A POET POETS

The poetry of Roy McBride.

Click here to learn more

See the start of the film



C. BECK

A portrait of the artist, Charles Beck

Read more

See the film

Order



The Painted Eye

A documentary with Jerry Rudquist

Read more

See the film

Order



I'm Sorry
I was Right


A documentary portrait of the politician and poet, Eugene McCarthy.

Learn more

See the film



Jim Northrup:
With Reservations


Jim Northrup: With Reservations is a wild trip through Indian Country. Follow the link below to learn more or to order the video.
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THOMAS McGRATH

The Movie at the End of the World is a video vision quest. Click here to see more.


Welcome to thecie dot org. We make poetic media with people of all ages from all over the world for everyone.

Please explore our website to learn more about our videos and our art work in the schools.

Friday, May 1, 2015

A PLETHORA OF POETS 

THE MOVIE AT THE END OF THE WORLD: THOMAS McGRATH is one of seven of our films now in play on public TV in Minnesota.


A MAN WRITES TO A PART OF HIMSELF: ROBERT BLY is another.

A first for a Minnesota filmmaker, a retrospective of seven films by Mike Hazard is playing on public television in Minnesota and North Dakota.

All featuring writers, the seven films in the series are:

A Sampler of Minnesota Poets: Robert Bly, Michael Dennis Browne, Louis Jenkins, James Moore, Margaret Hasse and Phebe Hanson (1975/15:30)
A Man Writes to a Part of Himself: Robert Bly (1978/57:30)
The Movie at the End of the World: Thomas McGrath (1981/56:56)
American Grizzly: Frederick Manfred (1983/28:16)
With Reservations: Jim Northrup (1996/28:42)
Eugene McCarthy: I'm Sorry I was Right (2001/28:35)
Cold Mountain: Han Shan (2009/28:15)

Four of the films have been already nationally telecast on PBS. This may be a record for an independent Minnesota filmmaker.

Watch a Robert Bly clip.

Watch A Sampler of Minnesota Poets.

Watch Cold Mountain.

Many of our films are for sale at Amazon.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

RELATIONSHIPS 




This lively video was created by all the kindergartners at Hillcrest Community School in Bloomington, Minnesota. Media Mike Hazard directed in concert with the teachers, Amy, Trista, and Ally. The production was made possible by the PTSA.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

THE WORLD IS ANYWHERE 

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

ROBERT GARDNER (1925-2014) 




Sad I am to read Robert Gardner died June 21, 2014.

His eye opened mine.

When I was 12, I saw his film DEAD BIRDS. Its mysterious beauty turned me into a documentary filmmaker.

Read his obituary in the New York Times.

Read another, in the Boston Globe.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

THE MOO MOO MOVIE 



A wild video about animals made by students at Langdon Area Elementary School.

Monday, January 20, 2014

RAZOO 

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Thursday, December 12, 2013

LOCAL COLOR  is a collection of pictures made within walking distance of what was the artist Mike Hazard's home from 1999-2012: Lowertown Artists Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard East, Saint Paul.

We are now organizing a book publication of pictures from the series. Click to learn more and to support publication.

Many of the pictures can be seen here and here.

LOCAL COLOR is inspired by Gilbert White who wrote, “All Nature is so full that that district produces the greatest variety which is the most examined.”



Watch the artist do camera work.

The more we look, the more we see.

Mike Hazard was a fiscal year 2012 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is funded, in part, by the Minnesota State Legislature from the State’s arts and cultural heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

WHAT HE SHOULD LEARN FROM HIS DREAM 


This is a video poem made by David Bengtson and Media Mike Hazard with a class of students.

Monday, November 5, 2012

CORNUCOPIA is a feast of poems and pictures by Mike Hazard depicting the Saint Paul Farmers Market.

Media Mike will exhibit CORNUCOPIA during the Saint Paul Art Crawl, 6-10pm Friday October 12, 12–8pm Saturday October 13 and 12-5pm Sunday October 14, 2012. The exhibition is on display at Lowertown Lofts Artists Cooperative.

Watch a video about the project here.




Read one poem:

A PINT-SIZED CHILD
A pint of raspberries rests
in the lap of a pint-sized child.
Lolling in her stroller, she’s
living in the lap of luxury.
“Don’t eat them,” Mom says,
as the little one begins eating,
two-handed, two-fisted,
too much; we laugh until
we grow red as raspberries.

