Poet Perry Nicholas and singer/songwriter Maria Sebastian are a couple whose partnership illustrates the prolific relationship between words and music. Join us for an intimate house concert/reading, where they'll each perform sets, alone and together, inspired by the other. While they cast their lyrical spell we’ll enjoy a communal indoor/outdoor picnic ~ please bring along your favorite dish to share! Afterward, those who would like to linger will gather by the firepit and share poems, songs, and stories of our own.

"We shall not wilt. Let a thousand flowers bloom." — Abbie Hoffman, Workshop in Nonviolence, May 1967

The expression "flower power" was coined by the American beat poet Allen Ginsberg as a way to re-visualize war protests into peaceful affirmative spectacles. Like seeds of flowers, war contains within it all life compressed. Because human beings are fragile in the face of it, time seems to stop. The immediate moment can seem like a year. All that we love becomes more precious even as we are numbed by violent circumstances.

Though war has not gone away despite exhortations of the peaceful, when the lens is brought close to the particulars of a soldier, veteran, or involved civilian’s life, we may see truth and beauty in small daily things, little gems that reflect the whole, a fly’s eye of brilliant perception.

Giving voice to written work can add layers of meaning while specifying our intent and charging the inky symbols on the page with emotional and intellectual substance.  Recitation is an art and in this five-hour workshop participants will work with award-winning performance poet, storyteller, and educator David Gonzalez to hone the skills needed to enliven the written page for the performance stage. 

Play and experiment with art techniques; process thoughts and feelings; document your life! Art journals combine images and words to express a thought, feeling, or idea, manifesting into your own personal journey of creative expressionism. An Earth Day event.