Dr. Mungo interview, Skid Row discussion, poetry

you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Talking about revolution by Tracy Chapman. Welcome to the Qumran Report. May the peace and blessings of the life-giving creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. My name is Melvin Ishmael Johnson. This week we will be talking about the Skid Row community and an in-studio interview and performance by Dr. Mungo, Jamal Al-Salam, and Carol Bolton. Dr. Mungo, Jamal, and Carol, welcome to the Qumran Report. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Mel. I'm glad to be here. Now we have with us on the line Michael and Irene calling all the way from Canada. And they're working on a project with Dr. Mungo. How you doing, Michael and Irene? Hi there. Oh, good to hear from you. Michael. Is this okay? Yeah. Yeah, I can hear you. Can you tell us a little about the project you're working on with Dr. Mungo? Sure. Well, I'm here with my partner, Irene. Say hello. Hi, Melvin. How you doing, Irene? Hi, Irene. Hi. So what we've done is basically, you know, I came down to L.A. last year and Mungo and I, we did some videos of Mungo doing some of his work, basically just spoken words, just straight on, you know, about five or six poems. And then, you know, I wanted. I wanted to get them up somehow on some site. And then Irene came in to Equate and she really, she's a graphic designer, basically, and a web designer. And she helped me just do some basic graphics around the videos. And then we decided, you know, she really liked the work. So she was inspired enough to try to take it further. And, you know, we've developed a website now and we're still working on it to make it a little bit more interactive. But it's looking good. We've got the videos housed on there. Mungo has a blog. That's all his community. And. Yeah. And. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, we decided to put together, you know, retrospectives of Mungo's work and I guess a web launch opening. Yeah, and that's what we're looking forward to. We're looking forward to launching that website on Friday, December the 30th, 2011 at 7 o'clock at Fernando's. And we're planning on having a good time there. We're going to have food, we're going to have some open mic and poetry and all of that. Now, Mike and Irene, tell us, when a person is talking about launching a website, what do that entail? Well, it's actually a pretty soft launch because, I mean, the site is up and running now and it's just more or less letting people know about it. You know, I think it's www.drmungo, all one word, .com. And it's... You know, it's pretty much what it's going to be right now. It's December 30th. So that'll just be the official opening. But we're going to keep working with it and just a celebration of Mungo and just to let people be aware that's what's going on. And, yeah, December 30th. It's going to be better than New Year's Eve. Way better. Yeah, we're looking forward to it. You guys will be traveling, so you guys will be here almost like as the special guests. Tell me, do you have any questions for Dr. Mungo and Jamal that we got right here in the studio? Yeah. You're breaking up a bit. Sorry, what was the question? Do you have any questions for Dr. Mungo and Jamal that we got right here in the studio? Oh, okay. Well, I don't know. I mean, I was going to ask Mungo what he foresees as what would he consider retrospective of his work? Is he going to have other people do his work? What do you feel, Mungo? You know, if you're more of a spontaneous person, do you think you can get the elements of your spontaneity into a choreographed night? Well, I don't really know. What I see as a retrospective is going back to when I first started doing spoken word or poetry. Coming up to the present day, which I haven't really made a lot of changes in things that I wrote in maybe 20 years. I think I wrote about 25, 30, 40 years ago. But I want to go from there and come up to the 21st century of things I'm doing now. And if other people want to try and enunciate my work, I would like that, too. But I would like people to enunciate their own work and do their own poems. And I would be honored if someone would try doing some of my work. Mungo is much too humble. How are you doing, Michael? It's Jamal here. Jamal, how are you doing? Good. Great. The website looks marvelous. It is absolutely... Sorry, it's difficult to hear you. You're breaking up. It's difficult. I don't know what's the end. The website looks marvelous. You have done such a wonderful job. And also, you're a little humble because your videos are the essence of... This man's... He's a hidden treasure of Los Angeles and a hidden treasure, you know, to the poetry community as well. A lot of people know about Dr. Mungo, but very few really, really understand his contribution to poetry. He's a marvelous person to know individually, and also his work is great. And your videos of him are absolutely stunning. So, 519... Well, thank you. I mean, I hope to do some more. I actually... Actually, you know, I didn't even see. There was one that, you know, I found you, Michael Jackson, that really, I think, is a great video of Mungo, like in terms of just getting his energy, you know. Mungo told me. So that one stands out for me, too. Mungo told me. Thank you very much. We still plan to do more with more spoken word and more video with Mungo, so... Yeah, I know. He's such a treasure. Mm-hmm. Now, Michael, for those who want to get in contact with you, what is your... What's your contact information up in