David Trinidad to Judge '09 Atlanta Pride Poetry Contest

CONTEST DETAILS
• All entries must be the poet’s own original, unpublished work.
• Poems must address one of the following topics:

(1) Pride Begins With You
(2) LGBT Civil Rights
(3) Stonewall

• Two pages is the max length per poem submitted for the contest.
• Poets entering may not have been a student of the contest judge.
• All entries must be received no later than midnight on May 11, 2009.
• Poems should appear in the body of an email as well as in an attached Microsoft Word Document. The first page of the Microsoft Word document should contain the poet’s name, email address, phone number, and titles of poems submitted. The first page is the only page that should contain the poet’s name, email address, and phone number.
• Entries should be submitted via email to poetrycontest@atlantapride.org with a subject line of :“*Insert Name Here*-- Atl Pride Poetry.”
• The contest winner agrees to acknowledge the Pride Magazine as the first publisher in future reprints of books,anthologies, website publications, podcasts, radio, etc. Copyright reverts back to authors upon appearance in the Pride Magazine.
• The final contest judge is David Trinidad. Trinidad will announce the contest winner by June 30, 2009.


PRIZE
• Atlanta Pride will split the collected entry fee money, 50%-50%, with the contest winner.
• An announcement regarding the contest winner will be posted on the Atlanta Pride website.
• The winning poem will be published in the ‘09 Pride Magazine with a brief bio of the winner.
• The winner will be featured at the Atlanta Pride Literary Event as well as a reading at Outwrite Bookstore & Coffee House.
• The winner will receive a brief interview to be featured in Limp Wrist, an online magazine with queer sensibility.
• Please note the contest winner is responsible for his/her transportation to and from the Atlanta Pride Festival, as well the reading at Outwrite.


FEES
• Poets may submit three poems with an entry fee of $5. Poets may submit an additional three poems with a fee of $2 per poem.
• Payments must be postmarked by May 11, 2009.
• Payment should be in the form of check or money order and made out to Atlanta Pride Committee.
• Mail to:
Atlanta Pride Committee, Inc
Attn: Poetry Contest 2300 Henderson Mill Rd Suite 125
Atlanta, GA 30345

I'm In Love ~ '09 National Poetry Month Poster

Poets do the Colonnade

I just returned home from a dinner with great people as well as great poets. In attendance, at what I hope to be the first of many, were Rupert Fike, Collin Kelley, Karen Head, Christine Swint, Julie Bloemeke, Chelsea Rathburn, Cleo Creech, and "little" ole me.

The food was great, but the conversation was even better. I was thrilled to finally meet Christine Swint and Julie Bloemeke. I have only had the pleasure of chatting with them via Facebook. Hopefully, I didn't give them too big of a dose of Dustin-- Christine was across from me during dinner and Julie was to my right. It was great to see Karen, Chelsea, and Rupert as I haven't seem them in a while. Well, Collin and Cleo, I see your mugs each month for the AQLF meetings. (See the two of you tomorrow!)

I would love for each poet from the dinner to post one of your own poems in a comment to this post. Please.

ouroboros review #2

I have two poems in the second issue of ouroboros review: "Memo" and "Wanting To Come Out." I'm also happy that I can say two more of my poems will appear in the third issue.

Responding "None of Your Business" Causes Drama

If you remember, I wrote two blog entries that mention Senator Valencia Seay. (Click here for #1 and here for #2.) Well, the saga continues.

Senator Seay is pissed at 11 Alive because the station used her picture when running their story on elected officials who haven't paid their state taxes. Yes, 11 Alive used her picture; however, when Senator Seay was discussed, I never heard anyone say she had not paid her taxes. The reporter said Senator Valencia Seay replied with "None of your business." If Senator Seay would have responded with "I'm current" over "None of your business," she wouldn't have been discussed on the news.

Senator Seay claims she has received hate email and calls because of the 11 Alive story. If these are claims are true, they are disappointing, disheartening, and disgusting. The people who made the claims should be ashamed of themselves. They could have easily sent Senator Seay a message requesting that she, like 50%-plus of her peers, disclose whether she has paid her taxes or not.

A blog reader, who asked remained nameless, sent me what he alleges are two press release from Senator Valencia Seay's office. I use "alleges" since I have not been able to verify them as official. Senator Seay's state webpage or her personal website do not have them listed.

Here is one of the alleged press releases from Senator Valencia Seay:

Senator Valencia Seay today demanded an apology and an on-air editorial repudiation from 11 Alive News in Atlanta for their deceitful implication that the senator failed to pay taxes.

The station called the Senator Thursday and asked that she disclose her tax records. Told that those records were private and none of their business, 11 Alive later used the senator's photo in a story about those who have not paid their taxes.
Tax records are private under Georgia law. Failure to pay taxes is a crime, and accusing a person of a crime - even by implication - constitutes libel under Georgia law. O.C.G.A. § 51-5-1.
Following the report, Senator Seay received the following threatening message in an email: "Pay your taxes. Typical deadbeat baby killing democrat."

The email arrived the day after SR 452 - a proposal to allow senators to dig into the tax records of political opponents - was defeated on the floor of the Georgia General Assembly.

