Poems

Back when Atari video game systems weren't considered retro, Yucef Merhi was playing around with words and video cords. The Venezuelan-born Merhi wrote poems as a hobby and mastered the Atari 2600 by the time he had reached junior high. That was when he decided to get creative by mixing the mediums. Through programming ingenuity, Merhi wired the Atari to act like a primitive computer, enabling him to post poetic messages on the video screen. He then gave others the chance to fiddle with his words.

For many men, the idea of poetry might conjure up nauseating images of rose petals, tears and candlelit dinners. But our young Glendale News-Press books critic is looking to challenge that notion with "Broetry, " released earlier this month by Quirk Books. In his piece he penned for today's Huffington Post, Brian McGackin elaborates on his vision: "'Broetry' challenges American males who don't like poetry to create an alternative. Is there some law that says we aren't allowed to read and write poems about video games or sci-fi movies?

Harriet Tubman, Duke Ellington, W.E.B. DuBois and Oprah Winfrey were among those held up as examples of the contributions African Americans have made to American history and society at an event Thursday at Glendale Community College to mark Black History Month. ?We are here today as a celebration of our ancestors,? said Kerry Lee Riley, a professor of ethnic studies at the school and the organizer of the event. Students and staff members shared information and celebrated black history through poems and songs.

MEMBERS RECEIVE AWARDS IN SHOW The Verdugo Hills Art Assn. had 14 entries in its Artist of the Month Show during its December meeting. Members vote each month for their favorite entry, and the Artist of the Year award is given to one of the first-place entry winners in June. All winners will hang their entries at the La Cañada Library during the summer. Sunland resident Debbie Beck won first place for her watercolor entry, ?Winter Trees.? La Cañada Flintridge resident April Drew Foster won second place for her acrylic painting, ?

Poetry that two classes at Columbus Elementary School read to the school during assemblies Thursday focused on the meaning of compassion. But it was the way the students of different ages and abilities collaborated to put on the show that provided the real example of compassion, some said. Sixth-graders in Gail Dunham’s class and first-, second- and third-graders in Sheila Monger’s class for students with special needs presented a program featuring student-written poems about compassion, which is the word of the month for the Glendale Character and Ethics Project.

Edison Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Linda Gosney wanted her students to "dab" into the poetry of Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes and the Long Island-born poet Walt Whitman. Gosney and more than 20 of her Gifted and Talented Education students have been working on a literature project called "Poetry of the City." Students have read poems like "I Do Not Like My Father Much" and "Jazz Makes Me Sing" by Hughes and "O Captain! My Captain!"

Alex Coolman GLENDALE -- Charles Harper Webb has been teaching creative writing at California State University, Long Beach, since 1984, but before he ever was a teacher, he was a poet. "It was the first thing that got me writing and I've always gone back to it," the Glendale resident said. "It keeps calling me back." This month, Webb's first love paid off. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a $35,000 award recognizing the strength of his poetry.

The Forest Lawn Museum in Glendale and Contemporary & Modern Print Exhibitions have curated proof of Matisse’s paternity to modern art with a presentation of 63 illustrations, rendered by Henri Matisse (1869-1954) in response to the works of French poets Pierre Ronsard (1524-1585) and Stephane Mallarme (1842-1898). Matisse’s dream — ”an art of balance, of purity and serenity — becomes manifested in this exhibition of his late work, which was the result of his pioneering in the graphic arts of etching and lithography and a leaning toward “minimalism,” a clean and economical use of line, color and subject matter.

?Fountain of Trevi ? Love Poems,? a book by Ankin Timourian, is small ? the size of a thin paperback, but it contains nearly 100 poems divided by topic into four sections. The pocket size is handy for slipping into a purse and reading on the run, while the poems are lightweight and short. Scores of full color photo illustrations enhance the reader?s visual pleasure. The first section, which Timourian titles ?Heaven on Earth,? holds poems rich in romance, passion and erotica.