Canada? You know, if you go to the site, if you go to the site, www.drmungo.com, there's a contact Mungo there, and we get copies of everything that goes through the site. So, just, yeah, just go right to the site, and all the information's there, and you can get in touch with me through that. Okay. Thank you, Michael and Irene. We're looking forward to seeing you guys here. I know I am on Friday, December 30th. It's 7 o'clock. At Fernanda's, we're already planning the food and the poetry and the entertainment, the bands. We're going to have a good time that day. It's going to be a great one. 519 South Spring Street in Los Angeles. Yeah. Okay, thank you, Michael and Irene. It's hard for me to hear you guys, but thank you very much, Mungo. Thank you, Michael and Irene. Good to see you. Thank you. Look forward to seeing you. It's going to be fun. Everybody's listening. Okay. Be there. Peace. We're going to check and make sure every person is going to be there that's listening. All right. All right. Cynthia Toronto says she'll be there. Irene's going to be here. Yeah. Cynthia Toronto, too. Oh, Cynthia. Okay, good. I talked to her. Okay, good. Cynthia's going to be there. Good. Thank you, Michael and Irene. Okay. Now, on Veterans Day, November the 11th, 2011, Drama Stage Goon Run, the Veterans Project, and the Roe v. Theatre Company. Join forces to provide veterans free admission to dinner and a play at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. In our voices from the community section of the program, I would like to play an interview with Judith Bowman, Development Director of the Roe v. Theatre Company. The interview is about nine minutes and 50 seconds. Good evening. Hello. And we're here at the Roe v. Theatre. Downtown Los Angeles on an art walk night. Judith Bowman. That's right. And she's the Development Director with the Roe v. Theatre. And as a veteran, I'm very grateful for her tonight because she's allowing us veterans to attend a play called Pity the Proud Ones. So, Judith, tell me, how long have you been with the Roe v.? I've been here just about five and a half years. And before the Roe v., what was your history, if you don't mind? I was doing grant writing for other organizations, the Mamie Clayton Center down in Culver City. Also, a short time for New Directions, another great veterans agency. And before that, the L.A. County Community Development Commission. So, I, you know, just willed myself to learn a little bit about grant writing and development. And I always like to share with organizations that need that kind of support. Great. I understand that your father or grandfather was a Tuskegee Airman? My father, in fact, Hank Coleman. Yes, he was one of the original Tuskegee Airmen. What was that like growing up with him? Well, you know, I was an Air Force brat, and I really loved it. Some people don't like the moving. We moved maybe every 18 months. So, I was always the new girl. So, as you talk about mixed race experiences, we didn't consider ourselves mixed race. But I always considered myself like a foreigner. I was a foreign student or something, because this was before the Civil Rights Act was passed. And my dad, one time when he was assigned to Randolph Air Force Base down in San Antonio, Texas, they were not anxious. My parents were not anxious for me to go to a segregated school. And so, they got Hubert Humphrey, who was their home senator from Minnesota, to do whatever senators do. And before you knew it, my brother and I, my brother's just a bit, younger than me, were in a, quote, regular school. And I can remember being interviewed. And again, I didn't think of it as because I was black, but more that, you know, I was the new girl. And so, you know, how things just go over your head. That sort of just went over my head. Right, right, right. What was your educational background, if you don't mind me asking? I started in pre-med at the University of Illinois. Couldn't figure out organic chemistry. Uh-huh. I switched to English, something that I felt competent about. Right, right. Easier to understand, yeah. And loved to read, so why not? So, I switched to Spelman College. I had an uncle that had gone to Morehouse and wanted me to experience that. Again, because we had grown up all these different places and never exactly in a black community. And so, my uncle thought this would be wonderful. And it was a wonderful experience just to look around one day and to realize that everybody from, you know, the highest to the lowest, the lowest to the highest was black and running this wonderful school. So, I'm so glad that I went there. So, I got my B.A. there and stayed out a few years. Became a probation officer and did a few other things in public policy. And then went to law school. Went to UCLA Law School. Graduated with a J.D. there. Uh-huh. So, what, how do you, how can I put this? Downtown's changing a lot. This whole area has changed. Changed a lot. I go back to the 70s. Skid Row, me and Skid Row go back to the 70s. But, what do you think about the change down here? What do you think about the loft dwellers and open cafes and just maybe one or two blocks over, you know, you have tents and homelessness. What's your feelings on that? Well, you know, a person is always compassionate to see, you know, what sometimes people, um, miss because they're, and I don't mean that I'm against people having a good time. But, um, you know, um, I, I think the good thing about having the, um, dichotomy, if you will, the loft dwellers, which I know they have, you know, just an incredible median