March 12, 2019 :Harris Gardner and Kirk Etherton--will talk about the Boston National Poetry Month Festival: April 3rd to 7th on Poet to Poet

Doug Holder (center) to interview Harris Gardner  left ( Co-founder of the Boston National Poetry Festival) and Board Member and Director of Marketing Kirk Etherton (far right)

To see the interview live  click on http://somervillemedia.org at 5PM  March 12. This is a production of the Somerville Media Center.  https://www.bostonnationalpoetry.org/https://www.bostonnationalpoetry.org/

Doug Holder Interviews Belle Brett author of "Gina in the Floating World"

Feb 19, 2018 5PM Doug Holder to interview film critic and novelist Dan Kimmel, author of " Father of the Bride of Frankenstein"

Dan Kimmel

I will talk with Kimmel about his latest novel, Father of the Bride of Frankenstein.   To see the interview live go to:  http://somervillemedia.org 

Daniel M. Kimmel (born 1955) is an American film critic and author.^[1][2]

In September 2014, he became editor of The Jewish Advocate where he served through December 2015. He received a B.A. from the University of Rochester and a degree in law from Boston University.

Kimmel was the Boston correspondent for Variety from 1986 to 2013, and has been a TV columnist for The Boston Herald. From 1984 to 2009, he was a film reviewer for the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Massachusetts. His reviews can be found at NorthShoreMovies.net and the Sci-Fi Movie Page. Until his promotion he was the "Movie Maven" for The Jewish Advocate. His essays on classic science fiction films were being published in The Internet Review of Science Fiction from 2005–2010 and are now in Space and Time.

He is a past president and current member of the Boston Society of Film Critics. In May 2012, he became founding co-chair of the Boston Online Film Critics Association.

Kimmel is the author of several books and has co-written a play The Waldorf Conference about the Hollywood blacklist. His 2004 history of Fox, The Fourth Network, received the Cable Center Award for best book of the year. His collection of essays titled Jar Jar Binks Must Die was nominated for a Hugo Award in the category "Best Related Work".^[3] His novel Shh! It's a Secret was on the shortlist for the Compton Crook Award given to best first novel by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. His latest is Time on My Hands: My Misadventures in Time Travel. He is the 2018 recipient of the Skylark Award given by the New England Science Fiction Association.

Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene: Feb 12 5PM Doug Holder Interviews Novelist Belle Brett on Poet to Poet Writer to Writer

Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene: Feb 12 5PM Doug Holder Interviews Novelist Belle...:   ( Click on for full information)

Novelist Belle Brett  see it live on 5PM on http://somervillemedia.org  In Brett’s debut novel, an American student embarks on a jo...

Novelist Belle Brett 

Feb 12 5PM Doug Holder Interviews Belle Brett about her new novel " Gina in the Floating World"

Gina in the Floating World

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In a whirlwind of hopes and fears, 23-year old Dorothy Falwell travels to Tokyo to pursue an international banking internship, far away from her restrictive Midwest Catholic upbringing. It is 1981, and Japan, with its booming economy and complex culture, is her Oz. The ambitious, but naïve Dorothy must figure out how to navigate the twists and unexpected detours on her personal journey, especially after she accepts a job as a hostess in a run-down suburban bar to support her venture. Renamed Gina by her blustery bar boss, she finds that her new friends aren’t the most reliable guides. In contrast, the suave Mr. Tambuki appears to have all the answers and is even willing to pay Gina to spend time with him. Patiently, he lures her into his world of unorthodox Zen instruction, erotic art, and high octane sex. Small wonder that her moral compass goes haywire, and the bizarre starts to feel normal. But when she realizes she may be in grave danger, will she find herself at a point of no return? Or will she, like the Dorothy for whom she is named, discover that she had power over her destiny all along?

Doug Holder Interviews Philosopher Richard Oxenberg about--On the Meanin...

