Theresa Whitehill • Poet

Fort Bragg Library Poetry Open Mic
2022-08-04 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Fort Bragg Library Meeting Room, 499 East Laurel Street, FORT BRAGG, CA, 95437, United States
First Thursday Poetry Open Mic in Fort Bragg, CA has returned to meeting in person. You can also attend this event via Zoom.
Since the library is a crossroads and we want to reduce risk of illness, we still ask you to wear masks while you’re in the audience. Wear a sweater because we need to ventilate the room well. When you’re at podium reading poems, you won’t need a mask.
We ask that you keep your reading under 10 minutes and stick to poetry in all its variety of forms.
To receive an invitation to the Zoom reading, or for more information, contact Dan Hess, Branch Librarian (info in Organizer section below).

Teacher Positions Open with California Poets in the Schools
2022-08-01 | Online Event
California Poets in the Schools’ Poet-Teacher Independent Contractor Job Summary—Mendocino County
California Poets in the Schools (CalPoets) seeks independent contractors to work on a contract or freelance basis as Poet-Teachers in Mendocino County, specifically to work at high schools. CalPoets’ Poet-Teachers are professional writers who choose to give back to their communities as Poet-Teachers. They should have demonstrated experience in the literary arts and be passionate about teaching school-aged youth in public school settings. New CalPoets’ Poet-Teachers are paired with experienced mentors to prepare for classroom placement. This is a great opportunity for poets at all stages of their careers. Poet-Teachers achieve 1-5 teaching contracts per school year.
Poet-Teacher Independent Contractor Duties and Responsibilities
• Work with a Poet-Teacher mentor in preparation for classroom placement
• Teach poetry creation in various K-12 classrooms throughout Mendocino County
Poet-Teacher Independent Contractor Requirements and Qualifications
• Demonstrated experience in the literary arts with a clear focus on poetry
• Passionate about teaching school-aged youth in public school settings
• Able to prioritize and manage your own schedule
• Bi-lingual English/Spanish highly recommended
• Significant cross-cultural experience and understanding
• Able to do great work with minimal supervision
• Strong time-management, communication, and organizational skills
Perks/Compensation
• Receive $250 stipend upon completion of mentorship
• Earn at least $70 (all inclusive) per teaching hour, once placed in a classroom, or negotiate your own rates with schools
• Gain access to some local grant funding
• Receive assistance to establish contracts with schools and classroom teachers
• Join a professional network of California poets from throughout the state
• Gain access to CalPoets’ library of lesson plans, monthly meetings, annual conferences and professional development
To Apply:
Please send a resume, a brief cover letter, and up to five of your own poems (written or performed, links ok) to meg@cpits.org.

About California Poets in the Schools:
VISION
California Poets in the Schools’ vision is to enable youth in every California county to discover, cultivate and amplify their own creative voices through reading, analyzing, writing, performing and publishing poetry.
When students learn to express their creativity, imagination, and intellectual curiosity through poetry, it becomes a catalyst for learning core academic subjects, accelerating emotional development and supporting personal growth.
Our Poet-Teachers help students become adults who will bring compassion, understanding and appreciation for diverse perspectives to dialogue about issues which their communities face.
MISSION
California Poets in the Schools develops and empowers a multicultural network of independent Poet-Teachers, who bring the many benefits of poetry to youth throughout the state.
As a membership network we offer opportunities for professional development, peer learning and fundraising assistance for Poet-Teachers in California. We also cultivate relationships with school districts, foundations and arts organizations which can fund and support our members’ professional practices.
Visit www.calpoets.org for more info.

Summer Break, Writers Read Ukiah
2022-07-28 19:00 - 20:30 | Grace Hudson Museum Community Room, 431 South Main Street, Ukiah, CA, 95482, United States
Writers Read will be taking a summer break this month.
After an absence of two years, Writers Read is happy to announce that we are ready to resume in-person readings. We will again have events on the last Thursday (usually) of each month, beginning with March 2022. We strongly recommend that you do not attend unless fully vaccinated. Indoor masking is requested except when at the podium, which will be six feet or more from the audience.
7:00 pm: featured reader
8:00 pm: open mic
Suggested donation: $5, Refreshments provided.
For Information, contact Writers Read Ukiah MC Michael Riedell, innisfree@pacific.net