income. Last I heard, it might be high 80s. It was low 90s a few years back. And the economy might have changed that a bit. Um, so, I mean, I look at them as choosing to live. Uh, where they do live. And I guess I'm hopeful that they have compassion for the people that, you know, aren't quite as lucky yet. Um, so I don't judge the loft dwellers. Um, and we do what we can for Skid Row. Um, it's, um, just a shame to have a situation like that in 2011. Yeah. Um, when, uh, no matter what the state of the economy is, uh, it seems like, uh, there's enough collectively, um, Yeah. to shore, um, all of us up. Maybe some have to give up a little. Mm-hmm. Uh, but, um, it seems like there's enough to go around. Yeah. Now, you did mention, or I've heard Melvin mention that you're working on some kind of program for veterans to get involved in theater and stage. Can you tell us a little bit about that? It's true. So, the idea is to, um, bring veterans in, whether they're homeless or, uh, uh, just a veteran of a, uh, a war or peacetime. Mm-hmm. And, um, see what those skills are that they acquired either in life or in the military. Mm-hmm. And see how we can transfer them to some of the technical, uh, theater skills. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, I, I guess I'm, um, hopeful that, uh, between Melvin and Jeff Norman of the, uh, Veterans Project. Mm-hmm. And Roby, that we can figure out an entrepreneurial kind of, uh, approach to it. I, I don't see it as being, okay, come sit in the classroom. We're gonna teach you some skills. No, you'll do it. And then never. No. No. Yes, to, to, uh, get, uh, employment. And I'm not really looking at employment right now. No, no. But just if there's a spark, if two or three of the people, men or women, uh, in the program or any of us that are on the fringes. Mm-hmm. Uh, decide that they wanna do some entrepreneurial kind of, uh, project that maybe, uh, this would be, uh, a, a way for that, that spark to, to be lit. Okay. Well, you know what, Judith? I wanna thank you very much for this opportunity. And, um, we'll be talking to you in the future. Thank you so much. Thank you, Judith. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Judith, for all of your good work with the Roby Theatre Company. And thank you for reaching out to veterans. At this time, I would like to turn it over to Miss Earline Anthony for our community calendar. This is the community calendar for November and December. Wednesday, November the 23rd, 2018. The United University Church is having a campus and community Thanksgiving celebration and dinner. Thanksgiving celebration begins at 6 p.m. The Thanksgiving dinner begins at 645. And all are welcome. The location is on the USC campus, 817 West 34th Street. And that's right at the corner of Hoover and Jefferson. Contact information is Catherine Schofield, 213-748-0209, extension 17. Tuesday, November the 29th, 2011, at 7 p.m., Dr. Mungo will host a poetic justice league. The location is at Fernando's, 519 South Spring Street. Thank you. Contact information is 213-784-1703. On Saturday, December the 10th, at 7 p.m., in recognition of International Human Rights Day, December the 10th, ICUJP, Interfaith Community United for Justice and Peace, and Drama Stage Poomran, in connection with Los Angeles City Hall, the Los Angeles Region Religious Campaign Against Torture presents Reckoning with Torture, Dramatic Readings of Memos and Testimonies from the War on Terror. Location is the United University Church, USC campus, 817 West 34th Street. And this is a free event. For more information, you can contact 213-748-0209. And this is just a reminder, if you have a community event that you would like announced on our show, send the information to Dramastage1 at yahoo.com. Attention, Earlene Anthony. And once again, our call-in number for the show is 800-893-9562. Now, back to our host. Thank you, Ms. Earlene Anthony. Once again, we're back in the studio with Dr. Mungo and Jamal Al-Salam. Dr. Mungo and Jamal, starting with Dr. Mungo, tell us a little about your background, and then how did you get off into writing poetry and performing poetry? Well, I used to perform in the church, you know, which is in Dixie County. Which is indicative of most black families. I started in the church when I was about six or seven years old. And then from there, I moved on to higher ground, so to speak. Speaking in high school, speaking at junior college and then other college. And just took up to loving the spoken word. You know, listening, reading Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Claude McKay, Edgar Allan Poe, and so on and so on. I've been listening to Vincent Price and other legendary enunciators, and that's about it. How about you, Jamal? Tell us about yourself and how did you get off into writing poetry? Well, I had a lot of inspiration when I was 17, 18 years old. I met a guy by the name of Larry Neal who wrote a book called, edited a book along with Amiri Baraka called Black Fire. He was also the mind behind the No More Movement in New York when I was attending SUNY at Purchase and SUNY at Albany and Empire State College. When I came to Los Angeles, skipping, you know, past the whole country, I was in New York. I was in New York, Los Angeles, skipping, you know, past a whole bunch of things. I began slam poetry with my good friend, Dr. Mongo, and Marilyn Murphy. And the community out here are poets who just welcome me and listen to some of my little voice. And I was able to participate with that. Great. Okay. We saw a film yesterday at the Peace