My alma mater, City Honors High School (where I also taught both as a sub and afterschool poet-in-residence) has been named the #4 high school in the country by Newsweek. It is a richly deserved honor, and both teachers and students share in making it so. And CHS Rugby Girl Girls are 2006 Division 1 State Champions!
For me, May 1 is the Day After Urban Epiphany, and I am wicked tired. In the end, we had exactly 100 poets reading for 6 hours straight (with one very short break). So many themes, so many styles...and today I am out of words for describing anything. It was said several times to me that Urban Epiphany is a true community event for the poets of Buffalo, and I am very proud of this, indeed.
Saturday afternoon was spent with Jennimi and aDub visiting the Grant-Ferry Association "Taste of Diversity" Fair. This area, which in recent years has become home to many Bantu people from Somalia and Ethiopia, had previously been a mostly Hispanic and Italian neighborhood. The fair offered some of the most delicious cuisine I've ever had, every bit of it made by people in the community--food from Sierra Leone, Puerto Rico, Somalia, and about 8 other countries for $1 a bowl. I had a fantastic Sambusa, and renewed hope for an Ethiopian restaurant in Western New York someday. We were also treated to dancing and singing from groups from local schools and local legend Emile "Papa" Lattimer and the African dancers with whom he has been performing over the years.
More photos here.
Happy May Day, and happy Beltane to all.