CORNUCOPIA is supported by Irrigate.

Monday, April 23, 2012

ROUND DANCE is a multimedia meditation with pictures, poems and profound objects composed by Media Mike Hazard.

Free for all, come see ROUND DANCE during the St. Paul Art Crawl, Friday 6-10pm April 27, Saturday 12-8pm April 28, and Sunday 12-5pm April 29, 2011 at Lowertown Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard E, St. Paul.

Here’s one picture poem.

And a poem:

ROUND SONG
Akin to rings of a tree,
all the old faces
that make me me
are embodied in
the face you see
looking at mine.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

THE JOY OF ROY 




POETRY is one poem in a film about Roy McBride called A POET POETS.

The film will play on channel 16 on MTN cable in Minneapolis in the following timeslots:

12/29/2011 6pm
1/1 3:30pm
1/2 7pm
1/5 9am

Read Bao Phi on a poet's poet.

BIO
Born in 1943, Roy Chester McBride began his literary career at Magnolia Colored Elementary School in Magnolia, Arkansas 1948. After learning his abc's and starting to read "Dick and Jane" and other great books of that period, Roy was bitten by the writing bug. Performing the written word was a skill he developed early.

"That voice" for which he is known was frequently invited to recite Bible verses at area churches of various denominations. After World War II was resolved, Roy's family and lots of other families left the South and headed for the booming North.

By way of Chicago and Milwaukee they finally put down roots in Muskegon, Michigan, where his interest for writing was encouraged by his elementary teachers--especially by Mrs. Ruth Anderson who encouraged him to keep his writing in a folder.

"We moved a lot...I don't know what happened to my writing folder." Life went on. Roy wrote stories like "Dick and Jane," only better....

On July 17, 1968, Roy motored out of the Motor City as Detroit began to burn in the riots. He arrived in Minneapolis by chance. While working in the mail room for a magazine, he spent every lunch and break reading. His work colleagues, Macalester College graduates, recommended that he visit Mac and consider applying. Roy did attend Macalester for three years in the early 70's and had a transforming social and academic adventure.

As one of the very few African American students writing poetry and performing, his professors invited him to parties to meet all the touring writers of that time. Roy met LeRoi Jones (now Amiri Baraka), Raymond Patterson, James Wright, Robert Bly, Sonja Sanchez, Etheridge Knight. The poet’s life began.

The poet's life ended in Minneapolis on July 29, 2011.

People Say
“All of Roy’s poems are love poems.” Paulette Myers-Rich, artist book maker and publisher of Roy’s book Love Poetry

“He has a buffalo heart.” Maureen Skelly, writer

“He is the pastor of the street poets. He is the John Coltrane, the Miles Davis of poetry, The Love Supreme of poetry.” Kevin O'Rourke, writer

"This is fantastically funky." Chuck Olsen, media maestro

"A beautiful piece: so Roy-like, with circularities and humor and rhythms and open faces and good humor." Margaret Hasse, poet

“Roy is the master of time and spaces.” Louis Alemayehu, poet/Ancestor Energy

“A POET POETS is a vivid video word ride with Roy McBride. A labor of love, I videotaped Roy on the fly starting in 1986. Recordings were made at The Loft, Roy’s famous poetry salons, a poetry in the schools residency, various poetry slams, impromptu poetings, intimate family get-togethers, a theatrical performance with Heart of the Beast Theatre on Lake Street, the print shop of the award-winning artist book maker Paulette Myers-Rich and the poet’s summer home, Dandelion Ranch. I love the joy of Roy.” Mike Hazard, director

Monday, October 31, 2011

JEROME LIEBLING, R.I.P. 


The photographer Jerry Liebling has left our world. He made pictures of “the afterlife of things.” Take a look.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

SNAKE PIT is a multimedia meditation with pictures, poems and profound objects composed by Media Mike Hazard.

Free for all, come see SNAKE PIT in the St. Paul Art Crawl, Friday 6-10pm October 7, Saturday 12-8pm October 8, and Sunday 12-5pm October 9, 2011 at Lowertown Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard E, St. Paul.