Center on the campus of USC. It's called Skid Row. I would like to get your comments and what you got from viewing that film. Let's start with Dr. Mongo. Oh, well, it was really a downer to me to see what goes on in a country of affluence. How people live in certain parts of the city surrounded by opulence, wealth, or whatever. Right. Or whatever, however you want to put it. And I think it was a very good documentary. I think more people should see it and realize that not only are people living in such conditions because they're drug addicts, but because some of them are just one paycheck away from home. And with the economy as it is, you can't, you can't phantom what can come about. So I think the film was a great film and I think it should be shown, I think it should become college. All over the place. It's a wonderful, wonderful documentary. It's part of my experience in downtown Los Angeles as well. A couple of things really hit home. One was the PowerPoint presentation by Mary Lou and her research and information that she gave was absolutely wonderful. The history of Skid Row, the way she presented it, was true. And also, she also mentioned a key thing, and I don't know if you caught it, Ishmael, was that she mentioned Tom Bradley had it right. In terms of what they were doing with Skid Row. And I like that a lot. Prez and them, they did a lot of documentary. They were rough. They were probably low or no budget. The sound was rough, chorus, and the picture itself was rough. But my goodness, talking about the drama of actually being on the streets of Los Angeles and realizing that these guys don't want to be filmed. They're doing nefarious activities all over the place. And they don't want to be seen. You know, there was a point in which, you know, the guy was looking at his death. And that can happen to you on Skid Row. You know yourself. So these are some of the things that I think the film brings out and that people should be sensitive to in a major metropolitan area like Los Angeles. And also to note that many are veterans who fought for this country. The people in Skid Row, definitely. There's a mix of people we talked about before. Early release prisoners who come out on the street with this certain kind of mentality. We have people who are mentally challenged, mixed in with people who are just, you know, families or just kicked out on the streets. And at what point do we say they're not trash? They're human beings with a life and a story to tell. Let me get some comments from Earline Anthony, Ty, because they were in attendance also. Let's start with Earline. It was a very emotional piece for me to watch because I was homeless. And all that he went through, most of it, I went through. It just really hit home. And I'll say it's one of the best documentaries of Skid Row that I've seen. And as a writer. I've seen it. It's already been said it should be shown and more people should see it because most people don't have a clue. They want to help the homeless, but they don't know how to help the homeless. Because a lot of them see the homeless as a whole, you know, another generation or whatever of people. Drug addicts, alcoholics. Right. And, you know, all are not just outcasts or alcoholics or mentally ill or whatever. There's a lot of... A lot of mixed in. Yep. Different section of Skid Row. But it was very emotional for me to watch. Oh, it was very emotional for me too. I almost went to tears at one point. Yeah, my eyes teared up a little bit. How about you, Ty? Skid Row the movie. I'll tell you. Skid Row the movie is my life. I've experienced Skid Row all the way back from the 70s. I was a photography, graphic design student. I used to like to come down here and photograph the old bank district. I like to photograph the old hobos. I like to photograph the prostitutes, the addicts. And little did I know I was photographing and documenting my own future. Because I too ended up down here with needles in my arms and crack pipes in my mouth, etc., etc. But we've seen this all before. We've seen this kind of prison, this... Institutional. This institution. This ghetto. We saw it in World War II when the Nazis stuck all the Jews in one little area. And they said, you know what? Either they're going to kill themselves or disease is going to kill them. But we're going to keep them in this little contained area. And keep them out of sight, out of mind. And that's what you have in Skid Row right now. It's out of sight. It's out of mind. You have the Loft Dwellers. You have all this nice development going on on the outside. But what do you have going on on the inside? It's rotting away from the inside out. But nobody wants to pay attention to that. And I think that's what Drama Stage and what our whole trip has been ever since at least my joining the group. With plays like Surviving the Nickel or Nailheads. These are all messages that we've been trying to convey to those outside of the row. That we are human. And we have a voice. And it's time for us to be heard. Hey, thinking time? Mm-hmm. Okay, now they always talk about Skid Row is this or Skid Row is that. I would like to ask you if you had the funding, anything you wanted to fix the problems, how would you want Skid Row to look? Let's start with Jamal. Well, I'm not quite as visionary as Dr. Mungo, but we've been there on a Friday, Saturday night. And we want to see life down there. We want to see people enjoying themselves. We want to see, you know, we don't want to have to step over excrements and, you know, used materials in order to be able to enjoy