What makes art successful? By “successful,” I don’t mean it is just aesthetically pleasing. I don’t mean it brings in a crowd, or pushes the edge of what’s posssible, or moves people to action. I mean ALL OF THAT. And more. There isn’t much art that achieves that type of…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k4pWkZm7ps&hl=en_US&fs=1] It’s three days after the verdict, and Oakland is quiet. People are at church, or watching the World Cup finals — which, for some people, is the same thing. The streets of downtown are eerily calm, a concrete island after the storm. Or maybe before another one arrives. I’m…

Here in Oakland, we are anxiously awaiting the verdict in the trial of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle’s murder of the unarmed Oscar Grant. The murder, which was captured on video by bystanders and seen on Youtube by millions of people, sparked massive protests and militant actions around Oakland…

My homie & number-one-all-time poetry collaborator/motivator/instigator of the greatest collective of all time, The Last Minute Poets (born, Genna’s Lounge, Madison, WI, 2005; died, when Tracie and Guante left us for Philly and Minneapolis, respectively, 2007)…is the one and only Eric Mata. That’s my man who I was on my…