Jan 22, 2019 5PM Stephanie Schorow author of "Inside the Combat Zone: The Stripped Down story of Boston's most Notorious Neighborhood"

Stephanie Schorow

SEE the show live at 5PM at http://somervillemedia.org

 http://poettopoetwritertowriter.blogspot.com http://poettopoetwritertowriter.blogspot.com
 
On Jan 22 at 5PM I will be interviewing journalist Stephanie Schorow on my show Poet to Poet Writer to Writer( Somerville Media Center) about her new book "Inside the Combat Zone: The Stripped Down story of Boston's most Notorious Neighborhood"--I remember visiting the Combat Zone in the 1970s when I was a student at Boston University -- I wanted to experience "life." I went to a seedy bar--one that Wilbur Mills might have frequented--sat down and was about to order when the woman next to me said, " Give this kid a glass of milk." That's Life!

A Boston-based freelance writer and journalism instructor, Stephanie Schorow is the author, co-author, or editor of eight books on Boston history: Inside the Combat Zone: The Stripped Down story of Boston's most Notorious Neighborhood; Drinking Boston: A History of the City and its Spirits; The Cocoanut Grove Fire; Boston on Fire; East of Boston: Notes from the Harbor Island; and The Crime of the Century: How the Brink’s Robbers Stole Millions and the Hearts of Boston. With co-author Beverly Ford, she wrote The Boston Mob Guide: Hit Men, Hoodlums and Hangouts and served as the editor of Boston's Fire Trail with the Boston Fire Historical Society. She has worked as an editor and reporter for the Boston Herald, The Associated Press and numerous other publications. She currently writes restaurant reviews for the Boston Globe North section.
She currently teaches professional writing at Lasell College in Newton, Mass. She has also taught graduate and undergraduate courses at Regis College, Lesley University and Emerson College.
She is now coordinating a Citizen Journalism Program for Malden Access Television. See: MATV's Neighborhood View at https://neighborhoodview.org.

Doug Holder Interviews Poet Steven Ostrowski Co-Author of Penultimate H...

Jan 15, 2019 5PM: Richard Oxenberg author of "On the Meaning of Human Being: Heidegger and the Bible in Dialogue"

 
 see it live at 5PM at  http://somervillemedia.org




Richard Oxenberg received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Emory University, with a concentration in Religion and Ethics. He has written numerous articles on religious philosophy and on the application of ethical principles to our political situation. He is currently teaching at Endicott College in Beverly, MA. His book, "On the Meaning of Human Being: Heidegger and the Bible in Dialogue" has recently been published by Political Animal Press.

Jan 8, 2018 5PM Steven Ostrowski and Benjamin Ostrowski: Father and Son Write to Each Other

Ben  and  Steve Ostrowski 

Penultimate Human Constellation by Steven Ostrowski and Benjamin Ostrowski


 
“You will never encounter another volume of poetry like this. Father and son, Steven and Benjamin Ostrowski give the reader the most intimate and engaging look into a closeness between two family members I’ve yet encountered; a dialogue couched in experimental form and imagery that is always fresh and inventive. A book of correspondences that often spans oceans and continents as the two are separated. Not a single lazy line and nothing telegraphed. Surprises abound around every corner, hallmarked by wit, love and a genuine, deep affection for one another. Each poem is masterfully sectioned by the authors, a joy to read. Would that all fathers and sons could share such a genuine interest in each other’s lives. Imaginative writing at its very finest, employing free-association writing techniques that keep the reader transfixed and entertained page after page. Unique is a term often overused. Penultimate Human Constellation is inarguably unique, and lives up to the volume’s title in the most unanticipated and delightful ways.” -Robert Nazarene, founding editor & publisher,
The American Journal of Poetry

David P. Miller: Actor, Poet, Librarian

David P. Miller’s chapbook, The Afterimages, was published in 2014. His poems have recently appeared in Meat for Tea, Ibbetson Street, Constellations, riverbabble, What Rough Beast, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, and Autumn Sky Poetry Daily. A Boston resident, he was a member of the multidisciplinary Mobius Artists Group for 25 years.  He has a new book forthcoming from Nixes Mate Press.

Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene: Doug Holder Interviews poet George Ellenbogen

Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene: Doug Holder Interviews poet George Ellenbogen

Poet George Ellenbogen Nov. 6, 2018, 5PM

George Ellenbogen

See it live at 5PM  http://scatvsomerville.org

George Ellenbogen, a native of Montreal, Canada, studied literature at McGill University and Tufts University in Massachusetts. Between degrees, he worked in the Arctic and lived for extended periods in Mexico and in England. Until his retirement in 2004, he taught poetry at Bentley College in Massachusetts. His poems have appeared in several anthologies and in magazines such as The Literary Review, Partisan Review, Boulevard, Revue Europe and Queen’s Quarterly as well as in the following collections of his work:

• Winds of Unreason (1957)
• The Night Unstones (1971)
• Along the Road from Eden (1989)
• The Rhino Gate Poems (1995)
• Portes aux rhinos et autres poemes (1997)
• Winterfischer (2002)
• Morning Gothic (2007)
• Matin d’horreur (2008)

Most recently he has published a memoir of his childhood and adolescence in Montreal’s Jewish district, A Stone in My Shoe: In Search of Neighborhood (Vehicule, 2013).
Ellenbogen’s work has been supported by the Whiting Foundation, the Montalvo Foundation, the Karolyi Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Canadian Department of External Affairs, Gesellschaft fur Kanada Studien, the Canada Council, United States Information Service, and Canadian International Cultural Relations. He has read his poems on both sides of the Atlantic, was featured in a 1990 documentary, “George Ellenbogen: Canadian Poet in America,” and in a graduate dissertation,“Postmodernism and the Travel Motif in the Poetry of Adrienne Rich and George Ellenbogen” (Brigitta Wallenberg, University of Salzburg). He is also one of several poets featured in Jean Tobin’s Creativity and the Poetic Mind (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2004).

Oct. 2, 2018. Poet, Cook, Entrepreneur -- Joshua Lewin

Josh Lewin

Joshua Lewin is a cook, entrepreneur, and storyteller, who mixes technique and mediums into a unique and immersive experience, whether at the table, on the page, or beyond. 

Exploring new styles of narrative through poetry, prose, and mixed media applications, Lewin also owns and operates Juliet, with Katrina Jazayeri. Juliet is home to Somerville’s most unique dining experience, open morning through night, showcasing a combination of culinary and service excellence alongside bold storytelling, and trailblazing a new paradigm of supportive and professional restaurant careers. 

In addition to Doug Holder's locally focussed poetry columns for The Somerville Times and online, Lewin’s writing has appeared in EATER Boston, Chefs Feed, The Huffington Post, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, Food Arts, and more, as well as in the print publication, a combination of literary journal and food interest magazine, Of Juliet, produced by the team of the restaurant since January 2018. 


see the show live at 5PM on http://scatvsomerville.org

Sept 25, 2018 5PM Michael C. Keith author of " Let Us Now Speak of Extinction"

( Left/Michael C. Keith/Right Walter Cronkite)