inner city life. If I had to do it all over, I wouldn't do it. If I had to do it all over, I would help the people who are there living on the streets find, you know, someplace warm to go at night. You know, someplace where they could be comfortable and get something to eat. You know, when I was down there and you asked me to participate with your shows, I couldn't do it. And I wanted to because you were doing such great work, working with all the people down there and our problems. But my goodness, don't waste the human potential. I can't abide by that. Dr. Mungo. I would like to see more trees. I would like to see better parks, extended parks, or resembling parks as a resembling penitentiary settings, you know. You know, like I look at San Julian Park and I look at Gladys Park. Gladys Park. And they're like fenced-in dormitories, something that you would find in a penitentiary or a jailhouse. I would like to see sparkly stuff on the sidewalks. I would like to see freshly painted buildings with a lot of neon lights and maybe nice coffee houses and, you know, things of that kind. Dr. Mungo. Ms. Earlene Anthony, how about you? I'd like to see more. I'd like to see more grass, more trees, and just like any other community that you see. You don't see people laying on the street. You don't see rats running around big as cats. Dr. Mungo. I'd like to see community centers where people can go and express their art, you know, artistic abilities and everything. Dr. Mungo. I'd like to see Skid Row look just like any other city, not just contained in four blocks with missions and shelters and things of this sort. I'd like to, you know, upgrade it. It can still be called Skid Row, Central City, East, whatever, but look just like any other community. Dr. Mungo. How about you, Ty? As far as Skid Row goes, as far as the redevelopment is concerned, more housing, more supportive housing, a lot more of that. Dr. Mungo. And, you know, common things like grocery stores, and I think we're going to talk about grocery stores in a minute. I'd like to see opportunities for, more opportunities for mental health services. That's a big part of what needs to be done down here as well. And we've been talking to the USC students and getting more information. Dr. Mungo. And getting more college students involved, more social work students involved down here to come down and make the people, help the people feel a little more like their people and not just discarded waste, you know. Dr. Mungo. One of the things that makes San Francisco such an exciting city is because it has grocery stores that have fruits and vegetables available for people. You know, I mean, the farmer's market things are going on in Los Angeles. Great ideas. Great idea. More of it. And like you said, we're going to talk more about what kinds of stores should be there. Dr. Mungo. Yeah, because one of the things that's always bothered me about the Skid Row area, and it kind of reflects a lot of the inner city communities in my travel, the cities that I've seen, is the high prices and the way that these moms and pop stores exploit the poor people, especially in the Skid Row area. Dr. Mungo. Now, one of the things that we've talked about is the need for a 99-cent store. We hear Occupy L.A. they talk about the 99, the one, and all like that. Hey, can we just have just one, one 99-cent store in the Skid Row area? What's the holdup? Dr. Mungo. Yeah. Dr. Mungo. Maybe we can bring that to Occupy L.A. and they can help with getting a 99-cent store down in that Skid Row area. Dr. Mungo. You're absolutely right, Ishmael, because it's really ludicrous going into one of the stores on Skid Row right now and paying a dollar for a banana or 75 cents for one potato. When you go to the 99-cent store and you can get a 10-pound bag of potatoes for 99 cents. And they go there and they buy a 10-pound bag of potato and they sell each individual potato for 50 or 75 cents. Yes, sure. Absolutely. It's a shame that somebody on $221 a month has to spend their money on food that is overpriced. Because they really don't have the resources to go anywhere else. And maybe it's time for us to start talking to our city council members, our neighborhood council members who come from this area to let them know that that is high priority for the community. We need a 99-cent store down there as soon as possible. We've had enough excuses. Now we need a 99-cent store down in the Skid Row area. Also, let's talk a little. I want to get your opinion on the Safer City Initiative where they put a number of, they increased the amount of policemen in this Skid Row area. There's a lot of pro and con about that. I just want to get your feeling from that. Let's start with Dr. Monger. Well, you know, there's been some good results that have come out of that because with the Safer City Initiatives, we found some avenues to access. I have the traffic lights changed where they don't stay red for an hour. And then when you do cross, before you get across the street, it turns green and the police issue you a ticket for going against the light. So there have been some good results of that, you know, especially from L.A. CAN. I think they helped initiate that. Absolutely. And having the Metro bus. Stop down here. That's been a good result. Having them put trash cans and ashtrays or whatever around instead of not having that to our disposal. And you drop a cigarette butt and, you know, here you are arrested. You're ticketed or you spit, you know. Let me ask you this. Oh, you want to comment on that? Well, again, you know, L.A. CAN