LAKEPORT, Calif. – Are you a teen who likes to write? Do you want to meet other writing teens and work with a professional writer?

If so, the Lake County Library invites you to the “Word Round-up,” a writing workshop open to teens aged 12 through 18.

Richard Schmidt, Lake County’s poet laureate for 2018 to 2020, will conduct the writing workshop at the Lakeport branch of Lake County Library, located at 1425 N. High St. The workshop will meet on June 9, June 23, July 14 and July 28 from 1 to 2 p.m.

Schmidt, a longtime resident of Lake County, is Lake County's 10th poet laureate and will serve in that capacity for the next two years.

His mission is to promote literary expression, poetry and prose, in our community.

He has published a collection of short stories, a novella, a book of cowboy poetry and an anthology of writings with the Lakeside Writers Guild.

“Word Round-up” is free and all supplies will be provided, so there’s no need to bring anything except your imagination.

The Lake County Library is on the Internet at http://library.lakecountyca.gov and Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary .

Jan Cook is a technician with the Lake County Library.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – On Saturday, June 9, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., the public is invited to Fore Family Vineyards Tasting Room in Kelseyville for an opening reception of the fifth Resilience exhibit.

The exhibit includes paintings from the Resilience project’s intuitive painting, encaustic and printmaking classes.

The Resilience chapbook of poetry and images will be available to peruse and order and several poems will be read. Wine by the glass will be available for purchase along with complimentary appetizers.

The exhibit will be on view until July 1.

The Fore Family Vineyards tasting room is located at 3924 Main St. Kelseyville and is open Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Inspired by nature’s resilience as a mirror for our county’s recovery after devastating wildfires, the MAC’s Resilience project has provided opportunities for adults and teens, to reframe the fire experience, which impacted us all directly or indirectly, into creative expression and aesthetics.

More than 220 individuals ranging in age from 12 to 85, of all levels of artistic experience, have attended affordable classes in photography, creative writing, painting and printmaking once or many times since June 2017.

“It has been very exciting to hear and see people’s interested and heartfelt responses to the work in the shows we have opened thus far in Lakeport and Middletown,“ said artist and Project Director Lisa Kaplan. “In addition to the healing and enriching aspects of art-making, a key goal of our project is to weave art into daily life throughout Lake County. That’s why we’re opening Resilience project exhibits in multiple locations, and each one is different. Our chapbook called Resilience, a community reframes disaster through art, which includes powerful writings and images, is also available to preorder at the opening, at the Main Street Gallery, at MAC and online. It’s a moving and beautiful collaborative effort by participants that honors our collective recovery.”

MAC continues to spread and share the healing power of art with this new exhibit at Fore Family Vineyards tasting room.

Additional exhibits of Resilience work are on view at Main Street Gallery, Lakeport City Hall, and Lake County Courthouse.

More Resilience exhibits will soon be opening at Clearlake City Hall and at the Adventist Health Hospital Mountain View Café in Clearlake in the weeks to come. Visit middletownartcenter.org for details.

Also currently on view is “Resilience: Art In Dialogue” with Nature exhibit at the art center, which is a hybrid of the EcoArts tradition and the resilience theme. This impressive and earthy exhibit also includes selections from the Resilience project. You can see it Thursday 11-4, Friday 11-6, Saturday 10-6, and Sunday 11-4.

MAC is grateful to the California Arts Council, Adventist Health, Lake County Arts Council and other local partners, agencies and businesses for their support of Resilience and their ongoing commitment to assisting MAC in providing local, affordable, quality access to the arts and art-making.

The Middletown Art Center is located at 21456 Highway 175, at the junctions of Highway 29 in Middletown.

Visit middletownartcenter.org to learn more about the many arts, culture and community happenings at MAC including this week’s Blues Farm benefit for Hardester’s employees.

Registration for MAC’s Adventures in Art and Storytelling summer camp – a unique extravaganza of visual and performing arts for children Kindergarten through grade 9 is now in process.

Visit www.MiddletownArtCenter.org to learn more about what’s happening at MAC or sign your child up for camp. Be a part of the burgeoning arts and culture scene in south Lake County.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Coffee House Concert series is bringing well-known musician and political satirist Roy Zimmerman to Kelseyville on Friday, June 15, at 7 p.m.

Read more …

MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – Experience clean and sober fun at the first-ever substance free music festival in Northern California.

The Clean & Sober Music Fest will be held at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds on Saturday, June 9, and Sunday, June 10, from noon until 7 p.m.

Seven fantastic bands will get the crowds dancing under the summer sky. This community gathering offers picnicking and camping as well.

