Taming Emotions and the Beast

Saturday found me with older daughter in the iconic Grand Lakes Theater here in Oakland. I’d never been inside, only seen its imposing curved corner presence while driving by, or from a the Saturday Farmers Market across the street. It houses a truly grand pipe organ, ornate columns, and plush old seats - just right for viewing Inside Out, Pixar’s new flick about emotions.

We went to preview it with the six year old in mind who features prominently in our hearts. While we concurred that the film is not right for her yet, it offers a useful springboard for jumping into conversations about emotion.

Daughter and I found it to be a three hankie event, and were so glad to have seen it together. Any
time spent with her is golden time, for me!

After the film, we drove to one of the venues hosting BEAST CRAWL. What’s that? Lit Crawl, Lit Quake, and Beast Crawl offer readings and open mic opportunities for writers to share their work. In Oakland they call it Beast, which in Pig-Latin, of course, is East Bay.

We heard some wonderful works shared, and doubled our exposure by each of us going to different venues of the thirty offered over the course of five hours, hosting one hundred and fifty authors. We compared notes Sunday.

At my first venue, Sweet Bar Bakery, I met two of my writing buddies for readings from a group called Bay Area Generations, which pairs two writers of different generations who read somewhat on a theme. Funny and fine readers included: Colleen McKee & Jon Sindell; Eileen Malone & Kathleen McKlung, who is going to lead a writer’s workshop at my home later in July; and Nina Serrano & Garrett Murphy. We enjoyed wonderful music from Stella Peach, who played violin with the new technology I first heard used by Wah! at Shakti Fest, and Lisa Fischer, most recently, at Kate Wolf Festival. It allows the musician to sing/play with her/himself by way of recording and playing back the loop.

At the second venue, The Beer Garden on Telegraph, my most memorable readers were Peter Bullen, who does a stream of consciousness flow that is so in the moment, you can’t believe he’s reading it from the page. The dude only began writing when he was 49 - a couple decades ago. Think Kerouac, but sober. (Maybe.) His work may be found at  WETRIEDOURBEST.WORDPRESS.COM

Then there was Maisha. This woman is eloquent. I want to keep track of her skyrocket to success! This is from the program: Maisha Z. Johnson is an Oakland-based writer and activist of Trinidadian descent. She writes poetry, fiction, and essays, and works at the intersections of the arts, healing, and social change. Maisha has an MFA in Poetry from Pacific University and she is the author of No Parachutes to Carry Me Home (Punk Hostage Press 2015), Through Your Own Words: 51 Writing Prompts for Healing and Self-Care(Inkblot Arts 2014), and three poetry chapbooks. Her work has been published in numerous journals and nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize, and she writes for online publications including Black Girl Dangerous and Everyday Feminism. Visit her at www.inkblotarts.org.


At the third venue I visited were readings from published authors Joshua Mohr, Ethel Rohan, Janis Cooke Newman, founder of Lit Camp, which I plan to submit for this year, and a recent Lit Camp attendee, Morgan Davis. Truly, an inspiring group reading from beautifully rendered texts.

Sigh… my work is cut out for me. Butt in chair, fingers poised over keyboard, ready set...

I think I’ll take a nap, now…