is doing such a wonderful job. Pete White, the whole organization. La La Lee. All of them doing great things to try and get services. Where's the bathrooms? You know, I mean, come on. You got 50,000 people on the streets and you don't have any resources for them to defecate and urinate. Let's talk about something else that's just in the news now. It's about they developed this program to keep a certain amount of drug dealers out. What? They made a lot of money. They made a lot of money. They made a lot of money. They made a lot of money. They made a list of about, I think it's about 70 or 80 drug dealers that cannot come into the recovery area. As a matter of fact, they found, they caught two of them, I think this week, in the recovery area and arrested. And there was a big article about that. And they said in the article that they feel they have successful programs because the other 78, they can't find them nowhere. They don't ran them away. So, what? What do you think about that? What do you think about, you know, the pros and cons of that? Because you can look at the good argument because the drug dealers that come down there in the recovery area to take advantage of people that's in programs, you know. So, what are your feelings about that? You know, that program's a failure. Yeah. Tell us why. The reason it's a failure because right here on Skid Row, and I'm saying this. Skid Row. Skid Row. Skid Row. Skid Row. Skid Row. Skid Row. Skid Row. The Lorraine Hotel is the biggest drug element on Skid Row on Fifth Street. And across the street is... And right across the street, right. Central division. Yeah. It's Popo, right there. And I know because I've been there at one time or the other and have purchased stuff. Okay. Good. I agree. This has been in existence since back in the 80s. Yes. Vice Knight Thursday nights. Now, let me also, as we roll on through, let me ask this. Something else that's in the news and it's related to Skid Row also is this concept that they call realignment, where there is a sense of prison system is in a court injunction to release, I mean, to reduce the inmate population. They're releasing a lot of non-immigrants. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. The prisons are so overcrowding, the deaths, the police corruption inside the prisons. It's a shame. And then these young men, most of them are young men, and most of them African-American men and Latino men, landing on the streets of Skid Row. How else? They don't have hardly any education. They don't have any opportunities of really getting a job. And the work that they wanted them to do is really grunt work, so they really don't see any other future. So what are you going to do with that? Yeah, there's no safety nets. There's no program in place at this time to deal with what is coming our way. And that's not just limiting it to the prisoners. It's also including our veterans. Now let me say this. Because again, before we move into our next section, before we get into reading about poetry we're coming up on, because two things that we've been discussing in relationship to the homeless and Skid Row problem is the possibility of the veterans' homeless problem becoming the vanguard of the whole homeless situation simply because of being in touch with more federal funds to set up programs for veterans that can be used for the homeless. And that's one thing we've been trying to push. And hopefully on this show in the future we get a chance to discuss that in detail. And the other thing is to push to get these religious organizations, the Jewish organizations, the Christians organizations, and the Muslims organizations to at least get out here and buy some of this empty property, these empty houses that we have, out here, and all kind of tax breaks that would come to these religious organizations and start programming to get some of these people off Skid Row and pull them into your congregation. These are some of the things that we hope that we get a chance to talk about on some of our future shows. But what I'd like to get into now, I want to get into Dr. Mongo to read a poem for us and we get a little discussion. And then Jamal will read a poem, get a little discussion. And then we move into our ether portion. Dr. Mongo. This poem is Pick Up Jacks. It's Charles' play. With a little bit of fiction coupled with fact, this poem deals with the subject of every man jack. Jumping jacks, cracker jacks, spring-heeled jacks, lumber jacks, steeple jacks, one-eyed jacks. But along came this jack from the far side, the tracks crawling, slithering past, security checks, a leader and perpetrator of terrorist attacks. This jack is on the loose running wild. Hither, thither, hawking, stalking, unsuspecting, prey, destructive ideologies, his forte for playmaking for a bad hair day. If you help me get him, hunt him down, force him underground, but keep him in sight, I'll make him a man. Make his life a miserable 24-7 nightmare. See, I had him once, but he got away. Disguised as a jacktar sitting on the dock of the bay, this jack is on the loose running wild. A murderous, psychopathic child, an egotistic monster with a jack-leg smile. He turned an inch into a mile. Now there's two jacks, three jacks. Pick up jacks. This jack doesn't jaw jack, eat flap jacks or cracker jacks. Play jack stones, jack straws or black jack. Dance the ball and jack or drink apple jack. Maybe every now and then a shot of jack as he plots his necks. A jack this, jack that, jack. A radical, fanatical, maniacal jack. Crackpot jackass jack looking for a jackpot. He'll