 See it live at 5PM  at  http://scatvsomerville.org

Michael C. Keith is the author or coauthor of more than two dozen groundbreaking books on electronic media, among them Talking Radio, Voices in the Purple Haze, Sounds of Change, The Broadcast Century, Radio Cultures, Signals in the Air, the classic textbook The Radio Station (later Keith’s Radio Station), and Waves of Rancor––a book cited by President Clinton for its study of the radical right’s use of audio media. The recipient of numerous awards in the academic field, including the Broadcast Education Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the International Radio Television Society’s Stanton Fellow Award, and the University of Rhode Island’s Achievement Award in the Humanities, he is also the author of dozens of articles and short stories and has served in a variety of editorial positions. Prior to joining Boston College (where he was named Emeritus upon retiring), Michael served as Chair of Education at the Museum of Broadcast Communications and on the faculties of The George Washington University, Marquette University, and Dean College. He is co-founder of the Broadcast Education Association’s Radio Division and its first chair. Beyond that, he is the author of an acclaimed memoir––The Next Better Place (Algonquin Books)––a young adult novel––Life is Falling Sideways––and 14 story collections––Of Night and Light, Everything is Epic, Sad Boy, And Through the Trembling Air, Hoag’s Object, The Collector of Tears, If Things Were Made To Last Forever, Caricatures, The Near Enough, Bits, Specks, Crumbs, Flecks, Slow Transit, Perspective Drifts Like a Log on a River, Let Us Now Speak of Extinction, and Stories in the Key of Me. He has been nominated a half dozen times for a Pushcart Prize and was a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award for short fiction anthology and a finalist for the 2013 International Book Award in the “Fiction Visionary” category. www.michaelckeith.com

 Let Us Now Speak of Extinction, a collection by Michael Keith, is now available from MadHat Press.

Sept 11, 2018 Poet to Poet Rodger LeGrand

Rodger LeGrand

Rodger LeGrand has published six collections of poetry, including Two Thirds Water (2018), Seeds (2017), andMillions of Ravenous Creatures (2016). His work has been described by the poet Thomas Lux as being “lighted by an almost excruciating tenderness towards the world and its inhabitants.” The editor of The Cortland Review, Ginger Murchison, has described his work as “poems of crisp intelligence sparked by imagination with an eye and an ear to both the street and the heart.” Darrell Laurant, editor of Snowflakes in a Blizzard, describes LeGrand’s poetry as “sweet liquid disguising bitter medicine—until the aftertaste kicks in.” The poet Stephen Dobyns has written that, “always there is a shuffling between clarity and mystery [in LeGrand’s poetry], precision and ambiguity, humor and darkness as he works through the conundrums of how we live and how we might live better—not in terms of money, though that would be nice, but metaphysically, or, more simply, basic kindness in a world where kindness is too often a rarity.” 

LeGrand grew up in Upstate New York, was educated at the State University of New York at Oswego, and received an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, North Carolina State University, and currently teaches at MIT.

LeGrand’s collection, Seeds, was included as part of Books on the T. In a recent interview he had said “I love the idea of sharing poetry with people who might not ordinarily read poems. My poems are written to be read and understood by any interested reader. I don’t write for an academic audience, so knowing that my work has been traveling around through the Boston transit system has been really exciting. The Books on the T program places poems in front of commuters—maybe nurses or cooks or whoever. That just feels right to me.”

Poets Lee Varon and Marc Goldfinger--Aug 7-- Discuss Spare Change News Poems: An Anthology by Homeless People and Those Touched by Homelessness

Lee Varon

MARK Goldinger and LEE Varon-- editors of this new anthology from the Ibbetson Street Press.  See the interview live at 5PM at  http://scatvsomerville.org   Aug 7th from the Somerville Media Studios!  Poet to Poet/Writer to Writer

Marc Goldinger 

July 17, 2018. Brandeis Women's Center Resident Scholar Rosie Rosenzweig

Rosie Rosenzweig

Rosenzweig’s early poetry was anthologized in the first gender-friendly American Hebrew prayer book as well as in various feminist anthologies. As the founder of the Jewish Poetry Festival in Sudbury Massachusetts, she hosted outstanding luminaries like the former the poet laureate Robert Pinsky.  Her more current poetry is being collected in a work-in-progress.

Rosenzweig’s interpretations of Biblical women appear in Reading Between the Lines, All the Women Followed Her, and Praise Her Works: Conversations with Biblical Women. Her essays have appeared in Ethical Wills, Making the Jewish Journey from Mid-life through the Elder Years, and the Foreword. Her travel memoir, A Jewish Mother in Shangri-la describes the Jewish Buddhist World of meditation.

