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By Jon Cohen: The world of social media is constantly evolving, with new platforms emerging and old ones changing their focus. In the past year alone, we have seen several significant changes in the social-media landscape. One of the most notable changes is the rise of short-form video. Platforms such as TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels have become enormously popular as users increasingly turn to social media for quick and easy entertainment. Another major change is the decline of Meta’s Facebook. The company has been losing users for several years now as younger generations gravitate toward newer platforms. Facebook is trying to regain its footing by investing in new features and products, but it remains to be seen if these efforts will be successful. The acquisition of X (Twitter) by Elon Musk has also been a major change in the social-media landscape. Musk has promised to make X (Twitter) a more open and free platform for speech, and he has already implemented several alternations. One of the most conspicuous changes implemented has been the removal of certain content moderation practices, which he argues were stifling free speech. Under Musk's leadership, X (Twitter) has become more lenient in terms of content policies, allowing a wider range of opinions and viewpoints to be expressed on the platform. While this has been a welcomed change by those advocating for unrestricted free speech, it has also raised concerns about the spread of harmful and/or false information on the platform. Additionally, since Musk acquired X (Twitter), he has introduced a paid verification service. This service allows users to pay a fee for a verified badge on their profiles. Historically, X (Twitter) offered verification only to prominent figures, celebrities, and influential personalities; this new feature expands verification to a broader user base, meaning anyone can be verified as long as you pay a monthly fee. This leaves X (Twitter) open to fake verified profiles and could potentially lead to a two-tiered system on the platform, where those who can afford it can have more credibility. The implementation and impact of these changes will be closely watched as X (Twitter) continues to evolve under Musk's leadership. In addition to the stalwart platforms of the past few decades, we have also seen the emergence of many new social networks. These newer platforms offer some unique features and experiences that appeal to different users while using many of the familiar design styles, thus giving users a look and feel that they are already used to. Only in time we will see if these new platforms will be a serious threat to the mega social-media companies. In this article, we will look at some of the emerging social networks, namely Bluesky, Mastodon, and Instagram Threads. Bluesky Bluesky is a project funded by X (Twitter) that is developing a new decentralized social-media platform. Bluesky is still in development, meaning it is a closed beta and therefore new users can only join by invitation. It is designed to be more open and transparent than traditional social networks. Bluesky will also focus on addressing some of the challenges of social media, such as the spread of misinformation and hate speech. By using a decentralized architecture, Bluesky will not be owned or controlled by a single company. Instead, it will be a network of independent servers that are run by different organizations. This will make it more difficult for any one company to censor or manipulate the platform. Some features include: An open-source code base: The code for Bluesky will be open-source, which means that anyone can contribute to its development. This will make the platform more transparent and accountable. A focus on groups: Bluesky offers several groups so users can tailor their feed to the content that they want to see. So far, these groups range from cat pics to Queen Bookworms to Treksky (a Star Trek feed). Because Bluesky is still beta, any and all of these features can change in the future. Mastodon Mastodon is a decentralized social network that is already in use by millions of people around the world. Mastodon is based on the ActivityPub protocol, which is another open-source communication protocol. Mastodon is similar to X (Twitter) in terms of its features, but it is more decentralized and, for some, not as user-friendly and not as easy to start using. Some of the key features of Mastodon include: A distributed architecture: Mastodon is a distributed network of servers, which means that there is no single point of failure. This makes it more resistant to censorship and manipulation. An open-source code base: The code for Mastodon is open-source, which means that anyone can contribute to its development. This makes the platform more transparent and accountable. A focus on community: Mastodon is designed to promote community and collaboration. Users can create their own instances of Mastodon, which can be customized to meet the needs of their community. Mastodon stands as a prominent, decentralized social network utilized by a substantial user base worldwide. With an emphasis on community engagement and resilience against censorship and manipulation, it continues fostering vibrant and customizable communities. As Mastodon continues to gain traction and evolve, only in time will we see what the worldwide adoption is. Threads Threads is a new app, built by the Instagram team, for sharing text updates and joining public conversations. It's a text-based social-media platform that allows users to post and reply to threads that can include text, links, photos, or videos. Threads is designed to be a more casual and intimate way to connect with friends and family. It's a place where you can share your thoughts and feelings without having to worry about curating your feed or getting the perfect photo. Threads is a breeze to set up because it uses your existing Instagram credentials. Once logged in, a feed displaying threads from your followed accounts will be accessible alongside recommended content from emerging creators. Threads posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes in length. Some of the benefits of using Threads: It's a great way to join in on conversations about the things you're passionate about: Threads has a variety of public threads where you can share your thoughts and ideas on a wide range of topics. It's easy to use: Threads is a very user-friendly app. It's easy to create and post threads, reply to other threads, and like and repost threads. It's available on both iOS and Android: Threads is available for download on both the App Store and Google Play. If you're looking for a new way to connect with your friends and family, or if you're looking for a place to join in on conversations about the things you're passionate about, then Threads is a great option. Current Social Media Trends An increasing focus on privacy: Users are becoming more concerned about their privacy, and this is leading social-media platforms to make changes to their privacy policies. The growing popularity of live streaming: Live streaming is becoming increasingly popular on social media as users want to connect with others in real-time. The rise of social commerce: Social commerce is the use of social-media platforms to sell products and services. This trend is growing rapidly as users are increasingly using social media to discover and purchase products. In the ever-evolving world of social media, we have witnessed remarkable changes in recent times. Short-form video content has taken center stage, with platforms such as TikTok, YouTube shorts, and Instagram Reels captivating users seeking quick entertainment. Simultaneously, Facebook faces a declining user base, and the acquisition of X (Twitter) by Elon Musk leaves a question of how its long-term impact will unfold, especially among younger generations. As a result, mainstream social-media companies rejuvenate their platforms with new features and technologies. This, combined with an overall shift to a more open and free speech–focused platform, is bringing intrigue to the future landscape of this industry. Furthermore, the rise of new social networks—such as Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads—showcases the diverse and evolving options available to users, each with its unique features and potential. As privacy concerns escalate and live streaming and social commerce gain prominence, the social-media landscape is set for intriguing shifts, promising an exciting journey in the years ahead. Jon Cohen’s contributions can be found on radio, TV, and print media. Jon makes “geek speak” understandable for the masses and has been a voice in the tech community for over 20 years. A former “Geek Squad” member as well as an “Apple Genius,” he offers a fresh perspective on technology, photography, and social media. Twitter: @cohenHD

By Flapper Press Poetry Café: The Flapper Press Poetry Café continues a new series of articles about favorite lines of poetry and the poets who wrote them. We’re reaching out to poets, writers, and lovers of poetry to submit their favorite lines of poetry and tell us why you love them. Check out our submission guidelines and send us your favorites! We'll feature your submission sometime this year on our site! This week, our submission comes from Flapper Press contributor Maril Crabree. Ross Gay From Maril Crabtree: There’s one outstanding reason why I love Ross Gay’s poems: they make me feel glad to be alive. They are full of the intimate joy of being human. They extol the ordinary and transform the extravagant into the commonplace. The operative word here is “feel.” Reading a Ross Gay poem is a whole-body emotional experience. Begin with his famous “To the Fig Tree on 9th and Christian,” which narrates the story of an ordinary neighborhood fig tree and what happens when people get together to gather the figs on the sidewalk beneath. I dare you not to break into a grin somewhere about two-thirds along and be full-on gleefully smiling by the end, or maybe, as I did the first time I read it, both smiling and crying. Ross Gay’s facility with image, sound, and sensory detail bring yet more life to be bitten into, munched on, even swallowed whole. When I read him, I feel like I’m in the living room of his soul. It’s almost impossible to choose one or two lines from his poetry. He writes in sheer run-on mountainous breathless phrases. That said, I’ll give you a small chunk from the "fig tree" poem: I was a little tipsy on the dance of the velvety heart rolling in my mouth pulling me down and down into the oldest countries of my body where I ate my first fig from the hand of a man who escaped his country by swimming through the night Acclaimed poet and writer Ross Gay has authored four books of poetry, three collections of essays, and is the winner of numerous awards, including the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His work deals with intensity of emotion, his language vivid and visceral. Gay's body of work turns its focus to family, friendship, and life's complexity, both sorrowful and full of joy. To read more about Ross Gay and his work: Rossgay.net Poets.org: Ross Gay Literary Arts - Get To Know Everybody Reads Author Ross Gay Maril Crabtree’s book Fireflies in the Gathering Dark received the 2018 Kansas Notable Books award and was finalist for the AAUW Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award. Her work has appeared in journals such as Kalliope, Earth’s Daughters, I-70 Review, The DMQ Review, Coal City Review, and Adanna. She served as poetry editor for Kansas City Voices and contributing editor for Heartland! Poems of Love, Resistance & Solidarity.

