rae is doing crazy musical stuff right now! And reading! Debra just finished reading. Ryan Cupp is reading. Many more are reading.
7:45PM Cindy Blair is to read a few poems! The Pure Kona part of the evening is almost over! Plenty of snacks still available. Come out and get some coffee and a brownie and listen to a poem or two. No cover charge! Sorry about name misspellings!
8:15PM Peter Cook is going on….
9:00PM ”Flying Words” – Kenny Lerner and Peter Cook is just about to finish. An amazing duo and spectacular story telling. A combination of ASL and interpretation combined with fab stage antics and performance. Beautiful. You missed a treat tonight!
9:15PM Ed Downey is going to be performing. John Roach is thanking performers and asking folks to hang out and get ready! Check out bigbridge.org—poet Michael Rothenberg's website who spearheaded this international poetic effort!
9:45PM Things are winding down. Ed Downey is playing a few songs on his guitar. What a great day. Thanks to all the poets and performers. Also, thanks to Michael Rothenberg and BigBridge.org for putting 100 Thousand Poets for Change together. Thanks to Paulette for putting the local stuff together. We've got coffee left—come get it! Free or donation. Don't forget to check out David Rovics next week! Flying Squirrel 285 Clarissa St.! Radical poetical lyrical song writer and acoustic guitarist. Night everyone!