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Humanity

Humanity

Poetry Corner: A Reality of Constant Tragedy

Published by communitypublishingabq@gmail.com on July 20, 2016 Respond

A Reality of Constant Tragedy by Alex Paramo

When people can’t feel their own skin
When they want to see the bones of the perceived sinners..

When fat cats are jiving you into 300% loans
When it feels like 1492
And people don’t agree with you
And they see themselves as gods
At odds
With the scientific methods

And the message in the media is madness
and bucket loads of sadness

How do we mediate
How do I negotiate this for my kid…
And all the people in the streets where you live..

Mortality is on your radar and explosives are like playdoh
And you are on your way home
With a quick meal and some relief that the tragic paradigm of disbelief
Will not fall on your head and
Everything you lived for will come up dead
And the dreams we all had are buried like the bombs did in Baghdad
And the last memory we had
Was saying goodbye to your friends

For how long?
Until the end ..
..the end of humanity in this new reality of constant
Tragedy

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Alex Paramo Summer SolsticeAlex Paramo is a native New Yorker of Colombian descent. He is an Author and Co-Founder of Community Publishing. He currently resides in Albuquerque, NM. Read More about him here.z;

Community Publishing brings local artists of all mediums together in creative collaborations for distribution as Multimedia Books while promoting literacy in our communities. We are proud to be a community partner and digital marketer at the Rail Yards Market and the Monte Vista Fire Station. Need help with your web presence and social media marketing? Click here to find out how we can help you!

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From the Left Field Bleachers: The G.O.A.T.

Published by communitypublishingabq@gmail.com on June 10, 2016 Respond

The G.O.A.T. by Alex Paramo

Not A Role ModelThe G.O.A.T., the greatest of all time, often stated sometimes examined but rarely defined. The question of whether or not Muhammad Ali was the greatest boxer has been and will continued to be debated. One thing is for certain, Ali was the greatest athlete of all-time. Why was Muhammad Ali the G.O.A.T., because of his abilities inside of the ring and his consciousness outside of it. Let me explain.

The debate of the all-around or well-rounded athlete pops up often. For example Lebron James is considered the best all-around basketball player while Stephen Curry is considered the best scorer. Taking that a step further, in this article I raise the idea that what elevates a player to that rarefied air, that air where folks can and should follow the lead (ie role models) of an athlete: Charles Barkley notwithstanding.

21 Century Athlete in the 20th Century

Muhammad AliAli stood up for his ideals. He lived up to his convictions.Check out this video of Ali reciting an poem about the Attica Prison uprising. He pointed out what many people were afraid to discuss: shit was F#%ked up. Ali did not bring up these issues up in public for personal gain but rather for the good of all. Let’s never forget that athletes are people after all. We live in a fast changing multifaceted society. Not only did Ali address that confronted our society, he did sacrificed much and did many things to change it.

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” Muhammad Ali

Read more of my series From the Left Field Bleachers.
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Alex Paramo Summer SolsticeAlex Paramo is a native New Yorker of Colombian descent. He is an Author and Co-Founder of Community Publishing. He currently resides in Albuquerque, NM. Read More about him here.

CP Logo FinalWe are proud to be a community partner and digital marketer at the Rail Yards Market and the Monte Vista Fire Station. Need help with your web presence and social media marketing? Click here to find out how we can help you!
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Poetry Corner: Different on a Screen

Published by communitypublishingabq@gmail.com on May 25, 2016 Respond

Different on a Screen by Seth Hoffman

What’s that apparatus, for determining our status,
Are we happy and joyous, or does everything annoy us?
What are we expecting, if we’re not really connecting,
I’m just tired of looking at a screen, so tired of looking at a screen.

When you talk for a while, ask folks about their day,
And help each other out along the way,
How can we lift our spirits, does anybody know?
Well you can start by saying hello. Start by saying hello.

Democrats, Republicans, for whichever team you root,
In paint covered overalls or a pristine suit,
We all need clean water, we all need clean air,
Let’s come together everybody everywhere.
Let’s come together everybody everywhere.