By Lorraine Caputo: The Bananero stands, right hand on hip, momentarily taking a rest from his work, a racimo of yellow-green bananas atop his left shoulder. He winces under its weight. Blue pants held up by a yellow rope, large bare feet planted firmly upon his pedestal. The bronze-black skin of his naked chest gleams in the rain, his back to the great port built by that Octopus, United Fruit Company. He faces its plantations of the Motagua River Valley. Around him the steady shower has driven away the usual makeshift market stalls. Around him the traffic honks, bathing him in fumes. Across the bridge that spans a stagnant river clogged with trash and banana-tree trunks, golden-tan runoff streaks the green-black water. The rain cannot wash away the stream’s rancid smell. Homes hang along its banks. Down the neatly gridded streets, into the former Company town, crisscrossed by old rail lines leading to the passenger station and those branching off to the dock. Garbage strewn deep along the sides of the road rots in the mud. In front of the rubble of the old market, women vendors sit under dripping multi-colored parasols. Garífuna and ladinas sit side by side selling pan de coco and tortillas, plums, and mangos. Bicycles and motor scooters splash mud up from the stone-block pavement. Their riders hold umbrellas aloft with one hand. A red delivery wagon drawn by a lone chestnut mare rolls by. The driver tips his Panama hat with the twist of a clove-colored wrist. On the other side is an ad for the historic Hotel del Norte: restaurant, pool … bar, private bath … sea view. The former Hotel Cine, Caribbean blue, sags its three stories into the earth. A descendent of that Bananero sits in a ground-floor doorway, sewing a jacket. His gnarled deep-brown fingers guide the leather beneath the needle. His thin legs pump the treadle, his white nappy head bobs in rhythm with the machine. Semi-trucks from the fincas rumble by down towards the port. A sign proclaims: THIS ROAD PAVED BY COBIGUA (aka Chiquita … aka United Fruit). Rear-wheel protectors flap their blue Chiquita seals. On the side of each trailer, the Banana Lady gracefully raises her left hand. She balances her tropical fruit hat with a hesitant smile. Bunches of bananas surround her. These trucks idle, jamming the road, waiting to enter the shipping yard. An armed guard opens the gate for each, registering the load. The containers stack one upon another in front of a small stand of baby banana trees. Across the way, in another yard, the Dole trucks drop trailers awaiting their ship to come in. On the sides, the Dole sun shines in the drizzle. Across from that gate is an office: STANDARD FRUIT OF GUATEMALA (aka Dole). Two white ships lay berthed at wharf-side. On their bows, in blue letters, is written: CHIQUITA LAS AMERICAS. Banana-yellow cranes reach for the containers and place them on deck, stacking them three high, blue seal upon blue seal. The spume of dark-grey smoke from the ships’ stacks is almost invisible against the clouded sky. Two giant white tugboats head for one ship ready to be escorted out of the hill-rimmed bay to the sea to begin its three-day journey, bringing these bananas to U.S. tables. On the other side of Amatique Bay is Santo Tomás de Castilla. From there Bandegua (a.k.a. DelMonte) ships its yellow fruit to northern markets. The old Hotel del Norte, the color of the flesh of bananas and trimmed in banana-leaf green. Built in the early years of this port, at the turn of the century, the wooden building bows with its age. Staircases rise a-keel. I can almost hear the echoing footfalls, the murmured plots of the Company barons—how to obtain more lands in the territory disputed by Guatemala and Honduras. Whatever it takes for those fincas, the railroads, the profits—be it negotiation … or war. I can smell their Havana cigars in this light and airy place near the sea—and their pier … the tinkle of ice in glass, the aroma of rum. The dining room—massive wooden sideboard–lined with wine goblets and dessert cups, tables dressed in white, the plates and bowls, the silverware perfectly set. A waiter attends his guests, towel over left arm. His skin appears blacker against his white jacket. At evening time, down by the rubble, a woman and her daughter go from restaurant to shop begging for alms. The child stumbles along on the toeless stubs of her feet. (And I wonder: is her birth defect, perhaps, caused by the pesticides used on those fincas?) Outside on the sidewalk sing blue-suited, blue-scarf-tied mariachi. The wet roads glisten under the lights of stores and the rare streetlamp. All night, the sky above the shipping port glows eerily orange. Lorraine Caputo is a wandering troubadour whose poetry appears in over 400 journals on six continents, and 23 collections of poetry – including In the Jaguar Valley (dancing girl press, 2023) and Caribbean Interludes (Origami Poems Project, 2022). She also authors travel narratives, articles and guidebooks. Her writing has been honored by the Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada (2011) and thrice nominated for the Best of the Net. Caputo has done literary readings from Alaska to the Patagonia. She journeys through Latin America with her faithful knapsack Rocinante, listening to the voices of the pueblos and Earth. Find out more about Lorraine Caputo: Facebook: lorrainecaputo.wanderer Instagram: @lorrainecaputoc Latinamericawanderer.wordpress.com

By Annie Newcomer: The Flapper Press Poetry Café features the work of poets from across the globe. This week, we talk to Kansas City poet Vicki Swanson! Vicki Swanson has written poems for as long as she can remember. Her childhood poems were about family, nature, or were prompted by books she had read. As an elementary school teacher, she wrote poems for her students to enhance lessons. Now retired, she writes in response to things that grieve, frustrate, or challenge her, including a series of more than 20 poems related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Vicki lives in Kansas City, MO, with her husband Steve, a musician and retired teacher, and their two cats and a dog. They have four grown children and three delightful granddaughters. We reached out to Vicki to ask her about her work, passions and influences. Please meet Vicki Swanson! Annie Newcomer: Welcome to the Flapper Press Poetry Café, Vicki. Tell us why you think storytelling is so important. Vicki Swanson: Why do I think storytelling is important? Through storytelling, listeners can learn about the world and life and science and people and be entertained and be engaged at the same time. And by storytelling, I find that I understand myself better. AN: I noticed that you live in Kansas City. The Missouri Poet Laureate, Maryfrances Wagner, visited us as she started her tenure. She has offered a challenge in Missouri to write haiku as a way to bring communities together and open the door for people to engage with poetry. I was wondering if you would participate and if you might share any haiku that you have written. VS: I did submit a haiku to the contest: In the pre-dawn dark sweet Robin shouts good morning, shy owl sighs good night This was an early morning experience this past summer, and I was so charmed to hear a robin and an owl both calling at the same time outside my window. AN: You mentioned that you started writing poetry as a child. Who introduced you to poetry, and did you save any of these poems? VS: I don’t remember who introduced me to poetry, but my Swedish grandmother, Rose Gustafson, strongly encouraged me to write, and she made two scrapbooks decorated with cut-outs from greeting cards for me to write my poems in. I still have those scrapbooks. AN: Do you write poetry longhand in a notebook, or do you use a computer? Our readers enjoy hearing about featured poets' process. VS: I have written a lot of poetry longhand, on any paper available at the time, but now I mostly use my computer for the ease in editing. I remember one time I was sitting at a very long traffic light and started jotting down on a scrap of paper the colors of the cars that passed me as I was stuck waiting. I later turned that into a list poem. AN: Is poetry writing a solitary process for you, or are you in a workshop with other poets? VS: Writing has always been a solitary process for me. I have friends I share my poems with for feedback but haven’t done any workshop writing. AN: That you were an elementary school teacher caught my attention because I think that teachers of young children have a huge impact on how a child will experience poetry and then walk with poetry in their adult years. What are some of the ways that you nurtured your students in the art of poetry? VS: I was a classroom teacher for nine years before I became solely an English Language Arts teacher in a foreign-language charter school. My first year I taught 2nd and 3rd graders, and I basically had to create my own curriculum. So I established a poetry unit for both grades to be taught during the month of April every year, and I continued that practice for 14 years. The students listened to, read, talked about, and wrote poetry in a variety of styles over the course of the month, and through this process I was able to demonstrate and instruct on the characteristics of poetry: rhyme, rhythm, repetition, meter, metaphor and simile, mood and imagery, as well as vocabulary building. At the end of the unit, we would have a celebration and invite parents to come hear the children read their poems. Beside the unit, we had a weekly "poem of the week” that might reflect our unit of study or the season or a holiday. I also found or wrote poems to help understand or memorize grammar concepts. I always started the unit by announcing that in poetry, one gets to break the rules. Young learners get so locked in to the rules of writing (e.g., capitalization, punctuation, complete sentences) that many times they just freeze, afraid to fail. But every year I had at least one student who had barely written a word all year who found a writer’s voice in poetry. AN: How did you make time to write when you were teaching? How does writing figure into your schedule now that you are retired? VS: I don’t write as a discipline. My poems come about sporadically, usually in response to things happening in the world; for example, I wrote 23 COVID poems during the COVID lockdown. Poetry gives me an outlet for emotions, such as the poems I wrote after the explosion of the Challenger, the massacre in Uvalde, and the death of my brother. But some are narratives of events, trips I've taken, even responses to books I’m reading. I rarely wrote during my time as a classroom teacher but wrote a lot as an ELA teacher because of the poetry components in my lessons. (One time I wrote 4 different iterations of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” for a test question asking students to identify