"This is precisely the sort of irresponsible, unprofessional and trashy journalistic response that we would expect to see as a result of Senator Johnson's witch-hunting ethics proposal," Senator Seay said. "Undaunted by their ignorance of the facts, 11 Alive News showed their willingness to take a refusal to disclose personal information as license to imply the worst. For the record, I have NO tax delinquencies - federal, state or local. 11 Alive should go back to doing what they do best - empty reporting on celebrity drug addiction and car crashes."
Senator Valencia Seay is a leader among a committee of senators investigating how the recession is affecting Georgians and how best to mitigate that damage through smart responses from government. She said, "It is a shame and an abomination for me to be distracted from working on addressing the needs of homeless Georgia Veterans of wars from WWII to Iraq and Afghanistan and other citizens hard-hit by the largest recession since the Great Depression. I should not have to spend time responding to my children and grand children's concerns that I could be a victim of an Olympic bomber/Eric Rudolf wannabe."

Senator Valencia Seay is a former member of the Clayton County School board where she earned a reputation for being in politics for the right reasons. This reputation propelled her to a successful run for the state senate after reapportionment and redistricting. During the last election, she easily defeated a candidate backed by the infamous former Sheriff, Victor Hill.

"Baby Got Front" by Jackie Front

DO NOT watch this video in front of anyone under the age of 18.

The Surgeon General recommends that people with cardiac complications should not watch this video.

AARP is lobbying Congress to have "Baby Got Front" removed from the Internet.

Clergy requests you seek the sacrament of confession directly after watching this video.

Consider yourself warned!

Enjoy the scandal that is Jackie Beat.

Dustin Interviews Denise Duhamel

DB: Your sestina, "Delta Flight 659: to Sean Penn," is one of your many 'fun' poems in your latest book, KA-CHING! I'm glad to see "Delta Flight 659: to Sean Penn" up for discussion in poem: a virtual poetry group. I sent the poem to Penn's publicist, and I requested Penn respond to you with a poem. When it happens, as a thank you, you can write a poem about Dolly Parton and dedicate it to me.

DD: Consider it done! It'll be a ghazal with the end words Dolly and those words that rhyme with Dolly.

DB:I was about to commission you to write the best Dolly ghazal the world has ever seen; however, I checked my bank account balance, and it is four figures, two of which are behind the decimal. I'll have to take my chances with Penn. By the way, have you seen Milk?

DD:Yes, Sean Penn was fantastic in Milk! I am so happy that he won the Academy Award for his performance.

DB:Yes, even more evidence that besides being a poet goddess, you are also a fag hag. (Mark your calendar for when you're Atlanta; we're hitting a gay bar!) This reminds me of a conversation we had about our dislike of the term fag hag. Did you ever think of a friendlier term?

DD:What about Dear Queer of Queen Princess? Or a Queen Colleen? Maybe there should be some kind of contest, conducted by a "fag hag" to come up with something more complimentary? The winner could get tickets to an Elton John concert or something...

DB:I'll end our brief but lovely conversation with a challenge. Write a villanelle, or my arm could be twisted for it be a free verse poem, titled "Queen Colleen," and the poem must address the need to replace the term fag hag.

DD:I accept your challenge!!

A Message from State Rep DuBose Porter

Here is a message from State Representative DuBose Porter (picture to the left):

Congratulations Nurses and Friends of Georgia’s Children,

Thanks to our combined efforts and money from the stimulus package, school nurses are included in the 2009 supplemental budget. (However things are still up in the air for the 2010 budget, so we need to keep fighting.)

This session’s effort on behalf of nurses has created a last minute change in key Republican talking points. This change is a good indication that our efforts had an impact. I am urging you to continue to make your voices heard so that the fight will not have to be as intense next year.

Here is a short synopsis of the sea change we were able to create with your help:
At the beginning of the 2009 session, the Republican Leadership’s strategy was to go after nurses’ jobs and children's healthcare with a vengeance. In a group setting at the capitol when asked, “How can you take nurses away from our school kids?” the talking points delivered by a key Republican leader to the group was verbatim as follows: ”You know, these kids are just soft. These kids need to just toughen up. They used to take kids out west on wagon trains and they did fine... Today’s kids will just have to toughen up. We just need to focus this money somewhere else.”

As you know nurses spend untold hours becoming qualified to administer health care services. Often they have given up higher paying jobs to help take care of our state’s schoolchildren. School Nurses are vital to our state’s future and our Republican Leadership was ready to toss them aside.

Thanks to your efforts in voicing your concern and by our Democratic House Caucus keeping this issue in the foreground, a few key Republicans in Leadership are starting to publicly change their tune. This was a great indicator that we would win the battle. Some key Republicans even posted pro nurses in schools videos on their websites this week when they realized the nurses would be added back into the budget- just as if they have been for nurses all along. We welcome each and every one of them on board. Nurses must stay in public schools, and united, our voices are making a difference. Now that they have come forward we must make sure they do not revert to their original views next year. To insure this I ask you to stay engaged in the process.

Without a majority of votes in the House and Senate our job is to hold that majority party accountable. Our strongest allies in doing this are the voices of fellow Georgians who understand the damaging effects across the board cuts have on healthcare and education. As you know, even when times were good and Georgia had surplus money in the budget, our Republican State Leadership cut 1.6 billion from public education and as much as they could from Public Health. These short sighted efforts have and will continue to greatly damage Georgia’s ability to bounce back from this recession. A healthy and well educated public is key to our economic recovery.

Once again, thank you for your efforts. Your voices have helped us to hold the Republican Leadership’s feet to the fire. With this year’s supplemental budget we have started to win the fight. I ask you to stay engaged and continue your efforts. With a school nurse’s care, more of Georgia’s children can stay in the classroom, more parents can stay at their jobs and more teachers can spend their time teaching. By working together we can secure a more healthy future for Georgia.