The California Arts Council announced its plans to award $22,500 to the California Alliance for Arts Education as part of its Statewide and Regional Networks program.

The Statewide and Regional Networks program is rooted in the California Arts Council’s commitment to supporting arts service organizations reflective of California’s diverse populations.

The program provides general operating grants for arts service organization networks with regional or statewide reach.

Arts service organizations serve as networks to provide specialized, practical services for artists, arts organizations, and cultural communities.

The California Alliance for Arts Education is the only statewide organization that brings together all primary constituencies for arts education including arts organizations, K-12 teachers, professional teacher associations, state and local education departments, professional development providers, parents, PTAs, and interested community members in higher education and business.

The alliance works to advance a statewide arts agenda through both policy and advocacy work at the state level, as well as through targeted efforts in local communities across California.

“This California Arts Council grant allows us to grow programs such as our Arts Now Campaign, where we host a series of events that spotlight districts and counties that are successfully returning robust arts programs to their schools,” said Joe Landon, executive director of the California Alliance for Arts Education. “We reach out to school and community leaders in surrounding districts, counties, and regions to bring them to an event. At the event, we educate attendees about advocacy practices and afterward engage them in the work through our suite of tools and programs.”

The California Alliance for Arts Education is one of 43 grantees chosen for the Statewide and Regional Networks program. The award was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council.

“Our Statewide and Regional Network grantees have their finger on the pulse of their communities,” said Nashormeh Lindo, chair of the California Arts Council. “The California Alliance for Arts Education is part of a passionate group of arts service organizations whose tireless efforts keep the creative heart of California healthy and thriving.”

A complete listing of all Statewide and Regional Network grantees can be viewed at http://arts.ca.gov/programs/files/FY1718_ProjectDescriptions_SRN.pdf.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Jesse and Bosco, a new book by Lakeport author Irene Bergmen, illustrated by Patricia Bergmen, has been released by Dorrance Publishing Co. Inc.

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If God is in the details, well, so is love.

What makes this poem by Susanna Lang feel fresh and new are the specific details of not only one love, but of one morning, and of even a few specific moments in that one morning.

Susanna Lang lives in Chicago, and this poem is from her new book, “Travel Notes from the River Styx,” from Terrapin Books.

After You Get Up Early on Memorial Day

You take the cats out with you, shut
the door: I have the whole wide bed, all
the covers to fall back asleep in, while you
cut up and sugar the strawberries, grind
the coffee, leave the radio off
so I won't be disturbed. The room is still
dark, rain forecast for the entire day,
other people's family picnics cancelled,
barbecues moved into basements, parades
rerouted to avoid flooded viaducts, the iris
losing petals beside newly cleaned graves,
their mason jars spilt into the saturated ground.
But here is my holiday, this drift back beneath thought
while I lie in the warm impression of your body.

American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2017 by Susanna Lang,  "After You Get Up Early on Memorial Day, "from Travel Notes from the River Styx, (Terrapin Books, 2017). Poem reprinted by permission of Susanna Lang and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2018 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Ben Rosenblum Jazz Trio, led by an award-winning Juilliard-trained jazz pianist, is slated to perform at the Soper Reese Theatre at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 17.

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SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (Rated PG-13)

Cynics might view the latest “Star Wars” chapter, based on the characters created by George Lucas, to be another big payday for the franchise now in the hands of Disney, but “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” focused on a young Han Solo, is likely to be a crowd-pleaser.

That Alden Ehrenreich as Han has no tangible physical similarity to a younger version of Harrison Ford, a beloved figure who could not easily be substituted by another actor, is relatively immaterial given that he plays the role with a familiar cocky swagger and self-confidence.

When we first meet Han he is a street urchin living in the intolerably totalitarian state of servitude to the hideous Lady Proxima (voiced by Linda Hunt) running a slave labor camp on the desolate industrial planet of Corellia.

Self-assured enough to believe that he can pilot any purloined vessel, Han boldly attempts an escape in an exciting levitated speeder chase in the company of his girlfriend Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke). Circumstances conspire to foil their mutual flight.

Eluding the stormtroopers on his own, Han finds his only viable option to flee is to join the Imperial Army. Talking his way off the hellish Corellia, there’s a nice tidbit about how Han the street person gets his last name courtesy of military enlistment.

Vowing to become a pilot so that he may return one day to rescue Qi’ra, Han’s scheme is delayed for about three years while serving as an infantry soldier for the Empire, fighting a senseless battle that looks doomed to failure.

This reluctant call to duty causes him to fall in with dodgy officer Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and his partner Val (Thandie Newton), who are running a band of smugglers planning a heist of a highly volatile super fuel known as coaxium.

Before “Solo” kicks into the high gear of a heist caper on a dangerous mission of a train robbery in a snowy mountain pass, Han meets his soon-to-be lifelong friend and co-pilot Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) under a less than desirable situation fraught with menace.

While Han is a maverick scoundrel with a good heart, he and Chewbacca, demonstrating impressive skills, are recruited into illicit activity by the temperamental Beckett for the sole purpose of repaying debts to the odious Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany).

What Han wants more than anything is to own an airship and he figures that his share of the coaxium bounty will allow him to fulfill his dream and return to Corellia. As often happens with a criminal scheme, things just don’t work out as planned.

Getting on the wrong side of Dryden Vos leads to some surprises on his space yacht filled with the beautiful people, one of whom turns out to be Qi’ra, now elegantly dressed as the second-in-command to Vos, much to Han’s dismay.

In many respects, “Solo” has the feel of a classic Western, where Han has a gun strapped to his hip as if he were about to engage in a High Noon showdown. Han’s swagger comes naturally when he struts into a tavern with the look of a gunfighter.

That Western appearance is vividly on display when Han saunters into a saloon at Fort Yspo and ends up in a rigged card game with notorious gambler Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) before returning later for a bet in which he wins the coveted Millennium Falcon.

With the help of Lando’s cruiser, Han convinces Vos that his compatriots should live to see another day if they can steal raw coaxium on the mining planet of Kessel and getting it refined on Savareen while on the way to completing this dangerous mission.

As a reluctant partner, Lando exudes mystery as the suave rogue who has a great sense of humor in his scheming persona. The mission introduces his robot pilot L3-37 (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge), a greatly memorable character, among a few, in this science-fiction canon.

What might be missing for many aficionados of the franchise is that there is no truly villainous character of any stature like Darth Vader or even Supreme Leader Snoke. We have to satisfy ourselves with Lady Proxima and Dryden Vos, neither of which is all that remarkable.

It may not matter much to “Star Wars” fans to note that “Solo” was a troubled production, rescued by director Ron Howard who had to redo most of the film when the producers fired the pair of original directors in mid-shoot for being too loose with the essential elements.

To Howard’s credit, the dangerous escapades for Han, Chewbacca and assorted allies are filled with endless twists and turns, insidious betrayals, forceful showdowns, and close calls where many scenes are one cliffhanger after another.

“Solo: A Star Wars Story,” surviving bumps in the road during filming, turns out to be a credit to the franchise. The fully-developed origin story for Han and Chewbacca works well in the backdrop of relentless excitement that undergirds the slick thrills of non-stop action.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The delightful 1964 romantic comedy, “Father Goose,” starring Cary Grant and Leslie Caron, screens at the Soper Reese Theatre on Tuesday, June 26, at 1 and 6 p.m.

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