jack you up, jack you off. High jack, sky jack, car jack, bush, whack, straight jack at you. This jack doesn't jaw jack, eat flap jacks or cracker jacks. As I said, dance the ball and jack, drink apple jack. Maybe now and then a shot of jack as he plots his necks attack. This jack is on the loose running wild. An anthrax atomic jack. Biological, chemical. Electromagnetic jack. Uranium, plutonium, nuclear jack. A homicidal, suicidal, genocidal jack. Five, six, seven jacks. Pick up jacks. This jack's a jacker with an international criminal jacket. A Wile E. Coyote, Tasmanian devil, blue beard jack, the ripper, jack, Kvorkian jack. Jack of all trades. Jack Smith, Jack lighter, a jack of lantern, jack of knaves. Jack in boxes. Fast as cheetahs, sly as foxes. Seven, eight, ten, twelve jacks. Pick up jack. This jack is nimble, lightning quick. With an AK-47 and jackknives wooing ancient fingertips. Ready to shoot, stab, main. Kick. Heel. Then hop away like a jack rabbit on a pogo stick. This is no Jack and Jill, Jack Jingle, Jack Sprat, Jackanory nursery rhyme. No Jack Frost, Jack in the Beanstalk fairy tale. This jack is on the loose running wild. Wrapped in a pea jacket, leather and flak jacket in the house that Jack built. No. Now some of these jacks will get away. While others are made to rue the day. Flesh from camouflaged hideaways. Chambered caves and catacombs, byways, highways and seaways. Two, four, six, eight jacks. Pick up jacks. 14, 20, 48 K jacks. The time is running out. It's infinite. Inventory time. You've got to hit the road, Jack. 10, 9, 8, 7 jacks. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. One jack. Pick up jack. Jack. Okay, let's move on to Jamal and then the discussion is going to go in the ether section. We talked about the Nation of Islam. This poem is called Facing East. It's dedicated to Lady Octavia. When in bended knee the point when earth's rotation splits the cosmos with radiant light and peace. And it shoots out brilliant colors of a new day with single-minded piousness and humility. We in our infinite creation in quite simple meditation. Search our inward hearts and souls for wisdom from above. How in the strain of mental, mathematical and scientific pontification. We grievously reach for heaven and rush to an untimely demise. The time too brief. The world too small. And the dance is done. In chants and singing reminiscences. The joyous sweated brow postulates. And sways to the rhythm of praises unimagined. On a blue planet. In a star cluster. Within one eon. Sleepwalkers among the mind. Face east for all eternity. Now our last section for today is from our voices from the ether portion of the show. You are listening to the music of Roger Carnes. I met Roger while I was homeless here in LA. He helped me a great deal. So when I get a chance and I know he's playing locally I give him a mention. Roger will be performing during the holiday month of December in Little Tokyo at the Far Bar. Thursday evening December the 3rd, 15th and 29th at 7pm. The Far Bar is located at 347 East Firth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. For more information call 213-617-9990. You can also visit Roger online at www.rogercarnes.cairnf.com. Roger is a famous singer and singer. He's a great singer. He's a great singer. He's a great singer. He's a great singer. Roger is entering entering entering entering entering entering entering entering entering entering entering entering station across from L.A. Trade Tech. Through the noise of the crowd, traffic, and general audio mayhem, I heard a distinct pitch, that kind of rusty soul on metal sound. I looked at the bus stop across the blue line terminal and that's when I saw the source of the sound being played. Crossing the street, I introduced myself to our guest and did not realize what a truly special person I found. Welcome to the ether, Ms. Bolden. Hello. I'm glad to be here. Okay. Recently you performed at one of our open mic performances and you not only brought to our stage your musical and storytelling abilities, you also set up a table with some of your arts and crafts. In passing, I overheard you have an Indian name, Wowee. Can you tell me something about that? Wowee came from my aunt, my father's sister. And we were sitting at a porch in the front house and all of a sudden she asked me to go retrieve a cup of water for her. And she said, I'm going to give you a new name. I said, okay. I said, well, what do you want to call me? She said, I'm going to call you Wowee. At the age of five, I was really embarrassed because my father gave me my name Carol and I'd grown accustomed to it. So I said, all right, Aunt Dorothy, if that's what you want to call me, that's fine with me. Thank you, Carol. You know, we've had an opportunity to talk before the show and I've been trying to just narrow down the best way to summarize your experience. Your experiences and what you bought already to our little clique at Drama Stage. So the best way to ask you this is, Carol, can you share with us some of your strength, hope and experience tonight very briefly for those that are out there listening that might not have that hope tonight? Well, first of all, I'd say I'm very honored to be in the group, in the company of all of these great people right now. Totally excited. Excited. My strength, as I go on my journey, I meet and see many people. The people that stand out the most to me are homeless. On my journey, I may have a cardboard box and a little cart, hand cart with food in it. I reach out to as many people as I can. I can't reach all of them, but I do my best. Roadblocks, hurdles, I've been there. But I make a lot of effort to reach out to veterans, which I look for, men and women. If there's cake that I'm able to bake, I offer cake. Conversation, just to say hello, but I don't approach too quickly. I just call out at a distance. Hey, are you all right? And as long as I can see them breathing, my day is complete. Well, thank you, Carol. Thank you. You brought to the table tonight just exactly what I think everybody needed to hear. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Well, this kind of just in, did, did it, did, did it, did. Anybody that is familiar with the Skid Row area, knows that usually on a Sunday afternoon, you can come down to the missions and you'd find a priest. And we used to call him Father Dollar. Well, Father Dollar passed away this evening, and his real name was Father Maurice Chase. And I have memories that go way back, but we really don't have the time to impart with those moments now. But instead, we're going to visit once again with Dr. Mongo. And Dr. Mongo seems to also be a fan of Vinnie the P as well. I grew up listening to many of his recordings on LPs. 33s. Back in the Pioneer Days. Back in the Pioneer Days. On old Sears, on a Sears record player turntable. Alright, so, Dr. Mongo is going to share another piece. He's going to kind of close this out, take us out of here for the last five minutes. The title of the piece is called Rape. I don't know what rape is about tonight, but I can tell you many years that I've been on the streets down here, I've seen a lot of it. And it's a hushed kind of thing. It's like you don't do anything about it. You see it and it just happens. And it's disgusting. Dr. Mongo. The night was drenched in blackness. Only fireflyers and cat eyes witnessed the life and death struggle taking place in a garbage littered alley. A purse emptied of contents. Lipstick, mascara, and money evidence splattered blood. High heeled shoes towed each other. A scuffle accompanied by pants and moans punctuated a deafening silence. The woman's eyes bruised and blank. Lips smeared with the corpuscle of victory tasted bits of flesh along the ridges of her gums and between her teeth. The stickiness of blood stained her palm and fingers. She dared not engage the dead man's face. Who had tried to rape her as she pulled the knife from his chest. Wow. Thank you. Now that's a horror story. See? That's Edgar Allen Poe kind of stuff. Stuff of poetry. But you know the thing is that it's really happening. Absolutely. Part of our dialogue is part of our dialogue today. You know, most recently Penn State and so forth. I mean, my goodness. And Mungo always he gets to the grid of it. Okay, we have time for one more piece from Jamal. And Jamal's going to do a piece called Inner Sketches. Yes, I'm going to try and reflect a little bit on that. Freeze frame frame. The roughest game. Spanish Casa Mi Casa Mucho una Puerta Toasting champagne in sleek limousines. How can it be love when there is no rainbow? In some distant space wine is being shed instead of blood. In some distant space bread is being broken instead of hearts. In some distant place fish loaves feed two hungry bodies. And every empty mind take time to refresh. But at street level there is no time to think. Just jungle laws, dog eat dog, survival by any means necessary. It is some distant place. Freedom is slipping from the bottle, sipping white port wine and striking a match to a pipe dreams of slow death. Where is my rain? Where is my rain? Where is my rainbow? Some will never Thank you, Jamal. Thank you, Tyrone. Thank you, everybody. Okay. So we're going to give it back to you, Melvin. Thank you. I would like to thank Michael and Irene on the line. Let's have a hand for them. Our in-studio guests, Dr. Mongo, Jamal Al-Salam, and Carol Bolton. And a special thank you to Jeremy and the Skid Row Studio. Yay! Come on, Jeremy! Now, you can check out our past shows on iTunes, Twitter, Facebook, Stitcher, or www.dramastage-kunran.org. Thank you for tuning in to the Kunran Report, and I leave you with a song that opens the show. Talking About Revolution by Tracy Chapman. Don't you know we're talking about a revolution It sounds like a whisper Don't you know we're talking about a revolution It sounds like a whisper Don't you know we're talking about a revolution While they're standing in the world's red lines Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation Wasting time in the outflow of the lines Sitting around waiting for a promotion Don't you know we're talking about a revolution It sounds like a whisper And we're people gonna rise up And get this, yeah We're people gonna rise up And take what's theirs Don't you know you better run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run Oh, I said you better run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run Cause finally we're talking about a revolution It's finally the tables are starting to turn Talking about a revolution It's finally the tables are starting to turn Talking about a revolution Talking about a revolution While they're standing in the world's red lines Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation Wasting time in the outflow of the lines Sitting around waiting for a promotion Don't you know we're talking about a revolution It sounds like a whisper And finally the tables are starting to turn Talking about a revolution It's finally the tables are starting to turn Talking about a revolution Oh, no Talking about a revolution Oh, no Talking about a revolution Oh, no