the styles of each poem.) AN: Please think of a question that might be important for us to know about your collection of poems before we read your poetry and then answer your own question for us. VS: The question you might consider is: “How do you feel you have matured as writer over the years? How do your more recent poems compare with earlier poems?” My earlier poems tended to be more stream-of-consciousness, with fragmented sentences and irregular spacings. It would be up to the reader to try to figure out what I was saying and why. (After all, I, as writer, had done my part!) The poetry I write now is almost always in complete sentences, and line-length is based on context or natural phrasing. My readers don’t have to guess what I am trying to say—I offer it up to them in narrative form, with mood maybe stressed more than image. If I have a story to tell or a feeling to share, I want to be sure it is communicated so the reader understands. AN: Vicki, thank you so much for visiting us in the Flapper Press Poetry Café and sharing about your poetic life. Now it is time for me to invite you to share your poetry with their backstories for our readers. This is a poem about an antique cast-iron bank in the shape of a puppy that belonged to my mother. The bank has since been gifted to my daughter, who also has a daughter, and so the story continues. Connections One hundred years in memories has taken some toll. The paint is sadly chipped—it’s a tri-color now— and the screw has been replaced by one too shiny and too short But the cast iron pieces are intact, and the molded features still show clearly the worry in the eyes of the puppy as he contemplates the bee on his haunch. Despite the jaunty blue bow at his neck, his brow is wrinkled, his ears and his tail are down; he is not a happy pup. I was four when I found the doggy bank. Immediately I was charmed, my sympathies aroused by his expressive eyes. My mother said the bank belonged to her. I could keep it, she said. I loved the dog. I could not have known then that sixty years later I would cherish it as my oldest possession, that I would still follow the gaze of the doggie’s worried eyes and look for the bee on his haunch. Somehow, when every other childhood toy had been lost or forgotten, the doggie bank stayed a part of my life. My daughter put pennies in the bank, too. She didn’t question the chipped paint or shiny screw. She looked at the puppy’s eyes, as I did, touched the bee with her fingertips, and thought her own thoughts. The bank still rattles with coins as it has for a hundred years. But more than pennies and dimes, it holds something that won’t be exchanged on a whim for toys or ice cream. The bank connects the childhood of three— mother, daughter, and daughter again, each a dreamer, each remembering something about being a little girl with a special doggie bank. And good memories, like good dogs, stay. The horror of a gunman in a school reminded me of the yearly active shooter drills they would conduct at school. The police officers providing the training encouraged the teachers to arm themselves and their students with whatever they might have at hand. A Note from the Teacher Dear Mr. and Mrs.--- I tried. It shouldn’t have happened. It never should happen. Your daughter was so excited about summer break and all the fun she would have. She told me her plans just today, smiling that big, happy smile. I tried. I locked the door and told them all to get down. I was ready to throw a stapler or shoot wasp spray like they told us to do. The noise was deafening, the shots and the pounding and children crying— They didn’t tell us about the noise, how disorienting that could be. And none of it worked, nothing. We couldn’t run, and there was no place to hide. I put myself between the shooter and your daughter, and that didn’t work. The bullets that ripped her to pieces tore me apart as well. The bullets that took your child away from you took me from my own child. (and I hope my daughter won’t hate me, won’t blame me for leaving her motherless, trying to protect some other little girl.) But I tried. Don’t say I was brave, don’t call me a hero. Say it like it really is: I was murdered, slaughtered, cut down where I stood, as all of us were, by someone who went looking for death today. Sincerely yours, Mrs.— This poem was written as a celebration of life for my brother, Eric Gustafson, who died from COVID-19 in 2020. Eric was a musician and a composer and also a devout Buddhist. Concerto for Eric Like an Orff ensemble, the songbirds wait for their entrance first the dear robins, the early birds, then the cardinals whistling “breakfast now!” The piping sparrows come next, and the mourning doves (the oboes in the group). The claxon crow cuts through the sweetness and the brassy blue jays yell “snake! snake!” In certain months you may hear geese high overhead —their cries take my breath away— Birds shout in call-and-response from tree to tree and then, gloriously, the full sound, all parts at once, forte, fortissimo, accelerando. This is the purest music. Or, how about this? The earliest flowers scatter patches and dashes of yellow and purple and white. And then we see pinks, reds, oranges blues and greens— soon, masses of color in shocking array Yellow with scarlet? Purple with orange? And why not? Who made up those other rules? Water will not stop for a stone in the river, not one stone nor many stones, but its energy changes and the smooth current becomes a roaring, crashing cascade tumbling rocks one against another before spilling out into the lake, quiet water again perhaps, for a time. Water is not expected to conform to rules. No more is wind, nor rain nor the stars in the sky, or tree bark, thistles, sweet-smelling milkweed, starlings or hornets. All are the essence of the music, making their entrance as soloists or ensemble in a constant cacophony of being, of celebration. We, rule-followers from our first awareness, we grow to embrace the lessons of nature, to learn that discordance is part of the blessed whole (indeed, the idea of discordance is a human conceit) and to mix colors, mix textures, to mix life experiences visually, aurally, tactilely, all senses fired, to celebrate the purest music. I was the daughter of a chemistry teacher and grew up with a deep respect for science. This poem celebrates Stephen Hawking after his passing in 2018. What If? Just to be clear— I do not believe God sends trouble or pain to test or to punish us. I do not believe catastrophes are God’s will. Things happen, and we cope. Fifty years ago a man named Stephen got his death sentence —Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS— and his active mind was trapped in his increasingly failing body. “Just a few years,” the doctors told him. Of course, doctors don’t know everything. And those few years turned into decades. But over time, Stephen stopped walking, stopped talking, stopped moving, mostly. A friend of mine, a Roman Catholic, Told me once that we die in God’s time, we die when our work is finished. So, what if? What if Stephen was needed here, now, to ask the questions? As his body locked up, he was freed, in a sense, to ask those questions. What if God, not known for easy fixes, gave the work to abled persons, inspiring scientists and engineers to design and create more and still more adaptations for Stephen, so his unlimited curiosity and imagination could expand to contain the universe? Left to his thoughts and his questions, through those adaptations, the twitch of his cheek was eloquence. And what if, somewhere else, Stephen has joined Galileo and Leonardo, Johannes, Sir Isaac, Albert and others, To talk things over? They have the answers, now. Annie Klier Newcomer founded a not-for-profit, Kansas City Spirit, that served children in metropolitan Kansas for a decade. Annie volunteers in chess and poetry after-school programs in Kansas City, Missouri. She and her husband, David, and the staff of the Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens are working to develop The Emily Dickinson Garden in hopes of bringing art and poetry educational programs to their community. Annie helms the Flapper Press Poetry Café—dedicated to celebrating poets from around the world and to encouraging everyone to both read and write poetry! If you enjoyed this Flash Poet interview, we invite you to explore more here! The Flapper Press Poetry Café Presenting a wide range of poetry with a mission to promote a love and understanding of poetry for all. We welcome submissions for compelling poetry and look forward to publishing and supporting your creative endeavors. Submissions may also be considered for the Pushcart Prize. Please review our Guidelines before submitting! Submission Guidelines

By Elizabeth Gracen: Actress Adrienne Wilkinson has "relaunched" the series Xena: Warrior Princess on Tiktok, returning to her role as Eve, the daughter of Xena—originally played by Lucy Lawless but who now "co-stars" as a life-size cardboard cutout—in this highly original, comedic series. It's a whole lot of bonkers fun and truly exemplifies the power of creativity to flourish even amidst a prolonged actor's strike. Clever and silly, the series is a love-letter to the dedicated Xena fandom, both old and new, creating a quirky commentary on modern life from the perspective of the ancient warriors. It's a throwback look at the original series and a cheeky take on a storyline that reveals the series' iconic characters tangled in unresolved familial issues. Xena: Warrior Princess, a fantasy television series that ran from 1995–2001, became (in its second season) the most-watched syndicated show in the world, airing in more than 100 countries. And, like many syndicated series during that time (remember Highlander, anyone?), loyal fans have remained true and desirous for more. Turns out that Adrienne Wilkinson is doing her best to make Xena fans happy. Wilkinson envisions her TikTok series as a surprise "Season 7" and brings the Warrior Princess and frustrated daughter to modern-day Los Angeles, where life in Tinseltown appears to be just as challenging as ancient Rome. Xena shows her frustration by constantly giving her daughter the silent treatment—refusing to be impressed with anything. Additionally, Xena cast members and surprise guests join in on the fun as the bite-sized episodes progress. The series runs for a limited time, so I reached out to Adrienne to talk about her recent creative endeavors and what it was like to act with a cardboard cutout! Elizabeth Gracen: Adrienne, we’ve known each other a long time and have collaborated on many projects over the years. I have to tell you, straight up, that your latest venture is one of the most creative you’ve endeavored. Congrats! Can you give me your elevator pitch on this series? Adrienne Wilkinson: Thank you so much for taking time to explore this creative adventure. The