LOBA Poetry Series Open Mic on Zoom
2022-07-28 19:00 - 20:00, 2022-06-30 19:00 - 20:00, 2022-05-26 19:00 - 20:00, 2022-04-28 19:00 - 20:00 | Ukiah Branch Library, 105 North Main Street, Ukiah, CA, 95482, United States
LOBA Poetry Series Open Mic Poetry on Zoom on the last Thursdays of the month at 7 pm.
Join in to read or just listen to great poetry via the Ukiah Library!
This free event is open to both teens & adults – all are invited to share poems in any form or style.
Registration is required. Please email Melissa (she/her/they) at the Ukiah Library (details below) for the Zoom link

Melissa Elftherion-Carr Point Arena Third Thursday Poetry & Jazz - hybrid event
2022-07-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Arena Market & Café, 185 Main Street, Point Arena, CA, 95468, United States
Opens with live jazz, then featured reading with Mendocino County Poet Laureate Melissa Elftherion-Carr followed by Open Mic with live jazz accompaniment.
Point Arena Third Thursday Poetry & Jazz is supported by The Third Thursday Poetry Group, many anonymous donors, and Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.
To receive an invitation to the Zoom reading, or for more information, contact Blake More (info below).

Rhythm Running River on KZYX Public Radio
2022-07-17 15:00 - 17:00, 2022-07-03 15:00 - 16:00, 2022-06-19 15:00 - 17:00, 2022-05-15 15:00 - 17:00, 2022-05-01 15:00 - 16:00 | KZYX & Z, 88.1, 90.7, & 91.5 FM, 9300 HWY 128, Philo, CA, 95466, United States
Rhythm Running River poetry programming every 1st Sunday from 3 to 4 pm and every 3rd Sunday 3 to 5 pm on KZYX&Z Public Radio, 90.7, 91.5, and 88.1 FM with host Dan Roberts.
For playlists, visit Rhythm Running River on Out Far Press. Stream the audio here.

Theresa Whitehill & Georgina Marie Guardado
2022-07-09 19:00 - 22:00 | Starlight Lounge, Willits Community Theatre, 37 W Van Lane, Willits, CA, 95490, United States
Theresa Whitehill & Georgina Marie Guardado
Poetry at the Willits Playhouse Starlight Lounge
Local poets Theresa Whitehill and Georgina Marie Guardado are featured readers at Starlight Lounge, a bi-monthly poetry series at the Willits Community Theatre.
California poet, letterpress printer, and broadside artist Theresa Whitehill served as Poet Laureate for the city of Ukiah from 2009 through 2011 and has been involved her entire career in the production of poetry readings and literary events. In January of 2022 her poetry letterpress broadsides were featured in an exhibit at Partners Gallery in Mendocino, part of a coast-wide book arts festival instigated by Whitehill and her two co-exhibitors, Felicia Rice and Zida Borcich. She is currently working on Heavy Lifting, a collaborative artist’s book publication with Felicia Rice of Moving Parts Press, forthcoming in December 2022.
Georgina Marie is the Poet Laureate of Lake County for 2020-2024, a Poets Laureate Fellow with the Academy of American Poets, and the Literacy Program Coordinator or the Lake County Library. She is the Literary Coordinator for the Lake County Arts Council, Poet in Residence for The Bloom, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference. Her work has appeared in The Bloom, Noyo Review, Poets.org, Humble Pie Magazine, and Yellow Medicine Review.
An open reading will be held after the featured readers have read. Entry into the reading is by donation and no one will be turned away from lack of funds. The wearing of facial coverings by the audience is recommended.

Fort Bragg Library Poetry Open Mic
2022-07-07 18:00 - 20:00, 2022-06-02 18:00 - 20:00, 2022-05-05 18:00 - 20:00 | Fort Bragg Library Meeting Room, 499 East Laurel Street, FORT BRAGG, CA, 95437, United States
First Thursday Poetry Open Mic in Fort Bragg, CA has returned to meeting in person. Since the library is a crossroads and we want to reduce risk of illness, we still ask you to wear masks while you’re in the audience. Wear a sweater because we need to ventilate the room well. When you’re at podium reading poems, you won’t need a mask.
We ask that you keep your reading under 10 minutes and stick to poetry in all its variety of forms.
For more information, contact Dan Hess, Branch Librarian (info below).

