In Lak'ech Ala K'in | I am Another You. You are Another Me

I'm spending the morning in high school. Everything is much smaller than I remember ... except me.

La Clase

My friend Jackie Madrigal pioneered a US Latino Literature class at Shawnee Mission North High School in Mission, Kansas. She invited Chato Villalobos and myself to be guest speakers to help put some faces to Latino literature and to talk about the Latino Writers Collective and our writing processes. Both Chato and I are honored to be asked. Her curriculum is thoughtful and hits all the major notes in the rather large genre.

As this day grew closer, my social anxiety started to wrap itself around me. In fact, last night I spent some time thinking about how I could get out of this gig. Chato could do the presentation himself. He's a police officer and therefore automatically much more interesting, right? Besides I have to work that afternoon and there's a chance I could be late. My tummy still kinda hurts from when I was sick last week. Also my car is pretty old and I don't like to drive it more than necessary ...

i found a cookie in the men’s room | National Poetry Month

I found a cookie in the library men’s room.

It laid on a green paper napkin

on top of a urinal just under

the chrome flushy handle.

It was the kind of cookie

one eats at a reception

and snags a few extras on the way out.

That’s probably what happened.

Except it’s owner drank too many

free sodas poured from cans

into those tiny plastic cups packed with ice

that keeps drinks cool

but melts too quickly and dilutes the drink.

There must have been cheese and crackers

that caused him to drink an excess of soda

or maybe it was the fruit:

red seedless grapes, sliced strawberries,

cut fresh pineapple and multi-colored melons

that cause his over hydration.

Maybe the reception was for a retiring colleague,

perhaps the person who hired him.

And she urged him to take a few extra cookies

because “they’re all paid for”

and she didn't want them to go to waste.

Or perhaps he didn't like the person

and showed up to make sure the old bastard

saw his face one last time.

Perhaps he took the last cookie

knowing it was his nemesis’ favorite.

Maybe a student club was selling

cookies for a fundraiser

and our fine fellow bought one

to support the Queers and Allies

or the Muslim Student Association

or the dance team, who are not cheerleaders

even though they dance with pom-poms.

Whatever the reason, he set his cookie down

on top of a urinal in the library men’s room --

a decision he immediately regretted.

As I left, I almost threw it away

but I liked the thought of the next guy

standing at the urinal confused by a cookie.

Epilogue 

I went back a moment later to take a picture to post to my Facebook page because my Facebook friends would “Like” the hell out of it. But when I came back with my phone, the cookie was gone. I looked in the trash and it wasn’t there.

So either the guy came back for it or someone else was like, “YES, I’LL HAVE A FREE COOKIE!”

Either way -- gross.

berries | National Poetry Month

Picking blueberries is where we begin.
Picking blackberries stain my clothes and skin.
Picking strawberries is hard on mama’s back.
Picking raspberries is when we come back.

but of all the berries my hands pick
my favorite is the one that makes me homesick.
I fill my bag with so much to carry
but I'm happy because it's the liberry.

i stole a book from the library | National Poetry Month

i stole this scratched

and scarred book

from your shelf

because it stood alone

among many

reminding me

of me.

fully bound, we endure,

yet weakened threads let loose

our textured coverings.

faded tattooed spine

cracks when touched

like father’s brown back.

i stole this bounty of words

from the one

who slipped inside

my soul

cramming into his pockets

by greedy fistful

the treasure of

my thoughts,

my dreams,

my pains.

for how else did they

find their way

onto these worn pages

if not by the actions of a thief?

yet his words,

mine but not,

take me to

unvisited familiar places,

remind me of people I've yet to greet,

comfort me and educate me

like none have before.

how can this be?

yes, i rescued this scratched

and scarred book

from your shelf

because it stood alone

among many

reminding me

of me.

The Jotos Are Coming!

Last year Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano asked me to contribute to a queer Latino anthology of poetry he was editing.

I was honored. Frankly, I didn't even think he knew who I was. I knew of him because I attended the AWP conference in Denver. As part of a panel, he read one of his poems and all I could think was, "Damn, I wish I had written that."

I wanted to go up to him after the session and introduce myself but ... what was I gonna say?

"I liked your poem. It was good" or "You sure talk pretty."

So when I got his Facebook message last May asking me to contribute to the Joto anthology, I was like "Hey! It's that guy from that panel."

Then I thought, "Oh, he meant to send this to the other Miguel Morales." You see, at the conference, there was another guy named Miguel Morales and he read a poem at an off-site event that was well attended.