Where would people be without variety? It is the reason we are all carefree. If we did not have variety, or ethnic differences, We wouldn't enjoy each other's accomplishments. Without different traditions, where we would be? We certainly wouldn't celebrate Hispanic heritage of Black history. No matter where you are, variety is in your face, It is in our neighborhoods, our churches, and marketplace. We need to have awareness of others around us, Something we must all learn and practice is acceptance.

English isn't Ara Armain's first language, or his second. But that didn't stop the trilingual Glendale High School senior from recently advancing to the semifinal round of an English-language poetry competition. The winners of the International Poetry Contest, sponsored by World Poetry Movement, an organization dedicated to promoting the work of amateur writers, will be announced on Feb. 1. “I was thrilled,” Armain, 19, said of receiving notice earlier this month that he had been named one of 300 semifinalists up for the $1,000 grand prize.

For many men, the idea of poetry might conjure up nauseating images of rose petals, tears and candlelit dinners. But our young Glendale News-Press books critic is looking to challenge that notion with "Broetry, " released earlier this month by Quirk Books. In his piece he penned for today's Huffington Post, Brian McGackin elaborates on his vision: "'Broetry' challenges American males who don't like poetry to create an alternative. Is there some law that says we aren't allowed to read and write poems about video games or sci-fi movies?

The Forest Lawn Museum in Glendale and Contemporary & Modern Print Exhibitions have curated proof of Matisse’s paternity to modern art with a presentation of 63 illustrations, rendered by Henri Matisse (1869-1954) in response to the works of French poets Pierre Ronsard (1524-1585) and Stephane Mallarme (1842-1898). Matisse’s dream — ”an art of balance, of purity and serenity — becomes manifested in this exhibition of his late work, which was the result of his pioneering in the graphic arts of etching and lithography and a leaning toward “minimalism,” a clean and economical use of line, color and subject matter.

MEMBERS RECEIVE AWARDS IN SHOW The Verdugo Hills Art Assn. had 14 entries in its Artist of the Month Show during its December meeting. Members vote each month for their favorite entry, and the Artist of the Year award is given to one of the first-place entry winners in June. All winners will hang their entries at the La Cañada Library during the summer. Sunland resident Debbie Beck won first place for her watercolor entry, ?Winter Trees.? La Cañada Flintridge resident April Drew Foster won second place for her acrylic painting, ?

?Fountain of Trevi ? Love Poems,? a book by Ankin Timourian, is small ? the size of a thin paperback, but it contains nearly 100 poems divided by topic into four sections. The pocket size is handy for slipping into a purse and reading on the run, while the poems are lightweight and short. Scores of full color photo illustrations enhance the reader?s visual pleasure. The first section, which Timourian titles ?Heaven on Earth,? holds poems rich in romance, passion and erotica.

Grish Davtian has studied at Tehran University in Iran and the University of London. The poet has since seen a countrywide revolution engulf his daily routine in Iran. After moving to the U.S., he created television programs, books, anthologies and organizations to increase knowledge and discussion of Armenian and English literature. Reporter Natalie Yemenidjian sat down with the 73-year-old Glendale resident and asked him a few questions about his life and experiences. When did you begin to write?

Even though they’re not graduating from middle school this year, the seventh-graders in Shannon Estrada’s English class at Rosemont Middle School were asked to reflect Wednesday on the advice they would give to their graduating classmates if they were to compose a graduation speech. Estrada played several pieces of poetry recorded on various compact discs for her students, and one of the poems was the graduation-advice-column-turned-pop-music-single, the “Wear Sunscreen” speech.

Harriet Tubman, Duke Ellington, W.E.B. DuBois and Oprah Winfrey were among those held up as examples of the contributions African Americans have made to American history and society at an event Thursday at Glendale Community College to mark Black History Month. ?We are here today as a celebration of our ancestors,? said Kerry Lee Riley, a professor of ethnic studies at the school and the organizer of the event. Students and staff members shared information and celebrated black history through poems and songs.