Hey there, how you doing? It’s a pleasure to be here,
I always come in peace, there’s nothing to fear.
I traveled all this way to open up my mind,
And see the ways I’ve been blind, see the ways I’ve been blind.

The media paints a picture, to make you a big spenda,
So read between the lines, ‘cause there’s clearly an agenda,
They get so excited, trying to make us so divided,
But I’m not buying that, no I’m not buying that.

Don’t make your decision, from what you watch on television,
It’s different on a screen, most people aren’t really that mean.
When you travel across the land, you start to understand,
That we’re all on the same side, yes, we’re all on the same side.

Scene on a Screen

Community Publishing has published Seth’s bilingual, multimedia children’s book, more info here.

Book Release scheduled for May 28, 2016 1:30 – 4:30, the Cell Theatre, more info here! Please join us!

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Seth in New Zealand

Seth Hoffman

Community Publishing has published a Multimedia Book (available in digital and print editions) written and Illustrated by Seth Hoffman titled, Janie and the Hummingbird. Seth is a musician, artist and educator based out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Follow his adventures here every Tuesday. Seth returned from a 6 month assignment on a Fulbright Scholarship in Wellington, New Zealand. Read all about his adventures in pursuit of learning/teaching about the integration of the arts into the classroom HERE.

CP Logo FinalWe are proud to be a community partner and digital marketer at the Rail Yards Market and the Monte Vista Fire Station. Need help with your web presence and social media marketing? Click here to find out how we can help you!
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Poets Corner: Losing Your Humanity

Published by communitypublishingabq@gmail.com on May 12, 2016 Respond

Losing Your Humanity by Yvette Sandoval

Ignorance has a voice
and its loud and full of hatred

Small minds
spouting small minded words
as though some untapped fountain 
has been unearthed

again

As though the illusion of
racism, sexism, homophobia truly exists
and the only way “to do away with the evils”
is to lose our humanity.

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Image of Yvette SandovalYvette Sandoval is originally from Bernalillo, New Mexico and currently lives in Albuquerque New Mexico. Yvette is a writer and Co-Founder and Partner of Community Publishing. At Community Publishing. Yvette’s specialty is graphic art and editing. Yvette has attended Central New Mexico Community College.

Community Publishing is committed to providing a digital platform for local artists of all mediums through the creation of multimedia eBooks, while promoting literacy in our community. Community Publishing uses a “ground up” approach which emphasizes an all-encompassing collaborative method.

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Free Art Friday: Sharing Art

Published by communitypublishingabq@gmail.com on April 15, 2016 Respond

By Stephanie Galloway

Sharing ArtI have been doing Free Art Friday Albuquerque for three years and in that time I have been touched by the stories people have shared about how they found the art and what meaning it had for them. People have found art on their way to work, in a grocery store parking lot, in a tree in the park and many other public places. I often hear that after someone finds a piece they are inspired to make art to share too.

Galleries have a place in the art world too but what about people who want to share their art but for whatever reason do not have access to a gallery to show their art.

Arts for Sharing

Sharing ArtFree Art Friday is a way for any artist to share their work with their community. I think that in this way it gives something to the artist and the person who finds it. We are all artists and there is a power in sharing something handmade that makes one feel like they are an important part of the city they live in.

A public setting provides the perfect backdrop for all this to occur in. Art has the power to touch lives and connects us all in a human way like nothing else can and to be part of that process is a true gift!

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Unmatched Fire

Stephanie Galloway

Stephanie Galloway is from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has been writing poetry since she was a child and still loves to explore the magic in words and their power to touch others deeply. She taught art to children as the Children Zone Leader of the Rail Yards Market and is the founder of Free Art Friday Albuquerque.
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Guest Poet: Hakim Bellamy – Chora

Published by communitypublishingabq@gmail.com on December 3, 2015 1

Chora,

On this side of heaven
houses are humble,
gods…
…are born,
and the walls of empire
are gateways to heaven.

Chora,
They will confuse you
with the daughter of Zeus,

as though every sanctuary,
a womb.

Vestibule a vagina.
Your narthex,
an immaculate birth canal
where cross marks the spot
between your legs.

