ALPHABET QUEST
Alphabet Quest is a poetry phonics book for young children. Its whimsical wordplay inspires joy in literacy while teaching the sounds and forms of each letter. The book is designed to be read aloud and inscribed in by nascent alphabet experts. Gift it with a box of crayons and a storyteller’s heart.
Education / Preschool & Kindergarten
6 x 9
Paperback, 62 Pages
Perfect Binding
TREE FRUIT
Tree Fruit is a collection of poems and images by the author and her daughter. The book includes thematic works about the garden, family, love, and healing.
Images by Reva Santo
7.5 x 7.5 “
49 Pages
Perfect Binding
SPEAKING IN SIGNS
1 Poem 4
7th Street
Speaking in Signs is a poem and chapbook with street images taken from Google Earth. The work was created for Writers on Seventh, an event sponsored by Wordspace in collaboration with the Los Angeles Conservancy.
4.5 x 5.5″ chapbook
16 Pages
Saddle Stitch
Available through the author
With support from Margarita Antonio and the capable staff at the Autonomous Regional University of the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast (URACCAN), the VIVA! project convened its IV international gathering from April 28-30, 2010. Read more about URACCAN’s mission to support community based, intercultural, poly-lingual education.
Read more about URACCAN at URACCAN SITE
Having previously convened project participants in Canada, Panama, and Mexico, and having facilitated student internships between universities in Panama, Mexico, United States, and Canada, the IV VIVA! Project encounter was set in Puerto Cabezas Nicaragua on the Caribbean Coast.
The VIVA! Project Encounter at URACCAN on Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast observed the following objectives and dynamics.
Objectives:
1) Interchange between representatives of the various regional initiatives and new local projects and speakers
2) Deepen the reflection about community art, education and communications and the construction of autonomy, promotion of human rights, cultural revitalization and intercultural dialogue.
Conference Dynamics:
1) Share diverse panels and experiences with a broad regional public, other Nicaraguan and international invitees, and an international group of VIVA! Project participants.
2) Develop workshops fostering reflection, interchange, and collective analysis.
The VIVA! Project is an experiential research collaborative formed by organizations from the south and the north around themes of community art, popular education, and communications, that has been developing over the last five years with project participation from Canada, United States, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.
Watch a short synopsis video about the VIVA! Project:
VIVA! Project Synthesis Video from The VIVA! Project on Vimeo.
<a href="“>
URACCAN coordinates an accelerated high school degree program for young leaders from local indigenous communities. The accelerated high school is lovingly nicknamed “La Prepa.” Under the general umbrella of leadership development, students complete their requirements for high school graduation, and also choose a focus in a specific area of specialization.
I had a chance to spend time, teach, and learn from the students who focus on cultural promotion. Young leaders in the cultural emphasis group study, research, and uplift Miskito culture including songs, music, dance, storytelling, and indigenous knowledge.
I’ve translated excerpts from their opinions into English for those who don’t speak Spanish. A full detailed transcript in Spanish and Miskito is also provided below thanks to the efforts of Ms. Sasha Marley.
A leader has to be able to conduct a group of people
A leader has to be conscientious of many things
A leader must have discipline
A leader should be respectful
A leader has to work with others in ways that are mutually beneficial
A leader has to support local residents
A leader has to help the community
A leader has to be kind
A leader has to be able to work well with other leaders
A leader has to be honest and speak the truth
A leader needs to work hard to progress and help develop themselves more with the community
A leader needs to be transparent
A leader has to be humble
A leader has to be active
A leader needs to communicate with different societies and get along with mutual understanding and respect.
UN LIDER ES…
• Un líder tiene que tener la capacidad de conducir un grupo de personas.
• Un líder tiene que estar consciente para cualquier cosa.
• Un líder tiene que ser disciplinado.
• Un líder tiene que tener respeto.
• Un líder tiene que trabajar mutuamente.
• Un líder tiene que apoyar a los pobladores
• Un líder tiene que ayudar a la comunidad
• Un líder tiene que ser amable.
• Ta brabrira kum sika dukanka pain nani brikaiasa /Un líder debe demostrar tener un buen comportamiento, buena actitud.
• Ta brabrira kum sika dukanka pain nani brikaiasa tawan ra taim líder baku upla kan kahbi brih tauki kaia sa /Un líder debe demostrar tener buenas actitudes y debe guiar a su comunidad.
• Lider kum ba sika tawan wal wapni tawan bilara trabil nani sut ba witin dauki wapni mankisa / Un líder debe permanecer en orden con la comunidad, ser recto y responder a la solución de los distintos problemas que ocurren en la comunidad.
• Líder kum ba sika disciplina pain bri kaia sa / Un líder debe ser disciplinado.
• Un líder tiene que trabajar con los otros líderes.
• Tiene que ser honesto y decir la verdad
• Tiene que trabajar, salir adelante y salir adelante y desarrollarse más con la comunidades.
• Ta upla kum ba kristian kaia an upla nani wala aikuki aisaia ba sin respect laka brikaia sa / Un líder debe ser cristiano y debe poder comunicarse con la comunidad en condiciones de respeto mutuo.
• Un líder Tiene que ser transparente con la gente.
• Un líder tiene que ser humilde.
• Un líder Tiene que ser activo.
• Un líder tiene que comunicarse con la sociedades y vivir mutuamente y con respeto.
