"Keep your practice. Be your full, complete, authentic self" - Danielle Brazell, Ex. Dir. California Arts Council

September was filled with a surprising harvest of Fall gatherings and Tangled Roots Writing offerings.

September 5th I led a workshop at the Truckee Library that is Free once a month, writing stories of our lives with guidance and prompts. Our next workshop meets 11/14 from 10:30-noon and all ages are welcome to join us.

On September 7th I attended the Sierra Arts Literary Community meeting which happens every second Sunday of the month at the Sierra Arts Gallery on S Virginia St in Reno. This is a chance to network and learn and find encouragement from other local writers and authors. 

On Sept. 8th the Fall Monday night creative writing workshop series began, running 6 weeks through Oct. 13. The next 6 week series begins on Oct. 20 and enrollment is now open. This is my longest running generative writing workshop for all genres and levels of experience.

September 12 kicked off the artists' reception at The Holland Project for the Nevada Humanities Reno Literary Pub Crawl. So fun - I'm inspired by so many of these writers and having the opportunity to gather was a blast.

Later that evening, I attended the Dark Skies Photo Award Ceremony at the Truckee Hospital. I read and presented a framed copy of "Cento: Tahoe Stars" poem to the mayors of Nevada City and Truckee. 

Saturday morning, Sept 13, Alexis Cota, our new Truckee Cultural District Intern and I drove down to Mountain Bounty Farm in Nevada City. I led a reading and writing workshop in a circle of hay bales beneath a centuries old Oak tree with Ingrid Keriotis and Rooja Mohassessy.  We listened and wrote poems while gazing out at the sun glinting off ready-for-picking red peppers, corn, purple kale, and lush green rows of many vegetables and bright flowers.

That afternoon I somehow made it down to Reno to perform in the Literary Crawl at 1864 on California Ave to read along with Jillian Makhouts and Tony Berendson for an appreciative crowd of poetry-lovers. I love all the work of Nevada Humanities - performing and sharing my poems in that event felt welcoming, like I was in my tribe with others who value the deep thinking and feeling that writing and reading involve. 

 Truckee threw it's first Block Party on Thursday evening, Sept 18 by the train depot. Almost 50 booths, food trucks, stage performances of dance and music by local kids and bands, and a poem reading with myself and Alexis. Alexis translated one of my poems into Spanish and you can watch the video of our performance here. 

Sierra Valley north of Truckee holds wide golden vistas, old cemeteries within pine knolls, cows and raptors, and farms, artists, and barns angling against blue sky. On Sept 20 Kurt and I traveled the Ag and Art Trail through the countryside visiting Gary Romano's farmers market and several other farms. Hosted in a local barn that evening was a paella and bluegrass gathering - a magical performance. Our communities are rich.

The Business of Art Symposium on Sept 25, hosted on the Sierra College Grass Valley campus, was a full day of workshops, talks, and panels. I moderated a panel on Literary arts as a sustainable career path. The  wide-ranging conversation between Dean Rader, Mary Volmer, and Leta Seletzky pondered how to face challenges today of cuts to funding, political animosity, and loss of perceived value in the Humanities. 

The keynote speaker at the Symposium summed up this month's events for me with her clarity of purpose. Danielle Brazell is the Executive Director of the California Arts Council. She asked the audience three questions:

1. What are you working towards?
2. What are your barriers?
3. What are potential opportunities or hidden silver linings? 

Her closing advice was: "Keep your practice. Be your full, complete, authentic self. Artists have the Imagination"