Just like your matron saint,
you were born in the boondocks too.
But when your newborn is marked for death,
that bullseye on that baby’s back
is no Cavalry.

Chora,
We crawl up inside you
like the only way back to heaven
is through your abdomen.
Like your pelvis
was the cradle to humanity.

We bend at the waist,
sometimes five times a day,
to open your hips
and see the light.

But your were once
just a wall.
A portion of a fortress, confused
as to whether you are keeping the divine
out,
or whether you are keeping the divine
in.

Whether you are
Constanti-pated
or regular.

Like me,
and every gentile, Jew,
and god fearing Muslim.

image

Chora,
you weren’t trying
to make a name for yourself
like Constantine the Great
‘cause somedays
you didn’t wake up feeling too good.

Somedays,
you were no Suleiman the Magnificent.
Those days
you locked yourself in the room,
looked yourself in the mirror
and said, “I’m not going anywhere
with this foundation looking like an earthquake!”

Those days,
you felt a lot like a foot
at the bottom of the Ottoman,
and on those days
It didn’t matter whether you were
a church
or a mosque.

Because what was going on
inside of you
could peel the plaster
off the walls
of the Virgin Mary’s stomach.

But Chora,
gods are people too.
And sometimes,
other people get them confused
just like you.

Sometimes they die
too young.
Sometimes people call them names,
say their mother
is a whore…
a holy, holy whore.

You never put them down.
You put them on your ceilings,
remembered them as they were.

So that whenever
we couldn’t remember,
all we had to do
was look up.
*****
(c) Hakim Bellamy, 18 June 2014 Istanbul, Turkey
Inaugural Poet Laureate of Albuquerque, New Mexico (2012-2014)
Founder & CEO of Beyond Poetry LLC
www.hakimbe.com
www.beyondpoetryink.com

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Hakim Bellamy

Hakim Bellamy

Community Publishing will be publishing Hakim Bellamy’s Samuel’s Story, a multimedia children’s story featuring the music of DJ Flo Fader and the illustrations of Melvin Mayes.

Community Publishing brings local artists of all mediums together in creative collaborations for distribution as Multimedia Books while promoting literacy in our communities. We are proud to be a community partner and digital marketer at the Rail Yards Market and the Monte Vista Fire Station. Need help with your web presence and social media marketing? Click here to find out how we can help you!

Community Publishing: From the Community For the Community

 

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Our Potential

Published by communitypublishingabq@gmail.com on March 5, 2015 Respond

By Alex Paramo

This article originally published in I am New Mexico

The great thinker/poet Rumi (the most popular poet in the U.S.) once stated, “Everything in the Universe is within you…ask all from yourself.” What does that mean in “real” terms and how can we apply it to our daily lives? Having just watched the Luc Besson movie Lucy (starring Scarlett Johanssen) I was moved to ponder the subject of the movie: human potential.

Rumi taught that the “Universe was within us,” in other words, since the Universe is infinite, we each have infinite potential. But how do we access it? In the movie Lucy, Johanssen’s character is given a drug that allows her to access the portion(s) of her brain that we do not. In practical conversation we ask: how can we do that in our life? Rumi answers, “Ask all from yourself.”

Sit, clear your mind and think about what is your passion in life in as far as an occupation is concerned. How would you like to identify yourself professionally? If your current job is your passion then you are quite fortunate, continue in your path! If your current job is not your passion, it is a tool. A tool, like a hammer can smash your hand or help you put in the first nail to the fulfilled life that you desire. Map out a practical plan for you to reach your passion. Use your tool to get you to that passion. It will take time and perceived risk, but in end it will be well worth it. On those days where you are glued to your bed, think about your passion, refer to your plan, pick up your tool and start building your dream. Remember: Ask all from yourself while you make the most of your ‪each‬ and everyday!

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Alex Paramo Community Publishing

Alex Paramo

Alex Paramo is an Author and Co-Founder of Community Publishing. Community Publishing brings local artists of all mediums together in creative collaborations for distribution as multimedia eBooks while promoting literacy in our communities.

We are proud to be a community partner and digital marketer at Rail Yards Market. #JoinOurCommunity at http://communitypublishing.org

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