Women’s Intergenerational issues have been a focus of her work and a recently completed a play, “Myths and Ms.” At Brandeis for almost a decade, she has been interviewing artists in various media and hosting a yearly panel at the Brandeis Rose Art Museum on the creative process in an effort to understand the psychological and spiritual state of consciousness present at the moment of creation. Defining how creativity can transform the artist, she has currently coined  a term called MotherArtTM.

Current Projects

My book-in-progress will newly define the process of creativity based on ten years of interviews with women artists and will re-define Mindfulness Meditation. The book’s thesis uses Buddhist Psychology to analyze the theory of Flow. My published article demonstratives the transformative effects of the creative process. The current book proposal will be finished this year. 

Representative Publications

Rosenzweig, Rosie. “MotherArtTM and Maternal Health: Transformation from Grief To Compassion.” Journal of the Association for Research in Mothering. York University, Toronto, Canada. Volume 11. Number 1. (2009): 224–238.

Rosenzweig, Rosie. “Post-triumphalism and the New Haskalah.” in New Jewish Feminism: Probing the Past, Forging the Future edited by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, 397–403. Woodstock Vermont: Jewish Lights Publications, 2009.

I Wish Francisco Franco Would Love Me by Gloria Mindock

I Wish Francisco Franco Would Love Me

by Gloria Mindock

Copyright © 2018 Gloria Mindock

Nixes Mate Books

Allston, MA

ISBN 978-0-9993971-9-0

Softbound, 48 pages, $9.95

Review by Zvi A. Sesling

In her latest book of poetry Gloria Mindock resurrects Francisco Franco, the one-time brutal dictator of Spain. In previous works Mindock has provided descriptions of how dictatorships swim in the blood of victims. In I Wish Francisco Franco Would Love Me, Mindock uses Franco’s obsessiveness with a voice that shouts for an end to the cruelty of dictatorships everywhere.

Here is “Dictator” in which she tells readers about Franco and his ongoing need to destroy people:

A dictator is not a spectator.

A spectator is not a dictator.

Why do you make everyone in Spain listen?

Some will betray you, rise-up.

You do not love!

You do not love!

Brutal Franco!

Brutal Franco!

You slob!

Messy in the heart. Kicking it out of your chest.

Even your heart knows you have secrets

cascading down into your pants.

Throats are slit today, bullets are fired, bombs dropped.

Plaza’s preserved as killing fields.

Big man Franco leaves terror.

Too many Fathers are dead.

Never to hold their children again.

Killing in Bejar today …

Fascist!

Randomly killing what suits you.

Mindock is a particularly fine poet whose many dark works awaken people to the evil conduct of dictators-- which is often minimized in history and in the media, until the brave come forth to reveal the excesses of violence:

*In Les Milles a young girl raped at the age of ten somehow survives and is rescued so

“One less surrounded by dark colored roses,/a chill in the air and scars left on the face”

*”Big Killer Franco – Men want to shoot you in the back.? Turn your head towards them Franco./ Look them in the eye as they fire./But they don’t fire./You say, execute them and walk away./A grin on your face…/Customary.”

*”Franco murdered memories./The dead converse with their screams”

*”A hat falls on the ground boldly/hugging the blood”

And in the poem Orbit Mindock describes the aftermath of a bomb perfectly placed:

One bomb lunges

Chars the sunrise

Whispering graves now a museum

Scars left

Bones face the other planets

A planet showing what exile is

Mindock’s poetry is never to be taken lightly. It thrives on blood, torture and evil individuals while always letting the reader know that she is on the side of the oppressed wherever they live. In Blood Soaked Dresses and The Whiteness Of Bone she addressed the horrors of Central American dictatorships. And in this latest endeavor she reminds anyone who may want to remember Gen. Francisco Franco in some positive manner that he was nothing but another vicious despot.