short answer is that Eve and her moms (Xena and Gabrielle) have moved to modern-day Southern California. Xena is not happy about it. She is spending time with me (Eve) in Los Angeles, where I am doing everything I can think of to bring some of her old joy back. Despite all of my efforts, she is not giving an inch, refusing to speak to me . . . so I just keep trying harder. The series has 4 parts: Showing my mom modern life in Southern California. Trying online therapy to tackle our issues, with mixed results from several incredible therapists (including a fantastic appearance from the glorious Elizabeth Gracen!). A look back at our history via family photos and a new perspective on our old life Trying modern trends in our attempt at "influencing"— because we can no longer make a living as warlords. Our outings and attempts are almost always a failure as we stumble our way through, but I hope it also brings laughter to watch us struggle to find our place in modern life. EG: Xena has such a loyal fandom and have been incredibly supportive over the years. It must feel great to still have their support after all this time. AW: Yes! There was a Xena-themed day in support of the writers' strike this summer at the entrance to Universal Studios. Hundreds of fans showed up in support. Renee O'Connor (who played Gabrielle) and I were there, as was a Xena cardboard standup. When we were getting our photos taken together, I laughed because I thought it looked like my "mom" and I were on vacation, just visiting the studio. That was the seed of the idea. About a week later, I saw the photos, and they were just as funny as I'd imagined. I immediately started riffing about what that summer vacay with my mom could look like: Xena bringing her weapons everywhere, not understanding modern life, etc. It made me giggle, and I thought, well, because of the strikes, I currently have time on my hands, so it's now or never. I filmed for 5 weeks over the summer before launching the series on Tiktok. The experience has been delightful and challenging, absurd and heartwarming. EG: I have to tell you that during my family summer vacation, and you were staying at my house, there was a moment when my kid came in and told me, “I think I just saw Adrienne with a giant, life-sized cutout of what looks like Xena!” It was quite a moment to see you on our security camera with it. Fantastic! I’m curious about how the process of filming it began. Did you have scripted ideas, or did you just wing a few to see what you had? AW: Ha! I had wondered if you would see me. You must have thought I was losing my mind! What I was doing was ridiculous, and I was too embarrassed to be talking about it yet, as I was still trying to explore if the idea would work or not. The very first day I filmed with the cut-out, I was at the beach, and a teenage boy came up, so excited to get his picture taken with us, and I was so unprepared, but also realized that he love for Xena was still there and that the effort would definitely be bring joy. The original series ended in a way that left many Xenites heartbroken, as Xena died a valiant death. In this Tiktok extension, Gabrielle and I made a deal with the Gods to revive my mom, and they agreed, but only if they could whoosh us off into the future to be out of their hair. So that's where we are now. It's a mix of real-life shout-outs and imagined circumstances. Personally, my favorite episodes are when we start unpacking the family trauma (because WOW did our characters go through a lot) and our attempts at being modern-day influencers (and constantly failing because we simply don't understand modern life); our life experiences are so markedly different from modern day that it is inevitably chuckle inducing. When I first had the idea, I thought it would be impossible, because where in the world does one find a Xena standup? I reached out to one friend for advice, and it turns out she had one in storage in her garage! The entire idea came together so quickly and easily, it felt undeniable that I had to see it through. I decided to jump in immediately while I had momentum and before I allowed myself to second guess or stop myself from embarrassment. EG: You’ve put a lot of time into creating these vids, what has that process been like? What have you learned? AW: Oh, the lessons are endless. In practical terms, this greatly deepened my abilities with editing. I also didn't realize the foolish production schedule I'd put myself on. I released 3 episodes a day for 6 weeks, and it nearly killed me! I thought filming in advance would make it easy, but each part of the process (plus the learning curve of Tiktok, as I was brand new to the platform) was intense and required more time and effort than I had expected. And in deeper terms, it allowed me to be brave and champion my own creative ideas. I've released more than 150 videos at this point, and all of them are my ideas and done via improv. Within a week of the main idea landing, I had nearly 30 pages of episode-ideas I wanted to attempt, so I jumped right in to see if it would work. The episodes are entirely improv-ed, and, and with rare exceptions, are all done in 1 take. It made me trust my talents in a new way and forced me look at my resources differently, which has been quite empowering. It has also been wonderful to have a creative outlet while the business has been shut down due to the strikes. It has allowed me to embrace "play" and to show different sides of my personality. EG: What do you hope people come away with by screening this series? AW: Mainly, I hope this is bringing a bit of much-needed joy into the world. Being a previous fan of the series is not a requirement to enjoy it; you only need a desire to escape real life for a moment and to suspend your disbelief that my mom is by my side even if she appears to be cardboard—ha! I also wanted to make it as a shout-out for the lovely Xenites who have followed my career (along with the entire cast) and have always been so lovely and supportive. For more than 20 years, I've hosted charity events that have been overwhelmingly supported by Xena fans. In fact, part of my Tiktok series is made possible by the fact that I have Xena-merchandise that is donated each year, where we raise funds for families in need. Having these pieces on hand at the moment in preparation for the 2024 charity raffle has meant many additional storylines and an extra level of connection to the show and authenticity. In a way, it's been a group project with the fans. I also incorporate feedback and ideas that they have brought into the mix. EG: I don’t know if there is an end goal for this series, but please tell me about your other creative endeavors—what we can look for? AW: The overall goal of the series is to get "mom" to talk to me again; we shall see if that happens. I shall keep trying, and I think my odds are quite good. Stay tuned! My expectation is this project will come to its natural conclusion soon, and I shall continue to use that space to share additional content with my talented friends and co-creators (already in the works!). Acting-wise, I have three new videogames that are in the works and should be released soon, I'm part of a documentary being released next year, and depending on how long the strike continues, I have a project that is expecting to film this fall. Of course you can find the latest information and access to all my projects, social media, and other resources via www.adriennewilkinson.com. EG: Thanks for talking to me, friend. Good luck with all you are doing. Can’t wait to see what you come up with next! AW: Thank you again for chatting up this venture (and for letting me use your front yard 😂)! Elizabeth Gracen is the owner of Flapper Press & Flapper Films.

By Elizabeth Gracen: It comes around just when you can’t take the summer heat anymore, and it flies by all too soon, but when the autumnal equinox briefly brings the day and night to equal lengths and one senses a change in the wind, I’m a happy person. In recent polls, autumn sits atop the list of favorite seasons, well ahead of the others, so I know that I’m not alone in my fondness for the fall. I also like a little intention-setting ritual here and there, especially during a season change—you can imagine what I come up with during celestial events like a solar eclipse, but that's a story for another time. This particular autumnal ritual that I’ve created for myself is far less complicated and just as rewarding. I’ve been going to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena for over twenty years. Like most museums in the LA area, there is a free admission day—which is obviously the most crowded time to visit and not my favorite time to stroll the galleries—but it couldn’t be helped this year. It’s my own little pilgrimage to stand in front of Autumn: The Chestnut Gatherers to contemplate the color, the pattern, and the peaceful, grounded feeling it gives me when I look at it. The artist, Georges Lacombe, was a member of the French Les Nabis brotherhood of artists inspired by Paul Gauguin and Paul Cézanne in the late 1800s. These Synthetist painters, or post-Impressionists (along with Paul Sérusier, Édouard Vuillard, Émile Bernard, Louis Anquetin, and others), experimented with the use of color and emphasized two-dimensional flat patterns inspired by Japanese art, intentionally breaking away from Impressionism and paving the way toward what would eventually become Modernism. Autumn: The Chestnut Gathers was painted by Lacombe for his mother-in-law in 1894, intended to be one of four friezes depicting all the seasons, but the suite of paintings was never completed. The painting is not meant to be realistic. Its decorative pull to the pattern is more symbolic in feeling, the carpet of deep red and ochre leaves spiked with yellow. It is a romantic, visceral depiction of the season, making it easy to conjure the emotional memory of what an autumn wind can do as you kick through the fallen leaves. The actual gatherers, with their tranquil expressions and dance-like poses, provide a peaceful assurance that the harvest will be gathered, that all will be put in its place. I usually leave the painting and make my way round to some of my favorites—the Picassos, Sam Francis, Modigliani, and Rembrandt. If I have time, I’ll venture further into the museum's collection and maybe even stroll the sculpture garden, but I'll always swing round once more to bid adieu to the ladies as they continue to gather their chestnuts, and I'll try to hold onto the warm feeling it gives me for the ride home. As I strive to stay hopeful in an increasingly chaotic world, I search for the little things to keep me grounded. Art is always my go-to. It never fails me. I feel lucky that I have access to its beauty. It is as reliable as the seasons turning round yet again. Elizabeth Gracen is the owner of Flapper Press & Flapper Films.

