For the third time in as many weeks, prominent U.S. poets have visited Sacramento. Philip Levine, U.S. Poet Laureate emeritus, read at SummerWords, the first annual American River Colloquium. Next came Dana Gioia. The poet and former National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) director, who developed the Poetry Out Loud recitation competition, read at the Northminster Presbyterian Church. This past Friday evening Kazim Ali, Robert Hass and Sharon Olds read their poetry to a near-capacity crowd in the Crocker Art Museum’s Setzer Auditorium. Claudia Rankine and C.D. Wright, also scheduled to read Friday, were unable to attend the event, but Ali and Hass recognized both poets with short biographie

Poets and musicians gathered Friday night at the Guild Theatre to raise funds for C.O.R.E., Chicano Organizing and Research in Education, and their Que Llueva Café scholarship fund. C.O.R.E. is a non-partisan, research, and advocacy organization with the purpose of improving the education environment of all Chicano/Latino students. C.O.R.E.’s membership, including its board members, come from various backgrounds and fields and support the organization’s many efforts, which include a variety of scholarships, such as the Que Llueva Café. The Que Llueva Café scholarship was founded in response to “what is an unfair immigration system that continues to deprive aspiring new scholars from cont

More than 85 people attended a poetry benefit at the Guild Theater on April 21, 2012 to raise funds for the “Que Llueva Café” scholarship which aims to support the dreams, hopes, and aspirations of college bound undocumented students so they can earn their college degree and allow their hard work and sacrifice to persevere. Thirty scholars were chosen holistically by a panel of community volunteers through CORE, Chicano Organizing and Research in Education earlier this month. Every year, the group aims to raise $15,000 to help undocumented scholars working towards higher education.  Recipients live everywhere in the United States, not just in California. “When we first put this scholarsh