Author: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

This author has written 2012 articles
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

MATEO DE ORIKENO

Mateo de Orikeno’s tall, slender body hovers several hands above the smoothly-packed dirt floor, hazel eyes focused on the pulsing ball of light in his right hand as he tells the tale. “The chief of the land of the dead thought it over for a long time,” he says. The ball of light, an effervescent crackle casting flickering shadows across Mateo’s smooth, unlined face, pulses in sync with his voice – a deep, soothing baritone inherited, like all of his talents, from his mother’s Oniat blood. Recanting the sacred myths of her people, he manipulates the ball of light into…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Teaching in the Bronx, but no MFA!

Had the pleasure of doing a reading/Q&A at the Riverdale Neighborhood House last night for a group of teens from a workshop run by Corie Feiner (fka Corie Herman) as part of a residency she's had since 2000, thanks to Poets & Writers. One of the coolest gigs I could imagine, teaching kids writing in the Bronx. The RNH is a great setup, too, offering various after-school opportunities for local kids, many of whom aren't from Riverdale but from Marble Hill and Kingsbridge. Hope something like that is available when Isaac and India get older. Got a jar of teen-made…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Everyone’s waiting for someone else to stand up…

I can't believe how pissed I am over this whole political thing! Like throw-your-hands-in-the-air kind of fed up and I can't get it off my mind! While I can understand the apathy to some degree, I can't understand how people don't see that apathy is the very reason nothing will change. It's like everyone's waiting for someone else to stand up and do something so they can follow. And when someone DOES stand up, they laugh them off as a dreamer, or unpatriotic, or a wasted vote. That thing I alluded to yesterday, where I said I'd admit to being…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

WARNING: Today this journal lives up to its name. Grrr... Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. -George Bernard Shaw So Proposal #3 was soundly defeated yesterday, 70-30%, and all 49 of the City Council incumbents were re-elected, most facing token opposition at best, leaving Democrats jumping for joy as their stranglehold on the City's political system continues as, of the 51 total districts, 47 are headed by Democrats! For all the supposed discontent with Bloomberg and the job he's done as Mayor, it's the City Council that approves the vast majority…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Rock the Vote Debate

After a promising start, the Rock the Vote debate petered out into yet another convoluted forum where, not unlike slam, cliched soundbites won out over depth and I suspect anybody that is even moderately aware of the candidates walked away not really hearing anything new and, more unfortunately, not seeing enough to sway them in, or away from, any particular direction. Hopefully for anyone tuning in for the first time, it spurred them into getting more information. I agree with Kerry's wife that they're not the ideal way to do it but, at the same time, I think it's too…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Rolling Stone on Kucinich

From the "Maybe there's hope" file, there's a great Kucinich profile/interview in the latest Rolling Stone: Your candidacy seems to be built on the idea that the people are looking for another New Deal-type program. But the New Deal didn't happen until the country was mired in a depression. Do you think things have really gotten that bad now? When you consider that most Americans are maxed out on their credit cards, when you consider that most Americans are no longer guaranteed employment security, when you consider how many pension funds are going belly up, when you look at the…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

From the "No wonder people don't bother" file: Went to vote this morning and realized that it's the first time I'm voting IN New York City. I've voted absentee while in the Army, in New Jersey while living there, and even in Virginia last year, where I was impressed by their hi-tech setup. My polling place for today was a beat-up warehouse of a church manned primarily by what appeared to be beneficiaries of their Meals On Wheels program. Seriously. Other than the three college-age kids helping out, there wasn't a volunteer there under the age of 70. I'm just…

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