Deadline for Registration: Poetry Postcard Fest (PoPo) 2022
2022-07-04 | Online Event
Poetry Postcard Fest 2022
Poetry Postcard Fest, or PoPo for short, is an international annual literary event produced by Cascadia Poetics Lab out of Seattle, in which people sign up to send 31 original poems on postcards to folks on a participation list before the end of August (31 poems because originally it was set up to send a poem/postcard a day for the month of August; it has since expanded to allow sending of poetry postcards anytime after receiving a list of postcard recipients after registering. The Fest was initiated in 2007 by poets Paul Nelson and Lana Ayers, and has grown to include poets participating worldwide. Registration deadline for 2022 is July 4.
A little background as to why this is appearing on my poetry events calendar for Mendocino: Mendocino poet Theresa Whitehill has been involved with Cascadia Poetics Lab since 2019, when Paul Nelson came to Mendocino County to interview Mary Norbert Korte for his American Prophets series. Whitehill is currently working on a regional literary anthology, Cascadian Zen, forthcoming in spring of 2023: https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/2021/08/cascadian-zen-2/
For links to Nelson’s American Prophets interviews, include that of Mary: https://paulenelson.com/american-prophets-interviews/
Funds raised through PoPo benefit Cascadia Poetics Lab
To find out more: https://ppf.cascadiapoeticslab.org/how-it-works/
To register: https://ppf.cascadiapoeticslab.org/register/

Annette Makino, Writers Read Ukiah
2022-06-23 19:00 - 20:30 | Grace Hudson Museum Community Room, 431 South Main Street, Ukiah, CA, 95482, United States
After an absence of two years, Writers Read is happy to announce that we are ready to resume in-person readings. We will again have events on the last Thursday (usually) of each month, beginning with March 2022. We strongly recommend that you do not attend unless fully vaccinated. Indoor masking is requested except when at the podium, which will be six feet or more from the audience. NOTE: this month’s event takes place on the 4th rather than last Thursday.
7:00 pm: featured reader
8:00 pm: open mic
Suggested donation: $5, Refreshments provided.
For Information, contact Writers Read Ukiah MC Michael Riedell, innisfree@pacific.net

Diane Frank Point Arena Third Thursday Poetry & Jazz - hybrid event
2022-06-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Arena Market & Café, 185 Main Street, Point Arena, CA, 95468, United States
Opens with live jazz, then featured reading with Poet Diane Frank followed by Open Mic with live jazz accompaniment.
Point Arena Third Thursday Poetry & Jazz is supported by The Third Thursday Poetry Group, many anonymous donors, and Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.
To receive an invitation to the Zoom reading, or for more information, contact Blake More (info below).

Rhythm Running River on KZYX Public Radio
2022-06-05 15:00 - 16:00 | KZYX & Z, 88.1, 90.7, & 91.5 FM, 9300 HWY 128, Philo, CA, 95466, United States
Rhythm Running River poetry programming every 1st Sunday from 3 to 4 pm and every 3rd Sunday 3 to 5 pm on KZYX&Z Public Radio, 90.7, 91.5, and 88.1 FM with host Dan Roberts. Dan will be playing recordings from this year’s Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration.
For playlists, visit Rhythm Running River on Out Far Press. Stream the audio here.

Michael Riedell, Writers Read Ukiah
2022-05-26 19:00 - 20:30 | Grace Hudson Museum Community Room, 431 South Main Street, Ukiah, CA, 95482, United States
After an absence of two years, Writers Read is happy to announce that we are ready to resume in-person readings. We will again have events on the last Thursday (usually) of each month, beginning with March 2022. We strongly recommend that you do not attend unless fully vaccinated. Indoor masking is requested except when at the podium, which will be six feet or more from the audience.
7:00 pm: featured reader
8:00 pm: open mic
Suggested donation: $5, Refreshments provided.
For Information, contact Writers Read Ukiah MC Michael Riedell, innisfree@pacific.net

Kirk Lumpkin & David Partch: Starlight Lounge
2022-05-21 19:00 - 22:00 | Starlight Lounge, Willits Community Theatre, 37 W Van Lane, Willits, CA, 95490, United States
Kirk Lumpkin & David Partch
Poetry at the Playhouse
Local poets Kirk Lumpkin and David Partch are featured readers at Starlight Lounge, a bi-monthly poetry series at the Willits Community Theatre.
An open reading will be held after the featured readers have read. Entry into the reading is by donation and no one will be turned away from lack of funds. Audience members must show proof of vaccination upon entry and the wearing of facial coverings by the audience is recommended.
Video of this event can be seen here: https://youtu.be/fd1TPbCcVT4

