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Arts & Life
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- Written by: Editor
The workshop will be presented by the award-winning garden and landscape photographer, Saxon Holt, and will be held on opening day of the Show, Thursday, April 7, at 5 p.m.
Because space is limited, you are encouraged to register now by visiting: www.CalStateShows.com.
Saxon Holt's photography workshop will be presented in two parts: a lecture presentation and an interactive hands-on workshop. The workshop will be held immediately following the closing of the Show to the general public giving participants unlimited access to the featured gardens.
The lecture presentation titled, “What is a Good Garden Photograph” will present published works by Holt. He will talk about getting to the essence of what a photograph can do and explain how and why the photograph was taken. Specific tips on composition and what to look for when photographing a garden will be offered.
The 90-minute hands-on workshop titled, “Think Like a Camera,” will then begin. Holt will be joined by participants to tour the gardens featured at the Show. Here, participants will receive some very basic camera technical information about depth of field and white balance. They will then have the opportunity to begin taking their own photographs. Holt will be available to participants for help and suggestions.
At the end of the workshop, everyone will have the opportunity to upload their three best photos for review and critiquing by Holt.
To sign-up for the workshop, visit www.CalStateShows.com. Participants must have a camera with manual controls and a tripod. Workshop fee is $70 and includes admission to the California State Flower, Food & Garden Show and VIP parking next to the pavilion.
Holt is the photography program director at the San Francisco Botanical Gardens as well as the author of many award-winning books including his most recent, “The American Meadow Garden.” This book won the gold award in 2010 from the Garden Writers of America. Additional information on Holt can be found at his website: www.saxonholt.com .
The California State Flower, Food & Garden Show will be held April 7, 8, 9 and 10, at Cal Expo, Pavilion Building in Sacramento, California. For additional Show information, please visit www.CalStateShows.com.
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- Written by: Aqeela El-Amin Bakheit
Aqeela El-Amin Bakheit wrote the following poem in 1992 to commemorate Black History Month, which is celebrated in February.
The poem, “Where is Mama?”, was published in “Wind In The Night Sky,” a publication of The National Library of Poetry in Owings Mills, Maryland in 1993.
Where Is Mama?
Mama! Where is mama? And papa too
Boys and girls just my size being patted on the head and kissed on the cheek
Babes, fair skinned, fine hair, being nursed by the “darker than blue”
Hurrying, scurrying little feet
Tiny hands holding books, chalk and slate
Close the door behind them now
Hard, cold bread, not enough to eat
Put on the sack
Out to the field in the blazing sun
Where is mama? Oh! If only she and papa would come
Work all day. Bone weary. Too tired to eat
Boys and girls just my size sitting on the great white porch
Reading to each other, talking things I don't know
The aroma in the air of apple pie
All the children get a slice
But none for me
These children, just my size, but different
Mama, where is mama? She belongs to another.
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- Written by: Editor
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Local entertainer Andre Williams will perform with his talented Andre Williams Trio at Silk's in Clearlake on Thursday, Feb. 10.
The performance will start at 5:30 p.m. and continue to as late as 8:30 p.m. at Williams' Silk's Bar & Grill.
Williams will put his incredible voice to work on old favorites.
Silk's Bar & Grill is located at 14825 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake.
Call 707-995-7455 to reserve a table, as seating is limited.
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
My grandmother Moser made wonderful cherry pies from fruit from a tree just across the road from her house, and I have loved fruit trees ever since. A cherry tree is all about giving. Here’s a poem by Nathaniel Perry, who lives in Virginia, giving us an orchard made of words.
Remaking a Neglected Orchard
It was a good idea, cutting away
the vines and ivy, trimming back
the chest-high thicket lazy years
had let grow there. Though it wasn’t for lack
of love for the trees, I’d like to point out.
Years love trees in a way we can’t
imagine. They just don’t use the fruit
like us; they want instead the slant
of sun through narrow branches, the buckshot
of rain on these old cherries. And we,
now that I think on it, want those
things too, we just always and desperately
want the sugar of the fruit, the best
we’ll get from this irascible land:
sweetness we can gather for years,
new stains staining the stains on our hands.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2010 by Nathaniel Perry, and reprinted from Gettysburg Review, Vol. 23, no. 1, Spring 2010, by permission of Nathaniel Perry and the publisher.
The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.