Concert producer and promoter Jeffery Trotter has been sober for 21 years. He was artistic director of Shakespeare at Stinson for 20 years and has long felt the need for a substance free environment for music festivals.

“It was clear that the time had come for a festival created for people who want to go out and have fun without mind or mood altering substances. We are putting on a wildly fun event where everyone can feel comfortable knowing they are with others who are also clean and sober,” he said.

The stellar line-up features musicians Stefanie Keys Band, Kevin Griffin & Laughing Buddha, Lorin Rowan’s Deep Blue Jam, The Cole Tate Band, Clean Sweep, the Bay Area’s favorite comedian, Michael Pritchard; and just added, rocker Tommy Odetto.

Michael Pritchard is a nationally acclaimed keynote speaker praised by the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Time for his ability to use humor to inspire and educate his audiences on life skills. The legendary funny man has shared the stage with Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, Dana Carvey and Whoopi Goldberg.

Tommy Odetto recorded his sophomore release, Curses and Revelations, at Studio 606, home of the Foo Fighters. The first single, “Runaway,” dropped in late March and has been featured in both Relix and Billboard magazines. A fifth-generation resident of Marin County, Odetto feels blessed to spread the power of music through Rock and Roll.

Stefanie Keys Band Indie Rock Artist Stephanie Keys, based in Northern California, toured with Big Brother & The Holding Co. for 5 years. A magnificent musician in her own right, she delivers a powerful blend of Southern Rock and 60s Rock with a deep, soulful edge.

Kevin Griffin & Laughing Buddha Musician, Buddhist author, teacher, and a leader in the mindful recovery movement, Kevin Griffin will join in for a meditation practice, talk and clean and sober jam with his band Laughing Buddha.

Lorin Rowan and Kirk Casey’s Deep Blue Jam Funky, fun and full of soul, Deep Blue Jam is a mandolin based Americana/ Rock/Reggae/Jazz/Bluzegrass/Jam Band.

The Real Sarahs Mendocino locals, this trio of women, who are all named Sarah, enjoy the magic that is created by voices in harmony, acoustic instruments, and the energetic connection between artists and audience.

The Cole Tate Band Cole Tate and his band, a long time Bay Area headliner, offer non-stop dance music with a variety of originals and covers. The music is rockin’ Americana with flavors of Blues, R&B and Country.

Clean Sweep Seasoned musicians from Lake County with an unbeatable groove of R&B, Funk, Jazz and Boogie Woogie Blues.

The Clean & Sober Music Fest is a special opportunity to celebrate the sober lifestyle surrounded by a community of substance free music fans. All fellowships are welcome. Twelve-step meetings will be held before and after the shows.

Tickets on sale at Eventbrite: $25 in advance ($30 at the gate), or $21 each for groups of 10 or more. Ages 12 and under free. Visit festival website or ticket link for camping rates and details.

For more info please call 415-578-0125 or visit www.csmusicfest.org.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Middletown’s monthly summer “Movies in the Park” event begins this week.

The movies, suitable for the whole family, are held beginning at dusk in the park in front of the Middletown Senior Center and Library, 21256 Washington St.

They are free and open to the public.

The summer movie lineup is as follows:

– Saturday, June 9: “Beauty and the Beast”;
– Saturday, July 14: “Coco.”
– Saturday, Aug. 11: “Peter Rabbit.”
– Saturday, Sept. 8: “Breaking Legs.”

For information about hosting a movie, contact Tanya Striedieck at Star Gardens Nursery, 707-987-0998.

To honor the memory of the thousands who died in Vietnam, here's a poem by Bruce Guernsey, who divides his time between Maine and Illinois, about Maya Lin's memorial in Washington, D.C.

The Wall

Someone has opened a giant map
and with the tips of our fingers,
each of us suddenly blind,
we track the black cold of this monument
for names we know
like finding a route home.

Lost here
this damp spring morning,
the cherries exploding like the fourth of July,
we wonder how many maps of Viet Nam
sold those years,
so many strange sounding places.

One of us holds a magnifying glass
to McCarroll, McMorris, McNabb,
small print in the polished stone,
the way a neighbor, say, in Neoga, Illinois
might have done, late at night
searching that faraway land on his kitchen table,

hearing again the morning paper
thump against the front door,
that boy on his bike in the dark
grown and gone—what was his name,
that kid from down the block?—
Khe Sanh, Da Nang, Hanoi.

– for PFC William "Willie" Searle


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 Bruce Guernsey, "The Wall," from From Rain: Poems 1970-2010, (Ecco Qua Press, 2012). Poem reprinted by permission of Bruce Guernsey. 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.