2022 Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration Submissions Deadline
2022-05-20 23:59 | KZYX & Z, 88.1, 90.7, & 91.5 FM, 9300 HWY 128, Philo, CA, 95466, United States
2022 Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration – 47th Anniversary, 17th Consecutive Revival
Deadline for Submissions: Friday, May 20, 2022
Submit up to four minutes of you reading your poetry in an audio file to Dan Roberts via email: outfarpress@saber.net and copy Gordon Black: gblack@mcn.org. Use your smartphone audio recording app, then attach the audio file generated to an email. Submissions to be broadcast on Dan Roberts’ Rhythm Running River show, KZYX Radio, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, June 2022
From Dan Roberts:
IT IS AS EASY AS SENDING A PHOTO IN AN EMAIL, REALLY!
If you do not have a smartphone, you will need to borrow one for an hour. Sincerely, the process is easy. The tricks are being in a quiet room, how you hold the phone relative to your mouth, and not moving your hand on the phone while recording (find a place where you can set the phone a foot away from your mouth without hands is best.). The other trick is to make a recording, listen to it and see where it could be better, and repeat. Then simply email it.
Most laptop computers also have built-in mics and the ability to record, that too is an option, but for most people a smartphone will be simpler and sound better. If you have a problem with the process, ask a techie friend or anyone under 30–they would love to help.
With iPhone, open app Voice Memo; with Android, open Voice Recorder. (More info further below*)
Please speak in this order: your name, and then the title, at the beginning of the poem. Within the app there is a choice to email the recording, that’s it!
The RULES – submissions must be no longer than 4 minutes! (You can see the exact length after you record it). This could be a combination of several shorter poems or just one. Avoid the 7 deadly words so that I can broadcast your work without the Puritans at the FCC pretending that they will torch the radio station in the name of decency.
Email the audio files to both Dan Roberts – outfarpress@saber.net and Gordon Black – gblack@mcn.org
DEADLINE. Please get them to Dan and Gordon by Friday, May 20, 2022
——————–
*INSTRUCTIONS FOR iPHONES-
iPhones (Apple) The Voice Memos app is often overlooked, but it offers by far the simplest way to record audio from the iPhone microphone, here’s how it works:
• Open the “Voice Memos” app located on the iPhone.
• Tap the red record button to start recording the voice or audio, when finished tap again on the same button to stop recording.
How do I record audio on my iPhone?
On iOS, the built-in Voice Memo app can capture perfectly fine audio, and you can improve it even further—just not within the app itself. Instead, head to Settings > Voice Memos > Audio Quality and change the quality to Lossless.
Read this: https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/share-a-recording-ipad83364e1f/ipados
——————–
INSTRUCTIONS FOR ANDROID PHONES (All but Apple)
On Android phones open the Voice Recorder and do the same thing. You can send the mp3 right from that app.
Read this-
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-record-audio-on-android

Dan Brady Point Arena Third Thursday Poetry & Jazz - hybrid event
2022-05-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Arena Market & Café, 185 Main Street, Point Arena, CA, 95468, United States
Opens with live jazz, then featured reading with SF Poet Dan Brady followed by Open Mic with live jazz accompaniment.
Point Arena Third Thursday Poetry & Jazz is supported by The Third Thursday Poetry Group, many anonymous donors, and Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.
To receive an invitation to the Zoom reading, or for more information, contact Blake More (info below).

California Youth Poets Laureate Virtual Reading
2022-05-18 18:00 - 20:00 | Online Event
The National Youth Poet Laureate Program is hosting a reading of all California-based Youth Poet Laureates on Wednesday, May 18, 6pm – on Zoom. They are inviting current as well as last year’s Youth Poets Laureate to perform 1-2 poems. The California Youth Poets Laureate (the program is only two years old); the reading includes our Mendocino County Youth Poet Laureate Sidney Regelbrugge. The National YPL program is sponsored by Urban Word and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program, as well as state partners California Poets in the Schools & Bill Graham Presents, and county partners Mendocino County Office of Education and the Arts Council of Mendocino County.
Here is the final lineup—which is incredible:
Ella Wen, Sonoma County Youth Poet Laureate
Zoya Ahmed, 2020-2021 Sonoma County Youth Poet Laureate
Zoe Dorado, Alameda County Youth Poet Laureate
Anna Yang, Santa Clara Youth Poet Laureate
Genesis Perez, Ventura County Youth Poet Laureate
Madeleine Hur , 2021-22 Daly City Youth Poet Laureate
Chloe Chou , 2022-23 Daly City Youth Poet Laureate
Tina Mai, Orange County Poet Laureate
Sidney Regelbrugge, Mendocino County Youth Poet Laureate
Adriana Avalos, Richmond Youth Poet Laureate
Madeline Miller, Santa Barbara Youth Poet Laureate