The more I thought about it the more I kinda convinced myself that he really did mean to send me the invitation to contribute. Then I started to think of what I could send him and, well, I didn't have anything. That really surprised me because I was sure I had poems about being a gay Latino -- but I didn't.

I took a day or so to figure out what I wanted to say and then worked through the thoughts and images that lived in the back of my mind. I emailed the poems ASAP to Lorenzo because he was on a tight deadline. For some reason, I sent him an email a few days later asking if he received the poems. I didn't want to be pushy but something told me to email him to make sure he go them.

He didn't.

Free College Day!

Today is the Free College Day at JCCC celebrating the college's 40th anniversary. I'm teaching a class, "Citizen Media or How to be one of those Bloggers."

This is an example of a post with a hyperlink and an image.

Trustees Trust Miguel as Candidate for Vacant Seat

From Morales for JCCC campaign blog

Last fall, the JCCC Board of Trustees selected me as a candidate to fill a vacancy on the board left by Virginia Krebs. Krebs was the college’s first employee and, being a woman, the college’s first minority employee.

The video provides insight into my previous work with and my intimate knowledge of the board along with my collegial interaction with the trustees and president. How many other trustee candidates can demonstrate this?

NEWS: JCCC Connection to San Antionio CC Shooter

Community of Colleges

Library and President's office linked to Northeast Lakeview College

Yesterday's shooting at Northeast Lakeview College (NLC) in San Antonio, Texas provided multiple shocks for staff at the Billington Library in Overland Park, Kan.

Library Ties
The Johnson County Community College (JCCC) library staff found it difficult to learn of another campus shooting much less one that took place in a college library and was allegedly perpetrated by a librarian against another librarian. Yet for some staff, the name of the man police identified as the shooter left them stunned.

Alan Godin, the alleged assailant and librarian at NLC, is married to former JCCC librarian, Christine Godin.

Christine worked in the JCCC library from the mid-seventies until the late nineties when she joined the staff at North Vista College (NVC) in San Antonio, Texas, as director of Learning Resources. In June, Christine was promoted to Dean of Learning Resources.

Both NLC, where Alan worked as a librarian, and NVC, where Christine works, are two of the five colleges in the San Antonio Community College system. Christine also teaches theatre courses at NVC.

Second Connection
Eric Reno, president of NLC, where the shooting took place, applied for the presidency at JCCC in spring 2007 after JCCC's president, Charlse Carlsen, resigned amid allegations that he unlawfully harassed female employees. Reno visited JCCC for an interview with the college's Board of Trustees February 5-6, 2007.

Today the chancellor of the San Antonio Community College system posted this message on the system's webpage:

TO: The Alamo Community Colleges Family
FROM: Dr. Bruce Leslie, Chancellor
DATE: October 14, 2008
SUBJECT: Northeast Lakeview Shooting

Yesterday's tragic shooting at Northeast Lakeview College has deeply affected all of us, especially those who personally knew Donald Devin Zimmerman, as well as those who know his alleged assailant, Alan Godin.

On behalf of the entire Alamo Community Colleges' family, I would like to express our deepest sympathy and our condolences to Mr. Zimmerman's family, colleagues, students and friends and to the family of Mr. Godin. We will inform you about funeral arrangements and memorial services for Mr. Zimmerman when that information becomes available.

Counseling for Northeast Lakeview College faculty and staff is being offered at both Northeast Lakeview College campuses and at Northwest Vista College as well.

All classes at Northeast Lakeview college have been cancelled for today. Classes will resume Wednesday morning, October 15, at 8 a.m. Counseling for students will be available at both campuses when they return to their classes tomorrow.

We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.

LIBRARY: Banned Books - Weak

Since it's Banned Books Week, I'm cloning my post from the Billington Library's JCCCLIB blog :

Banned books usually make us think of inappropriate library materials at middle schools, maybe intense subject matter at high schools. Yet one would think a library on a college campus is immune; after all, this is where free thinking is encouraged.

That’s why I was surprised last spring when a patron demanded that the Billington Library ban a book. The book, Mapplethorpe, contained nude images along with other photographs.

She complained that children shouldn’t have acess to it.

I urged her to put that in our suggestion box.

But what I really wanted to say was, “Hello? Earth to crazy lady: this is a college library not childrens’ story hour at Borders.”

Materials at college libraries differs from those at public libraries because our primary charge is to provide materials that support courses. That matierial provide is selected to provoke thought, expand minds and facilitate discussions. Librarians work with instructors to procure material that enhances the required and suggested texts students purchase.

Sometimes that material is ugly, violent, sacrilegious or even naked.

If you can’t find material in a college library that offends you, then they aren’t doing their jobs.