Category Archives: Uncategorized

Of Writers and Warriors

Are we still not allowed to call this a recession? Last week, the giant NUMMI car factory closed down in nearby Fremont (30 minutes south of Oakland). Just like that, the last auto plant in California and only unionized Toyota factory in the country was gone. 5,000 jobs just at…

My Students are Superheroes

It’s true. This Saturday is the 14th annual Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam Finals…and it’s gonna be beautiful. I’ve seen almost all of the finalist poets, and this year’s crew is NO JOKE. Serious writers, amazing performers. If you come, you will laugh. Hard. You will cry. Hard. This show…

Jon Stewart is to Glenn Beck as Progressives are to…Lying Aryans?

After years of saying that “Jon Stewart is the best thing on television (after five hours of Sportscenter, of course),” I’ve recently come around to the theory that Stephen Colbert’s show is actually better. At least consistently. I think that’s because Stewart is naturally funnier, and so he falls back…

The Madness of March

The middle of March is here, which means that two of the greatest tournaments in America are currently under way: the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and the slightly less known but no less competitive Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam . At Youth Speaks, we say “the point is not the…

Big and Beautiful – My Official, Unbiased Review of "Mirrors In Every Corner"

If I was going to sum up Chinaka Hodge’s new play “Mirrors In Every Corner” currently playing at Intersection for the Arts in one word, I’d say “ambitious.” I mean that in the best sense, in that “Mirrors” is brave and dares to touch on some of the biggest issues…