By Elizabeth Gracen: How does an immersive theatre event like Matter of Time emerge from a simple kernel of an idea? This kind of creative journey happens on the regular at the Lineage Performing Arts Center (LPAC)—where original plays, musicals, and dance and multi-media productions are created, workshopped, and brought to life each season. Hilary Thomas, the artistic director and choreographer for LPAC and the Lineage Dance Company, mounts productions, both large-scale and small, conceived from the fertile soil of her imagination and innate curiosity about the world and its people. Thomas never shies away from the hard topics addressed in productions such as Arc of Evolution, Ceiling in the Floor, After Roe . . . but her devotion to musical theatre casts a wide net into the creative ether to reel in and include ideas from the many performers, dancers, artists, and writers who travel through the vibrant creative portal she has constructed at Lineage. Having worked with Thomas on myriad productions over the years, I know first-hand what it’s like to be swept up in her enthusiasm, often finding myself in the midst of a show, marveling at my good fortune. Our association has expanded my creative muscles and taught me the many valuable lessons learned only from the art of collaboration. From last week’s article, you learned a bit about the immersive time-travel experience of Matter of Time. This week, we delve deeper into the inner workings of the show and talk to Thomas and some of the performers about how the creative "sausage" gets made. The idea for the show originated during the pandemic, when Thomas, along with her daughter, friends, and long-time collaborators Will Bellaimey and Ericalynn Priolo, attended an immersive 70s roller-skating experience in Inglewood, CA. “It was beautiful. There were people dancing on cars—a total immersive experience. I immediately knew that we had do to something like that at LPAC.” That’s the kernel, the spark that sets it off, but what happens next? Yes, Thomas is surrounded by talented professionals who are more than willing to jump onboard when she invites them to play, but what are the next steps after that spark ignites? “Honestly, what I can remember is that all of last year, it was all I thought about. Everywhere I went, or everything I watched, every experience I had, every song that I heard, I wanted to use in the production,” said Thomas. She met with Bellaimey and began the process of bringing her ideas to fruition. “We knew that we wanted every room at LPAC to be a different decade, and we wanted an open museum vibe where the audience could go wherever they wanted. It seemed like a great idea, but when we considered what an actual audience would feel like in that scenario, we decided that there would be too much FOMO going on because people would miss really cool things and wouldn't know when to be where—that just felt challenging.” “When Hilary and I initially met and recorded our discussion about the project, I didn't realize that what I said was going to end up in the text of the show, because I was just talking off the top of my head,” said Bellaimey. "I listed, out loud, the themes that I felt were important to understanding that time period, both politically and culturally.” To say that Bellaimey, a high school history teacher in Southern California, is passionate about history would be an understatement. If you’ve ever heard his podcast, “All the Presidents, Man,” or followed his regular series, Historically Speaking, here at Flapper Press, you’d know that Bellaimey possess the natural ease of a storyteller with an in-depth insight into the historical machinations of our country. “As a teacher I have much more time to explore different ideas when I talk about history. As a writer and performer in Matter of Time, the most challenging aspect was condensing those ideas down to approximately three minutes per decade.” What the Lineage team eventually came up with is a novel night of theatre where audience members are invited to travel forward or backward through time from the 50s to the 90s, eventually meeting in the middle in the 70s before splitting the timeline again, with two tracks of time occurring concurrently. A logistical conundrum, launching the production initially involved workshopping, or what Thomas calls a “creative playground.” During the workshop process, the performers distilled the script down to the most essential highlights of each decade, trying to predict what would resonate most with audience members. Diana Leon, one of the performer “guides” of the show and long-time Lineage family member, described the same familiar LPAC collaborative rehearsal process that goes into most of the original productions she's participated in; but as a performer, it was unfamiliar territory. “I've never done anything like this—ever. We weren’t sure if the audience was going to participate as much as we thought they would, or if we’d have to guide them and keep them from roaming around.” And then there was the timeline . . . “With the 50s and 90s happening at the same time in real time, most of the performers are running back and forth,” said Thomas. “The 60s and the 80s happen at the same time as well, so the performers are running back and forth again. And then in the 70s, everybody comes together, and that's such a great relaxation moment for us, but then everybody has to do the show completely again.” Jana Souza, powerhouse performer and Lineage favorite, describes this time travel sleight of hand as a “madhouse of running around and putting yourself in each decade’s timeframe. It’s a lot of fun—the slides, the set decorations, and the music for each decade really put you in that time period and in the emotional space that you need to be in for what’s going on.” As the audience is ushered through the history of America, with all the highlights and horrors of the times, one constant appears as a calming guide through the decades, his familiar lilting voice and cardigan sweater a reminder of a gentler take on time—Mr. Rogers. Played with finesse in all decades, Paul Siemens is an accomplished singer and actor who has worked in Lineage productions since 2013. “When Hilary came to me and said that she wanted me to play Mr. Rogers, my immediate reaction was it was not a role that I ever thought somebody would ask me to play. I wasn't especially excited about it, but you always say yes when Hillary asks you to do something.” Siemens researched the role by screening YouTube videos of Rogers, which eventually led to his entire family watching the episodes. "That was magical because all of a sudden I was seeing Mr. Rogers through my young daughters' eyes, and they just fell in love with him. They kept wanting to watch more.” How do you crack the code to play Mr. Rogers, certainly one of the most recognizable, beloved of American personalities? “There were really three aspects of my research that I thought were pretty interesting. The first is the pace at which he speaks is so insanely slow. I am a fast talker, so it almost hurts me to speak as slowly as Mr. Rogers speaks. The second is the intensity with which he looks at the viewer. He's looking directly at the camera. His gaze is unflinching. There's nothing creepy or crazy about it. It's just that he is fully present and there for you, which is incredibly comforting. And the third thing is his voice. I mean, his voice, his accent, is unmistakable, but it also defies description.” This visceral evening of theatre pulses with music and the always-outstanding cast and musicians found at Lineage—Teya Wolvington, Ericalynn Priolo, Brittany Daniels, Caterina Mercante, Molly Mattei, and Meghann Zenor, Austin Roy, Angie Vaughn, Toni Lorene Baker, Keila Fisher, Marco Tacandon, and Alan Geier. . . . And as with all good theatre grounded in the truth of human experience, the lessons learned are varied and always enlightening. Diana Leon: “I think that it's really fun for a lot of people who don't go to theater often or who expect to just sit back and watch. With this they get to be a part of it. And it's also a walk down memory lane for a lot of people, which makes it exciting for them.” Will Bellaimey: “I think immersive theater in a really cool way to learn about history, and it’s a great opportunity to see how a community comes together. Like so many Lineage shows, it involves so many people bringing different talents in a sort of potluck kind of way to see what comes together. It's a fun show. I think people will have a great time.” Paul Siemens: “I’m so excited that I get to do it again because there were some nights when I'd walk out on stage and start to sing the welcome song and people would just immediately start to cry, because Mr. Rogers plays such an important role, emotionally speaking, in people's childhoods.” Jana Souza: "It’s emotional, it's funny. You laugh, you cry. It's immersive. You get to walk through the space. I think that Hillary has just done such an amazing job putting this together. And to be honest, I have no idea how her brain works like this. This was her brainchild, and I was just very happy to be a part of it and telling these stories, singing these songs, and bringing people back to these times." Hilary Thomas: "I think that a lot of people find this to be an incredibly soul-filling experience. It’s an emotional trip down memory lane, but for every person who sees the show, it depends on their age as to what kind of trip it is. Of course, I hope it’s a good one!" Get your tickets for this limited run before they run out! It's a great night of theatre in southern California! Elizabeth Gracen is the owner of Flapper Press & Flapper Films.

By Derek May: They say everything’s bigger in Texas for good reason. I’ve lived here long enough to see that true of our food, our trucks, our heatwaves, and our capacities for extreme kindness and wonton assholery. So it was absolutely no surprise that it should and does apply to our entertainment. Some of you may know Austin City Limits merely as a PBS television show presenting indoor concerts in an entertaining but digestible hour for the past 48 seasons. But since 2002, “ACL” has been better known as the massive outdoor, multi-stage, multi-day, now multi-weekend music festival featuring up-and-coming music stars and Hall-of-Fame veterans. While the venue takes over every square inch of downtown Zilker Park, in reality it takes over the entire city. Air B&Bs can make their year with just a weekend. Traffic is easily doubled (which, if you’ve ever driven through downtown Austin, is saying something). And the sheer volume of people is quite something to behold. By one estimate there are around 450,000 people in attendance over both weekends, a number that simply boggles comprehension even as you’re sandwiched within that ungainly mass. Til now I’d managed to avoid all this. I’m a music fan, of course, but it’s not my love (that would be film and television). So while I enjoy a concert now and again, it’s not something I feel particularly obsessed with. My wife on the other hand—she truly adores the live-music scene. The pandemic period was especially hard in that we had to forgo several concerts we’d already purchased tickets for. For me, it was an inconvenience; for her, it was heartbreaking. So needless to say, she is an ACL vet, thriving in the presence of old favorites and giddy at the discovery of new ones. So when she asked me if I wanted to attend this year, I didn’t exactly jump. For me it’s all about the particular draw—but I had to admit, this was one I couldn’t say no to. One of the best parts of ACL is the sheer cornucopia of options available for your listening and viewing pleasure; it’s also perhaps its biggest drawback. Even with five massive stages scattering the perimeter of the park, there’s no way to schedule 20+ bands a day without some of your favorites overlapping. This is partly basic logistics but also seems somewhat calculated to entice patrons to purchase a full 3-day music pass (or, perhaps, one for each weekend), as some bands do play across multiple days. So even under the best of circumstances, one must plan out the most workable (and affordable) option(s). Price here can become a matter of perspective. It’s no secret concerts are ridiculously expensive. To see just one of this year’s headliners separately up in the nosebleeds might easily cost the same as a day pass. So you have to calculate the value of seeing, realistically, about five bands per day with those costs. For us, we decided that attending one Saturday (October 7, 2023) allowed us to see all the bands we truly desired at a pricey-but-under-the-circumstances-reasonable cost of about $350 for both of us. This, naturally, did not include food and drink, which are set at the higher end of the usual festival markups. A can of beer or a hamburger will easily cost you $15 each, but that’s not exactly news. What was unique this go round was the decision to move to a cashless event. Everything from water to T-shirts could be paid either by card or by the chipped wristbands received prior that allow you to synch to a credit card and pay with a mere tap to a monitor (and a PIN for extra security). This certainly sped up lines at the cashier and overall was a pleasant and welcomed touch. When it comes to traversing the grounds, things become far less organized. It’s a free for all in both the best and worst sense. Attendees can simply stand or are allowed to sit on blankets or personal folding chairs you bring with you and haul about. Those in larger groups are known to setup a sort of camp, complete with individual flags allowing wanderers to find their way back. It’s a clever and convenient option if you plan to settle at either a single stage or within listening distance of a few. For the more nomadic, however, it can be a challenge to find a spot that over time doesn’t become overwhelmed by standers