Kundai Chikowero, Santa Barbara County Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador
To register to receive a Zoom invite, go to https://www.beyondbaroque.org/

2022 ukiaHaiku Festival
2022-05-15 14:00 - 16:00 | Online Event
Haiku revival:
Famed fest returns for retrospection and renewal
by Roberta Werdinger
In 2002, a group of poets and poetry lovers in Ukiah, noting that their city’s name was “haiku” spelled backwards, decided to hold a festival. Starting with Armand Brint, Ukiah’s first Poet Laureate, as its guiding spirit, the festival grew and flourished throughout the years, becoming internationally known. Now the event returns, in time for its 20-year anniversary, in an in-person celebration on Sunday, May 15, from 2 to 4 p.m., in the Public Room and Wild Gardens at the Grace Hudson Museum.
The ukiaHaiku Festival was in quarantine the first year of the pandemic and appeared only in virtual form the year after, but haiku itself and its many writers and fans emerged intact. As people picked themselves up and dusted themselves off from the strains and separations of the COVID-19 pandemic era, this new form of the ukiaHaiku Fest was dreamed up. The organizers decided not to hold a contest this year, but to treat the event as a retrospective celebration, with former and current Poets Laureate reading their favorite selections from both adult and youth categories, as well as adding one of their own. An open mic reading will follow, with sign-ups starting at 2 p.m. (Children and young adults are invited to attend and read, and bilingual haiku is welcome.) Shakuhachi flute, an ancient Japanese musical form, will be performed by Ron Nadeau. Entertainment from SPACE, Higher Ground, and the Haikuleles (AKA the Uke Tones) will be provided. An arts & crafts booth, a special presentation by award-winning haiku poet and artist Annette Makino, and energetic MCing from former Poet Laureate Michael Riedell completes the picture.
The late and much-loved Susan Sparrow, a key organizer of earlier UkiaHaiku Fests and other local literary events, saw the festival as “uniquely Ukiahan.” Brint, also an award-winning haiku poet, comments: “In many ways, this 20th anniversary celebration is a tribute to internationally acclaimed haiku author and Mendocino Coast resident Jane Reichhold (1937-2016). Jane served as an unofficial mentor to the festival, and also judged the International category of haiku submissions. It’s thanks to Jane that local organizers, judges and many participants learned the finer points of haiku.”
A haiku is a three-line poem that captures a fleeting moment and a quiet impression which can often go unremarked on in our busy lives. The poems resemble little word blossoms, compact and bursting with life. Originating in Japan, haiku draw attention to the passing seasons and to everyday human encounters without comment or embellishment. “Think of it as a mental snapshot, as seeing the haiku moment in your mind,” Dan Barth, another former Poet Laureate of Ukiah, explains. Traditionally written in a 17-syllable format of 5-7-5, the haiku form has been stretched and reinterpreted in recent times as it enters new countries, languages, and situations.
To find out more, email carrm@mendocinocounty.org or visit the ukiaHaiku website at http://ukiahaiku.org.
Masking and social distancing at this event is recommended. Part of the Festival will be held outside to facilitate this.
The 20th anniversary ukiaHaiku Fest is sponsored by the City of Ukiah.

Finding Light in Dark Places with Armand Brint
2022-05-01 11:00 - 14:00 | Maple Street, 809 Maple St, Ukiah, CA, 95482, United States
Armand Brint will read poems and lead discussions related to “Finding Light in Dark Places” by creating poetry. Local artist and educator Suni Robin will help participants translate grief, loss and other “mental health” challenges into therapeutic art.
RSVP to Suni at 707 671-2765. Limit 20 people (small donation suggested). BYO sack lunch/beverage.

Stephen Kessler, Writers Read Ukiah
2022-04-28 19:00 - 20:30 | Grace Hudson Museum Community Room, 431 South Main Street, Ukiah, CA, 95482, United States

Virtual Point Arena Third Thursday Poetry
2022-04-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Online Event
7 pm featured reading by a poet to be announced, followed by open mic poetry via Zoom video conference.
Virtual Point Arena Third Thursday Poetry is supported by The Third Thursday Poetry Group, many anonymous donors, and Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.
To receive an invitation to the Zoom reading, or for more information, contact Blake More (info below).
