contACT is sponsoring “The Harvest Project” on May 17 from 1-6pm at the World Beat Center in Balboa Park. Tickets are a suggested donation of $100. “The Harvest Project” is a benefit for Archi’s Acres Veteran Sustainable Agriculture Training. Our host is celebrated actress and author, Mimi Kennedy. Live entertainment is courtesy of CAC Repertory Theater, contACT, Librae-Dance-Theatre-Movement, Madera, Opus Mixtus Post Jazz, Project 423, Santa Monica Contemporary Ballet, among others. Please RSVP to www.archisacres.com/events or call 800-933-5234. 100% of proceeds will be used to build a new greenhouse to serve more combat veterans. All donations are tax-deductable to the full extent of the law! Please come support on the minor or major level! We welcome you all!

This town smells like shit
And everyone knows your name

It’s not just your beauty
It’s something about the birds
These grand oak trees
Sheep grazing on pasture
And your almost too perfect family

The rain is coming down in rage
I might just take of running
Just like the time before
I really don’t know about us anymore
Maybe I never really did
Some days were better than others
Some days I was truly his

Maybe like how turkeys roam about this quiet terrain
Is the daring me, stupid to not be afraid
I’ve got roots that outgrew me a long time ago
Where the wild things were
In a land not far enough away

I’ve got to get back that feeling
The one that blows my mind
Into a fractal
Uploading inspiration
Recycling the predictable grind
By the fire
I walk eye to eye again
With my dear old friend desire

I don’t think anything is more beautiful than
These three deer at my front porch
I won’t leave this place
I won’t leave london town
Until the storm dies down

In the house of recovery
Rebuilding shattered bones
The torn tissue separated
Loneliness in half
I’m getting used to the silence measuring
My distance between reason and
The arduous alternative path

The recession is mirroring
My unhealthy obsession
With getting it right
We’re all out of work
Just standing in line

I’m a good listener
With a heavy hand pour
Plenty of booze in this bar
It has whatever you’re looking for
Come on in
All I do is wait out time
If you want to tell me your story
I’ll finish mine

Check out this clip:

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27652443#27652443

Turned the corner
And another one
Another claw
Scratching under the door
He’s on all fours
Trying to decipher
The newest metaphors

Father rest your hands
I’ve forgiven you
For what you hold
She is with strangers
She likes candy
Better company

Getting further
Away from you dear

Father you are almost there
Soon your time will come
I’m okay now
You will go at
Anytime
You will go at
Anytime

Watching you
Wither away
Before my eyes
Inch by slow solemn inch
They have seen it all
There is no more red
Only blue skies tonight

Disguising your thrown
Will never bring him home
You ate the feathers
May you choke on the bone

Under the familiar blanket
Of your religious show
All the angels
Said so
So you just did
As you were told

Previous interviews include Michael O’Gorman, Founder of Farms Not Arms (www.farmsnotarms.org) and Sufyan Bunch, Program Director of Farmer Veteran Coalition (www.farmvetco.org) among other wonderfully educated and passionate activists.

Today we pre-recorded our show and interviewed Barbara Storper, MS, RD about her wonderful Food Play Productions company. She founded Food Play in the 80’s to teach kids about nutrition in a fun and theatrical way.

Her website, www.foodplay.com reads:

” Our comprehensive nutrition education programs combine dynamic live theater performances with fun-filled research-based educational materials to trigger school-wide excitement around creating healthy schools and healthy communities.

FoodPlay Productions’ programs have been created under sponsorship by the US Department of Agriculture, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, and departments of public health and education throughout the country.”

We also spoke with Shelley Rogers who is Producer and Director of a new upcoming documentary called What’s Organic About Organic (www.whatsorganicmovie.org)

Her website reads:

WHAT’S ORGANIC ABOUT “ORGANIC?” delves into the debates that arise when a grassroots agricultural movement evolves into a booming international market. While many folks can easily endorse “organic,” the characters in the film take the discussion beyond just shopping for another eco-label. Each character is intimately involved in the organic world and by catching a glimpse into their lives, the audience will see how, when done right, organic agriculture is the potential answer to many of our environmental and health problems.

By taking a brief look backwards into the hidden costs of conventional agriculture, the film propels us to look forward—toward a new look at our health, our economic models, & our society and their connections to our environment. As the film moves from farm fields to government meetings to industry trade shows, it encourages us to ask, “What should our future food system look like?”

She said “I can’t see it”

The fan is sifting our yellow glow
Another dressing room
Another mirror
To look into
Another city
With similar blues
Dancing our dying days
To the beat of another drum
After this is over
I got no where to go
The makeup is running
Picasso down our cheeks
It all started so safe
On an empty stage
There was no one who would judge
An unidentified rhythm
Penetrating
Delivering us from hate
That’s when they tore down the walls
And opened up the gates
We grew balls
Because we couldn’t escape

We are melting

She said “I just keep holding on”

What plays on the heartstrings of people?
We are suffocating
The marching band lost their tune
When the television hit mute
I’m sorry we’ve got a
Different kind of song to play
It’s called the breathing room

We seemed to have grown older
Under the glow of the tree lights
This is just what we do
On a Friday afternoon
The warmest glow is still
The one that radiates out of you

We are melting

She said “I hope to talk to you soon”

A bug died
In my tea
As the dark in the black
Is coming after me

Misunderstanding everything
I make a pie, it burns
The theatrics
Are what they taught me to learn

I don’t know where she went
She used to dance around the fire
She used to flail
I gave up
Somewhere between the christmas calls
And the garage sale
She moved away

Between getting back together and
The long distance
Was a fantasy I lived in
The trip was timing
My hands were asking me
What I was doing
Trouble was near
And I leapt into the fire
I just fucking leapt into the fire
I just…

Believed in something
I couldn’t share with you

The catalyst is coming
We will soon retreat
It is time to catch my breath
My breath is catching up to time
Remember Zion?
The place you chose to die?
The three women, the rope,
The squirrel were all holding my eye
Coming down the mountain
Never felt so high

A poet, a writer, a teacher
In a suitcase of a thousand preachers
Taking turns excusing the secret
Patiently watching
The unconscious crossing of herds
Only then did I begin to morph into
The meaning of my words

So good a guitar for the ride
For the funny gorilla nights
Slowly I began to understand
That one cannot paint goodbye