contorting themselves into any available square inch (and I mean that literally) they can get a foothold, even if that means stepping right through the middle of couples, onto and over property, and without regard for who they might be blocking (or annoying). This is where I have my biggest beef. Under the best of circumstances crowds are a pain, no question. And going to an event such as this you know that from the get-go. But you also expect a certain (minimum) level of basic social etiquette that would allow everyone a sort of baseline degree of enjoyment. Eh, no. Whether it’s stepping all over you and/or your stuff, gradually sidling into your space no matter how often you move to avoid it, or casually blowing smoke (of all kinds) into your face rather than simply blowing upward (or in any attempt at away), the people tend to range from apathetic to outright rude. Call me oversensitive, but I don’t think it’s THAT much to ask. I still think about the one couple, barely out of their teens, who floored me by politely asking if they could cut through our seats, if it was ok to step on our blanket with their shoes, and thanked us for the allowance. It was such a small but appreciated gesture that stood out amongst the masses who simply did not give a fuck. A small measure of hope for humanity restored. That all being said, the actual performance of everyone we saw was absolutely top-notch. While there wasn’t a lot of time for bands to personalize the stages as much as you might find during a solo concert, each certainly owned their space and offered as unique an experience as you could hope for. Most locations had multiple massive screens that gave you a solid view regardless of where you found your space. And I have say, as someone who has worked as both camera and director for similar events (though not on this scale), the live coverage of each band was incredible. Camera work flowed in natural and artistic pans and zooms, never rushing so you couldn’t follow but also never lingering to the point of missing something else. The directors switched angles with near psychic precision. The coordination amongst the various crew so matched the choreography of the bands you would have thought they’d taken weeks to rehearse. It truly made the shifting from watching tiny figures onstage to gazing upon the movie playing out at the sides a seamless and magical experience. So let’s get down to the nitty-gritty and talk about the bands individually. Obviously I can’t cover anyone we didn’t see, so here’s a little breakdown of the ones we did: ABBY SAGE First up when we arrived around 1 p.m. was someone I’d never heard of but my wife was excited to see. Young Abby Sage is a beautiful pixy of a singer with a whispery, melodic voice reminiscent maybe of a Billie Eilish. Her Indie Alt/Pop sound was in keeping with the genre but certainly felt like she had her own unique spin. Though soft-spoken, she was energetic and sweet, and the crowd loved her. I was certainly impressed enough to check out more of her work, and I’m sure in a few years she’ll become a main draw (and learn to stop knocking over mic stands and set décor—really it was cute). DECLAN MCKENNA Next up was yet another star on the rise my wife was excited to see. At a mere 24 years old, young Declan McKenna has at least one major hit with “Brazil,” which is apparently what every teenage girl there had impatiently stuck around for; and after 4 minutes of wild dancing and singing along to every memorized lyric, they scattered like mice when the lights come on. It was sort of hilarious and surreal. Before and after that, though, McKenna rocked the large crowd with a number of interesting grooves that felt both modern and also like 60s/70s throwbacks. There were a number of politically and socially charged anthems, and Declan certainly threw himself (sometimes quite literally) into each song. While we may not have been his demo, we thoroughly enjoyed the set and will happily listen out for what he’s got next. Plus, I’m a sucker for any group that incorporates a rock flute. CHRISTONE “KINGFISH” INGRAM This was one performer I didn’t know but was intrigued to see; and boy, did he not disappoint. I’m a big Rhythm & Blues fan from way back, but my tastes generally run old school: Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Robert Johnson, all the way up to Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan (and of course, I can’t forget the man, Jim Byrnes). I’m not as up on the youngsters, but in my post-concert research I’ve learned that young Kingfish has been blowing people away with his once-in-a-generation guitar mastery and soulful vocals since he was a tyke. The big man from Mississippi rocked the house, belting out Delta-Blues joints mixed with a bit of modern rock and a touch of electric soul. At one point he engaged in a friendly riff battle with another amazing player, the two going head-to-head, with Kingfish (in my opinion) earning the slight edge. And while that might indicate there are a lot of talented guitarists in the world, I would argue few can also sing like Kingfish, as well as imbue each song with that intangible classic energy that comes from being born of the South, of studying amongst the greats and the legends (as he has), and truly loving the music he has inherited and made his own. I’m already looking to buy his first 3 albums and will be impatiently awaiting those to come. ALANIS MORRISSETTE This may actually have been the biggest draw for us. We had tickets to Alanis in 2020, and then . . . you know. So this was our first real opportunity to finally see her in concert, and she was totally worth the wait. While only playing for an hour (like most of the bands), she was able to pack in just about every hit throughout her long career, and I can report with glee that she has not lost a single step, physically or vocally. Her unique voice sounds as fresh as when I first heard Jagged Little Pill in high school, and she owned the stage, skipping constantly back and forth, end to end, with a smile and even occasionally whipping that long hair around like a kid again. What stood out to me most was that despite belting out emo numbers from her darker days, she seemed to be a good place, cheerful and content. And honestly, I am so happy for her to see that. While it may have been cool to watch Jared Leto bungee jump off the top of his stage as Thirty Seconds to Mars played concurrently, I feel more than satisfied to have experienced Alanis, both her epic and beautiful performance and her arrival at a place of peace after a long and fraught journey. Loved it! FOO FIGHTERS One of the last great rock bands I’ve waited to see, the Foo Fighters closed out Saturday night, easily drawing the biggest (and most compact) crowd for their plus-sized 2-hour set—and for 2 straight hours they never stopped rocking. Unapologetically in your face while also graciously inviting you along, the band knocked out hit after hit, often feigning the end only to pick it back up later to melt your face once more. While they nailed each of their own classics, they managed to squeeze in a few from others, particularly while introducing band members, including their newest drummer John Freese, taking over duties following the tragic loss of Taylor Hawkins. I felt a unique affinity for the non-Dave Grohl members after having watched their fun horror movie Studio 666 (even if you don’t like horror, I highly recommend, it’s a fun romp), so it felt like more of a treat to see each do their thing. And after giving their all rocking, talking, and carousing, the band had one more gift to give. As I said, one of the downsides to ACL is not being able to see every band, and like many this night, my wife and I were a little bummed not to see Shania Twain (I generally loathe country music, but I often find myself enjoying her cross-genre songs). So it was an awesome delight when a red-wigged, silver-clad Shania popped onstage during “Best of You” to duet alongside Grohl and the band. Once they got her mic properly leveled, she pitched her own glorious take on the song and energetically worked the stage to the frenzied crowd. In the end, it was one of the best ways we could have seen her and certainly a festival highlight. Leaving the grounds alongside 100,000 other fans was daunting to say the least. I did not envy the cleanup crew, and we did what little we could to help along the way. As we shuffled our way through the exit (upon finding the right one), it took at least 30 minutes to walk the quarter-mile or so back to our pickup spot. We were two of the fortunates able to get a family member who lives in Austin to drop us off and pick us up, and, despite any other troubles, that was definitely the way to go. The sea of people struggling to get their cars out, or track down their rideshares, or even bicycle out was a headache I wouldn’t want. So remember to plan well ahead should you go and expect not to rush. All in all, Austin City Limits is a duality of experiences. It’s much like any other concert—the good and the bad—only magnified by ten. If you’re not a fan of crowds, you’ll have to weigh heavily the worth of attending; but insofar as the bands themselves are concerned, it can definitely be worth it for the right lineup. The performances were legendary, and I will remember them fondly. As for the rest, we’ll have to see if I can be persuaded back another time. HULU was apparently streaming the entire festival live, and that might not be a bad option in the future. But if you love your live music and to hell with the negatives, then ACL is the biggest, best, Texas-sized event for you. Long live rock! Derek May, of San Antonio, TX, is Editor-in-Chief and occasional writer for Flapper Press. He has written nearly 50 movie reviews for movieweb.com and completed 13 original feature film and television screenplays, many of which have been winners or finalists in such prestigious competitions as the Walt Disney and Nicholl Fellowships, the Austin Film Festival, and the Creative World Awards. He served as a judge for 10 years for the Austin Film Festival and Texas Film Institute screenplay competitions. His latest project has been the highly acclaimed stop-motion animation fan series Highlander: Veritas, which released its second season in July 2022.

By Elizabeth Gracen: What if you were given a couple of hours to step through a portal and travel back in time to experience the not-so-distant past, with all its ups and downs and strange historical curves in the road? Riding along with you will be all the hits from each decade—the visuals, music, cultural, and historical highlights. You’d have quite a journey ahead of you! Wouldn’t that be a nice trip? Well, look no further, time travelers. The Lineage Performing Arts Center is back for a second time round with the immersive theatrical experience called A Matter of Time. First premiered earlier this year in March 2023, LPAC dives back in to this delightful epic production on October 27 & 28, with final performances on November 2–5. Conceived by Hilary Thomas, artistic director and choreographer of the Lineage Dance Company, the heart of the show pulses with the rhythm of each decade’s winding road, revealed through words, music, film, dance, and immersive theatre. With a familiar Lineage cast of characters, it is a joyful night of theatre that tugs at our collective nostalgia for days gone by as it slyly unfolds some of the hard realities of our country's past. Our guides for the evening lead us through the entire LPAC facility, each space whimsically art directed by Lineage dancer and designer Ericalynn Priolo. The LPAC lobby becomes a 1950s time capsule, with its pristine, bubblegum aesthetic reflecting an era of bright optimism and unrealistic norms. The long hallway that leads to the black box theatre becomes the 1960s—the Jeanne and Cliff Benson Family Art Gallery, curated by Theresa Kennedy with a loving attention to detail that captures the pursuit of freedom-loving times as the performers in the rafters sing of love and remind us of the loss of so many American heroes during that decade. Likewise, the theatre, dressing room, and rehearsal studio are transformed into the unique sights and sounds of the 70s, 80s, and 90s as performers appear and reappear, crossing backward and forward along the timeline. What could easily become a time-machine run amok is tethered by the astute narration of Will Bellaimey and Angie Vaughn—both longtime Lineage family members and both aficionados of all things historical. Together, they bookend each decade by sharing the relevant history, music, and cultural phenomena that held us together and pulled us apart through the years. And then there’s Mr. Rogers—the most reliable narrator of them all. Played with a keen eye for detail and nuance, Paul Siemeons brings Rogers to life in each decade, serving as a gentle anchor and idealistic rudder along the timeline, his familiar cardigan sweater and particular syntax a public television balm for our country’s collective souls. With Keila Fisher and Diana Leon as our guides, we are met with powerful vocal performances by Jana Souza and Toni Lorene Baker and evocative dance by Thomas, Teya Wolvington, Erica Lynn Priolo, Brittany Daniels, Caterina Mercante, Molly Mattei, and Meghann Zenor. Along with the rest of the stellar cast and musicians—Austin Roy, Marco Tacandon, Alan Geier, and a short film contribution by yours truly—Thomas’s vision of an immersive evening of theatre comes to life with Lineage’s unique gift for melding education, entertainment, and just plain fun. I'll take a deeper dive next week into the creation of this Lineage original production when I talk to the cast and crew about its creation. Until then, you can get your tickets for performances here. It’s a great night theater you don’t want to miss! Elizabeth Gracen is the owner of Flapper Press & Flapper Films.