• Well yang nani ba sika ta bra brira asla takanka lupia kum banghwisna nara Miskitu nani witin nani ai tnatka kat witin nani ai daukanka nani bri kan ya ba yawan nani, ai culturika well brikan nani ba / Nosotros somos un pequeño grupo de líderes que mantenemos nuestras costumbres de vida Miskitu y procuramos rescatar y promover nuestra cultura.
• Yang nani ba sika ta bra brira nani grupo ka kum sna, baku sin Miskitu ai wina daukan ka nani ba nara lan taki yakawisna an yag nani ba asla takisna ta brabrira aipaskanka kum / Somos un grupo de líderes que estamos aprendiendo de nuestra forma de ser como Miskitu y nos hemos organizamos como un grupo de liderazgo.
• TODOS: Yang nani ba ta bra brira kum sna, wan iwan ka natka alki briaia wan kainara impakaia bara wan natka luan ba kau wan kainara nu taki waia an upla nani lalma wina bali bara nu muni waia / Somos líderes, procuramos mantener nuestras prácticas culturales para seguir adelante y aprendemos de nuestras tradiciones culturales para darlas a conocer también a quienes vienen del norte.
{This video was filmed at URACCAN in Bilwi, Nicaragua during the VIVA! Project gathering of April 2010. Young musicians and dancers who are completing the leadership program share their views about leadership (Spanish and Miskito languages).}
One of the most satisfying encounters at the VIVA! Project conference in Bilwi, Nicaragua was the gathering of coastal poets (primarily women!) who both discussed their creative process and shared their poems with each other.
This took place on the opening day of the VIVA! Project conference coordinated by Margarita Antonio and sponsored by the autonomous intercultural community university of the Atlantic Coast URACCAN
[Si yo fuera autora]
Por Amy Shimshon-Santo
Traducido al español por Nancy Zuniga y A.S.
Si yo fuera autora
No seria solamente el inglés
Escondería las llaves del la mirada del vigilante
Para liberar todos los vocabularios presos
Libérense!
Murmuraría enfáticamente hacia las palabras cansadas del mundo
Sílabas y sintaxis emergerán
Primero vacilarían
Bajo la sombra de la malinterpretación
Expresión rítmica completa
Encausaría las lenguas
De mujeres y hombres
Niños y ancianos
Donde sea
Una sinfonia efervecente
De dichos internacionales
Explotarian a cantar
liberado
comprendido
____________________________
[Poema en Defensa de las Flores]
Por Amy Shimshon-Santo
Traducido al español por Yolanda Rossman, Andira Watson, y Bayardo Montenegro
Para cada uno
de ustedes
de nosotros
ramas decaidas
inclinandose hacia una ventana abierta
Para todos
Que han llevado sus verdades florescientes
y las echaron a la basura
pero al fin las rescataron
cuando el vacio fue demasiado
Para todas las cosas vivientes
que han sobrevivido una eternidad con agua ardiente
sobre saliva y semen
sobre sangre azul
con la paciencia callada
de una cicatriz punsante
que no parece curarse
Para todas las manifestaciones de una vida disecada
reseca y desmoronándose sobre el mantel
para niños, jóvenes, y gente de edad
que han superado
la humillación de perros
atropellados por carros descontrolados
que no te ofrecieron
el derecho de pasar
yo digo
invita a tu alma a entrar
cuídala con cariño y agua
invita a tu alma a entrar
cálmala con respeto y fé
invitate a ti entrar
permitete florecer
no te preocupes del tiempo
no cuentes los minutos
orienta a tu propio norte
y prosigue
toma en cuenta dónde nace tu sol
toma en cuenta dónde se oculta
sigue tu propia sombra
cuando se aleja del oeste
y no tengas miedo del cenit
En defensa de gente que fueron colocados dentro de una masetera
tan pequena
que no pueden sentir mas sus pies
búscate una tierra mayor
introduce tus pies en esa tierra
que pertenece a ti como a cualquier otro
ésta tierra
ésta vida
que no pertanece a nadie
más que a vos
Es hora
de pensar con tus pies nuevamente
de estirar los pétalos de tus manos
que han estado decaidos
falta de agua
es hora de beber los líquidos
que no te han permitido
y que no te has permitido
hay un lugar mas grande
que la caja
donde has aceptado habitar
las cajas son creadas en algún lugar
de las raíces
de los árboles
de las piedras
de la manufactura de las pierdas
del hombre
de los hechos
de lo que hemos tomado para ser verdad
Imagínate el sol
imagínate tus pies desatados
imagínalos capaces de caminar en vez de arrastrarse
para bailar
o
finalmente descansar
When trees ripen
they fling their fruit
dangling jewels
like the most recluse courtesan in a rose colored district
but they are not for sale
or in need of recognition
they just bear fruit
displayed without questioning
am I sweet enough
am I big enough or too small
will he like me
and she ingest me?
will I be consumed by a squirrel
or tumble ruthlessly to the ground
ferment
decompose
will I be the hard pit that refuses to come undone?
will the wind transport me to someplace new
touch down roots
and reach
I can romanticize fruit because they have lessons to teach me
Flowers don’t cry over lost loves
They burst open spilling seeds and petals
To be reborn again
In ways unimaginable
Life is the pit of a broken seed
and the triumph of garnet roses
It is the deformed lemon green that won’t ever become someone else’s yellow
and the tree that was sawed down to make room for others
The cycle of natural things
Welcomes death
as the bearer of future fruits
with proper care
the recycling of life continues
ready to rot and give seed
to be born and cut down