By Flapper Press Poetry Café: The Flapper Press Poetry Café continues a new series of articles about favorite lines of poetry and the poets who wrote them. We’re reaching out to poets, writers, and lovers of poetry to submit their favorite lines of poetry and tell us why you love them. Check out our submission guidelines and send us your favorites! We'll feature your submission sometime this year on our site! This week, our submission comes from Flapper Press contributor Chris Kirley. Percy Bysshe Shelley Chris Kirley writes: My favorite lines in poetry or prose always convey some universal truth or sentiment that defies time and transcends the epoch in which the passage was written. In keeping with this mindset, when I was tasked several years ago to put on a retreat program for my law firm, I tried to come up with a timeless yet pertinent theme. What I settled on was "change"—a constant in all our lives that if ignored can result in the downfall of relationships and careers. In preparation for the event, I asked all of my partners to read Who Moved My Cheese?: An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson, M.D. In preparing my remarks to open the program, I needed something that was short, powerful, and to the point. Ozymandias immediately popped into my mind. First read my sophomore year in high school, the lessons of this poem have always cautioned me whenever I thought I could rest on my laurels. The last lines of the poem sum it all up: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. Thanks, Percy! Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) is now recognized as one of the great poets of the nineteenth century. As his work was deemed too radical by contemporary critics, fame eluded him in life. He wrote classic poetry such as "Ode to the West Wind" and "The Masque of Anarchy." "Ozymandias" was first published in 1818. His second wife was Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, which was a product of change itself as it was written during 1816, the year with no summer, caused by the eruption of the volcano Tambora in 1815. To read more about Percy Bysshe Shelley: Poetry Foundation: "Percy Bysshe Shelley" Interesting Literature: "10 of the Best Percy Shelley Poems Everyone Should Read" The Rosenbach: "When Mary Met Percy: A Love Story" Chris Kirley is a retired M&A lawyer who has had a lifelong love of the written word. He feels the only way to stay sane while practicing law is to immerse oneself in great literature.

By Flapper Press: Flapper Press Poetry Café Now Accepting Submissions 2023 Autumn "Poetry in a Snapshot" Contest As easy as 1-2-3 to submit: 1. Explore your world. Take an interesting original photo. 2. Write a poem inspired by your photo. 3. Send both your photo and poem to: info@flapperpress.com 4. Subject Line for Your Submission: YOUR NAME—2023 Autumn Poetry/Photo Contest & Date Example: Sally Brown—Autumn Poetry/Photo Contest 10.15.23 Deadline: November 15, 2023 Please read & follow all of the Submission Requirements for the best chance to be selected. You have questions? We have answers! Question: May I use any form of poetry? Answer: Rhyming or non-rhyming, your choice of form. Question: Should I send a separate .jpg image, do I embed the image from the poem, or have both in the same document? Answer: In the same email, please attach a separate high-res .jpg along with your poem. DO NOT embed the image in the same document as your poem; i.e., do not place the photo in the same Word document but do attach it in the same email. You MUST submit both the poem AND the photo. Question: How many poems may I submit? Answer: You may enter up to 3 original poems with 3 original photos; HOWEVER, send a separate email for each submission. Question: How many poets will be selected? Answer: FIVE selections will be published and awarded $25 for each selection. Question: Must I be the one who takes the photo? Answer: Yes. Be creative. Question: Must I be the one who writes the poem? Answer: Yes. Question: Can the photo be of a work of art? Answer: Only a work of art that is your own creation. Question: If I have won a Flapper Press Poetry Café contest before, may I submit again? Answer: YES! We look forward to your work! Now go take a photo and write a poem! The Flapper Press Poetry Café Presenting a wide range of poetry with a mission to promote a love and understanding of poetry for all. We welcome submissions for compelling poetry and look forward to publishing and supporting your creative endeavors. Submissions may also be considered for the Pushcart Prize. Please review our Guidelines before submitting! Submission Guidelines

By Annie Newcomer: The Flapper Press Poetry Café features the work of poets of all ages from around the globe. This week, we highlight the life and poetry of Louis Efron! Louis Efron is a writer and poet who has been featured in Forbes, Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, The Deronda Review, Young Ravens Literary Review, The Ravens Perch, POETiCA REViEW, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Literary Yard, New Reader Magazine, and over 100 other national and global publications. He is also the author of five books, including The Unempty Spaces Between (winner of the 2023 NYC Big Book Award for Poetry); How to Find a Job, Career and Life You Love; Purpose Meets Execution; Beyond the Ink; as well as the children’s book What Kind of Bee Can I Be? We reached out to Louis to talk about his work, passions, and, of course, his poetry. Please Meet Louis Efron! Annie Newcomer: Welcome to the Flapper Press Poetry Café, Louis. Congratulations on just winning the 2023 NYC Big Book Award for Poetry. Louis Efron: Thank you, Annie. It is an honor to spend time with you and to have won the award. While I was born in Los Angeles, I spent 14 years on the East Coast, 3 of them living in New York City. As New York City is still one of my favorite cities in the world, this book award is extra special. AN: Sylvester Stallone (the famous actor, filmmaker, writer, and, of course, "Rocky") has called one of your books, Beyond the Ink, “Colorfully and concisely written” and exclaimed that “Everyone should read this book!” What a huge compliment for a writer from such a well-known personality. Explain to our readers what it means to you to have your work described this way. LE: In a few words, it is a dream come true! Creative writing and poetry have been a part of my life since childhood. From the time I first held a pencil to create simple rhymes for both my grandmothers, I appreciated the power and beauty of the written word to move readers to laughter, tears, reflection, and action. Having someone like Stallone and many other well-known and successful personalities, business leaders, authors, and poets comment positively on my work is remarkably moving. I am eternally grateful to them all for their kind words. AN: Share what writing poetry accomplishes for you. LE: While my poems are all part of me, they are not unique to me. Rather, they reflect what it means to be human through an expression of purposeful words, vivid images, and intense emotions. Collectively, my work tells a story of fear, pain, loss, beauty, love, and the environment surrounding us. AN: Do you have a specific goal for your poetry? LE: My goal in poetry and writing is to bring to light the details and mechanics of the human experience missed in the process of living. My desire is to give readers a chance to stop and look between the distractions to appreciate all that exists in the spaces between, the essence and roots of life, shedding light on darkness. While all my poems grow out of my experiences and capture how they moved me at the time, I believe our unique human experience is defined by how we each see what is before us. This is another beautiful element of the universality of art and why no two readers will be touched by my work in the same way. AN: Given that you have traveled the world and lived and worked in Europe, Asia, Africa, and across the United States, is there one place that stands out to you more than the others as having an environment where poetry thrives naturally? Where it would not be unusual to catch a person with a poetry book in their hands? Or quoting and reciting poetry? LE: This is a difficult question to answer, as there has not been a place I have traveled or lived that has not inspired poetry or where poetry does not naturally thrive if you are looking for it. I have seen poetry books in the hands of people on the streets, in trains, planes, pubs, sitting at sidewalk cafés in London, Scotland, France, Italy, Greece, and across the U.S. I have also been to meetings in South Africa where poetry verses were cited. AN: Ever since I took a workshop with Joaquín Zihuatanejo, the current Poet Laureate of Dallas, at the Austin International Poetry Festival, I have been fascinated with how a poem looks on the page. Can you explain "white space" to our readers and share why you use the layouts you do with your poems? LE: White space refers to areas on a page without pictures or print, and I love and use the space for many reasons. In a cluttered world where most people are on a treadmill 24/7, it gives readers a chance to stop, think, and reflect on what they have read and how it may relate to their own lives . . . to interact intellectually and emotionally with my poems. It also makes poems less visually intimidating and more inviting to readers who may struggle with poetry, which is not always easy for new readers. In addition, I use white space and word placement to create another layer of depth and art for my poems. A couple of examples are the telephone pole/cross in “Edge of a Wheat Field with Poppies and Power Lines” and the stormy seas in “Another Lighthouse.” AN: How do you incorporate poetry into your speaking engagements and other corporate leadership work that you do? LE: I use the structure of poetry in my speaking engagements, articles, and everything I do in life to hone my communication and help create images and stories for those I interact with. In poetry, one aim is to tell a visual story or illicit certain emotions in as few simple words as possible. Effective and engaging communication in our personal lives and leadership is the same. One of the most famous speeches in U.S. history, Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg Address, was only 272 words. Reading or hearing his speech always deeply touches me despite being removed from the incident by 160 years. His words are impactful, simple, scarce, and timeless, like great poetry. AN: Louis, you are the first poet in the Flapper Press Poetry Café who has shared with us that he uses an agent to submit poetry work. Please tell us why an agent is helpful and how one best works with an agent. How did you select yours? Please tell us a little about this relationship. LE: My agent, John Sibley Williams, has been a godsend to me and my endeavors as a poet. He knows and deeply understands the industry and marketplace, eliminating countless hours required for targeted searches and submissions. In addition, John is a well-established, respected, and award-winning poet, enabling him to serve as a remarkable mentor and coach to me. I grow as a poet with every interaction we have. I chose John after a long process of collecting and submitting my work to agents. I was especially interested in him after reading and being inspired by his poetry and professional and personal profile. Based on his work, I felt he would be a good match for the type of poetry I enjoy writing, and I was delighted when he agreed to take me on. I also wanted to work with someone who was a good personality fit for me. John is thoughtful, kind, and always constructive and encouraging. He continuously inspires me to be a better poet and ensures my work is read and enjoyed by others, which is most important to me. AN: You described your work to me in this way: "I write about the essence of Nature and the human experience, shedding light on darkness." These are beautiful goals and yet huge ones as well. Does having such lofty goals ever feel like a burden to you? How do you make sure to also have fun with your work and not allow it to swallow you with seriousness and responsibility? LE: My goal in life has always been to make a lasting difference in the universe, so I take my work seriously and aim to elevate my message with each poem. However, I also love writing and the written word. While I certainly feel the burden of my endeavors on many levels, poetry, skilled storytellers, and the world around me captivate and inspire me to continue my work. Writing poems allows me to express my emotions, thoughts, and desires and tell stories in colorful, creative, and concise ways. For me, poetry is the ultimate word puzzle, a fun and unique way to create and build something lasting and beautiful that can emotionally move readers, using strategically placed and thoughtful words on a page. Finally, nothing is more gratifying than when my ideas grow into creations others enjoy and appreciate. AN: I am reminded that Wallace Stevens (an American modernist poet, educated at Harvard and New York Law School) was an executive for an insurance company. Still he won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his Collected Poems in 1955. I do not think that it immediately comes to mind that a successful man in business could be a celebrated poet. I was hoping that you could give your take on how a person could balance such two different worlds and find the time to be successful in each. And, since you do, how does one straddle two different worlds? Or are they really different? LE: One of my favorite quotes is, “If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.” Another favorite is from Dr. Wayne Dyer, “Don’t die with your music still in you.” These two quotes describe how I live my life. I do the things I love and work hard at them all to ensure I am living up to my full potential and purpose, ultimately fulfilling the legacy I want to leave behind. Writing, art, and business are core to who I am, and I have done them all since childhood. I can’t recall when I did not have a writing or creative project in the works or a business idea ready to hatch (from lemonade stands to an ear-piercing products' distributor). Add my important role as a husband and father, and I keep quite busy with a blessed life. In today’s terms, I am what is called a blender. Someone who integrates the different things they do in life daily versus having hard divides between activities (i.e., a splitter). I could not imagine a world where any of these components were missing or where you wouldn't find me working on any one of them day or night. However, despite the perception that I live in two or more worlds, everything I do in life serves each other to improve all parts of my life and my endeavors. For example, my ability to leverage and relish the written word to tell stories and communicate concisely and effectively with others is core to my success in business. Still, it has helped my articles achieve #1 on Forbes, Twitter, and LinkedIn and gain praise and publication for my poetry. Another example is my work as a theatrical director and producer. In the world of theatre, I secured the rights to great plays and musicals, cast the right actors for the right roles, engaging their hearts and minds. Then I hired costume, makeup, lighting, and scene designers and stage managers to help me create a world on stage to attract, delight, and move a paying audience. In my corporate life, I ensure that the organizations that I work with and for have the right talent in the right roles, playing to their strengths to engage their hearts and minds. This creates a high-performing organizational culture that produces the best products and services to attract and engage paying customers. It all comes together in the end to make one whole "experience" with the aim of making a positive difference in the lives of others. For me, the key to success and happiness is finding out what you love and do best. Then I encourage you to seek out this passion and do it, working as hard as you can to get better at what you will end up doing every day. Everything else follows. AN: I love the titles of your books and poems. Can you share some of your favorite ones and give some tips on how you create/select them? LE: Thank you! “A Candle with Two Wicks,” “Matchstick Trick,” “Arcadian Eyes,” “Empty Attics,” and “Requiem without a Score” are a few of my favorite poem titles. I spend a lot of time thinking about and finalizing titles. They are the entryway to get readers interested in reading more. Sometimes, a title I dream up will inspire a poem. Other times, I will write the piece and then name it later. In all cases, I take great pains to ensure my title reflects the tone of my poem or book and captures the essence of the story or message. This often requires revisions as I read and rewrite a poem. It is essential to be flexible and open to scrapping a title you may love when it simply does not fit the piece. However, I always keep such titles in a file on my computer, as they may inspire new poems later. Finally, I always read my title before reading my entire poem. This practice helps highlight the connection or possible disconnect between the two. AN: What do you want our readers to know about you and your poetry that I haven't covered through my questions, Louis? LE: My beautiful Scottish wife, musician our two remarkable daughters, aged 10 and 15, and I reside in Parker, Colorado. In addition to writing, I love having fun with my family, exploring, traveling, good food, running, rollerblading, hiking, playing tennis, riding motorcycles, and building Legos. I have written every day since childhood and have always had a poem or writing project in the works since I won my first creative short story contest at age 10. AN: We are excited to introduce you and your poetry to our readers, Louis. So the time has come for me to ask you to select 3 poems and include their backstories. We hope that you will stay in touch and share more of your work with us in the future. LE: Thank you, Annie, for your questions and Elizabeth for your beautiful lay-outs! I am truly honored to be here at the Flapper Press Poetry Café and very grateful to you both. Thank you for sharing my poems with your readers. Like all my poetry, these poems are deeply personal, but they also serve as an invitation to my readers to connect with me on a human level. While no two lives can be equally compared, the paths we travel in our hearts and minds cross and, at times, intertwine. I am glad ours did the latter. I would be delighted to visit this café again to continue our remarkable conversation. See you in Act Two!! Cheers!! I have always reveled in the beauty of nature and frequently think about how humans impact and interact with our environment and the planet. On my family's recent Denver Art Museum visit, I viewed Van Gogh’s “Edge of a Wheat Field with Poppies.” I began to imagine how this exquisite painting and scene would have been impacted by the power lines we see in front of most picturesque fields today. Also, what do these poles and cables represent and provide, both good and troubling? From this, "Edge of a Wheat Field with Poppies and Power Lines" was born. Edge of a Wheat Field with Poppies and Power Lines Inspired by Edge of a Wheat Field with Poppies by Vincent Van Gogh (1887) a cloud-brushed Parisian horizon blue-cast shadows upon a glistening fragmented field of God’s once golden wheat scarlet poppies sway below pencil-thin branches and buzzing threads meant to power a village coiled over burdened broad limbs to keep ourselves fully lit like sacrificial crosses linked in punctured earth p o w e r l e s s to feed the dead This poem captures a thirst for meaning and purpose that can pull us away from the beckoning arms of safe harbors and inspire us to continue our search even as we grow weary of rough and uncharted waters. Like my poem "Life After Death," "Another Lighthouse" was inspired by my desire to make a noticeable difference during my time on Earth, even when the journey can be frightening. Another Lighthouse searching blinding beams like outstretched arms break through raven winged clouds fringed translucent cotton-white an unbroken hope that someday even in darkness we will be noticed always reaching her light flickers over unclimbable peaks and frothing murky valleys as our pulsating veins like a sustained drumbeat beneath our thin, wet skin grasp tightly to one more sun-kissed horizon inspiring our stirred souls to look back towards unbuilt places A college music professor once told my class, “If you want to live forever, create a great piece of art.” "Life After Death" is inspired by this sentiment. Memorable art often stems from intense pain or emotions, imprinting lasting images, music, and words. As a writer and artist since childhood, I have and do experience life and the world around me in a profound way. I lean on this connection in my poetry to move my readers today and others long after I am gone. Life after Death razor winged butterflies beating in our gut like tormented muses laboring to twist wounds into radiant verse impressions vibrations helping us escape earth like cherry blossom trees in spring admired again and again long after we are gone Annie Klier Newcomer founded a not-for-profit, Kansas City Spirit, that served children in metropolitan Kansas for a decade. Annie volunteers in chess and poetry after-school programs in Kansas City, Missouri. She and her husband, David, and the staff of the Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens are working to develop The Emily Dickinson Garden in hopes of bringing art and poetry educational programs to their community. Annie helms the Flapper Press Poetry Café—dedicated to celebrating poets from around the world and to encouraging everyone to both read and write poetry! If you enjoyed this Flash Poet interview, we invite you to explore more here! The Flapper Press Poetry Café Presenting a wide range of poetry with a mission to promote a love and understanding of poetry for all. We welcome submissions for compelling poetry and look forward to publishing and supporting your creative endeavors. Submissions may also be considered for the Pushcart Prize. Please review our Guidelines before submitting! Submission Guidelines