Here's one poem:

A SNAKE STICKS OUT IN THE GARDENER’S MEMORY
An Anaconda in the Amazon amazed the man who approached warily.
Sluggish with a deer stuffed in its thirty foot length,
a third out of the water in the jungle, the snake was going nowhere.
The man’s name is Juan. The snake has no name, just “anaconda”.
Juan, who was teaching Spanish to the gardener sharing this story,
said he slipped up close, and touched the enormous serpent,
like Adam touching God in Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling.
The snake’s eyes opened and closed, aware, unable to move.
Sluggish with the huge image, we ponder it for a moment.
I recite Pablo Neruda for her: “And deep in the huge waters,
the enormous anaconda lies like a circle around the earth,
covered with ceremonies of mud, devouring, religious.”
The gardener has a poetry group yet has never heard of Neruda.
She tells me on a trip into Latin America, I think it was Honduras,
she met a grandmother who upon hearing she liked poetry
walked home, which was a hike longer than an anaconda,
and came back with a gift of a book of her own poems.
Stuffed with the delicacies of life, we can barely move. We blink.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

LIGHT SHOW From dusk to dawn, Northern Spark will illumine the Twin Cities on June 4, 2011.

Two of my films will be in the mix.

Solar Power & Moonshine

Something Bright to be Seen in Our World

Friday, April 29, 2011

29 CATS is a multimedia meditation on herding cats with pictures, poems and profound objects created by Media Mike Hazard.

Free for all, come see 29 CATS in the St. Paul Art Crawl, Friday 6-10pm April 29, Saturday 12-8pm April 30, and Sunday 12-5pm May 1, 2011 at Lowertown Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard E, St. Paul.

Here's one poem:

ANIMAL BEHAVIORS
We walked right into the night to pretend we were cats.
A large dog of a dog sent us clawing under the sheets...
Eyes wide as wings--our clothes flapped; fur flew.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

MEDIA MIKE'S 3 MINUTE EGG 

Sunday, February 20, 2011

COLD MOUNTAIN is a half hour film portrait of the Tang Dynasty Chinese poet Han Shan, a.k.a. Cold Mountain. Recorded on location in America, China and Japan, Burton Watson, Red Pine, Jim Lenfestey and the legendary Gary Snyder describe the poet's life and recite poems.

Read Britt Aamodt's article.

Marianne Combs enthuses.

And Dwight Hobbes.

To see the beginning of the documentary, click.

Watch it on line here.

Co-directed by Mike Hazard and Deb Wallwork, the music is by the internationally renowned pipa player Gao Hong and animations are by John Akre. A project of The Center for International Education, the film has been supported by the Outagamie Foundation, the family of John W. Brower and the Bush Foundation.

Deb Wallwork writes, "Cold Mountain is a rollicking, tasty film filled with poetry, colorful characters, Zen wisdom and witty commentary. The film gives us glimpses of that mysterious--some say crazy, some say enlightened--figure, Han Shan, who left the dusty world to become a hermit and a poet, and in so doing wrote the intimate and inspired lines that speak to us today.”

Mike Hazard adds, "One way to look at the film is to see that literally everyone and everything in the film is channeling the spirit of Han Shan: the Mandarin of Jin Hua, the trickster animations of John Akre, the street singer, the rice thrashers, the Butterfly Woman, the four poetical guides, the monks in the temple kitchen, the bats in the cave, Gao Hong's pipa, even the cicadas compose a richly layered portrait of Cold Mountain."

Hazard and Wallwork are veteran documentary filmmakers with a dozen national releases on PBS between them. Their most recent collaboration, C. BECK, was Grand Prize winner of the Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival produced by ITVS.

To order the film, click.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

WINGNUT  is a new piece from Media Mike’s Menagerie. It’s a montage of pictures, poems and profound things with wings.

Free for all, come see WINGNUT in the St. Paul Art Crawl, Friday 6-10pm October 8, Saturday 12-8pm October 9, and Sunday 12-5pm October 10, 2010 at Lowertown Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard E, St. Paul.

Here’s a poem.

A HOLY CHILD DEPICTED AMONG THE CLOUDS IN A CHRISTMAS CARD CREATED WITH A COMPUTER AT AGE ONE, AT AGE TWO STUDIES THE PICTURE AND SINGS
Blue sky.
Wings.
Baby fly.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

FOOT IN THE DOOR 

Solar Power & Moonshine from Mike Hazard on Vimeo.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

MEDIA MIKE'S MENAGERIE is a wild collection of animals.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

READ MY GLOBAL EYE, the blog of the founding father of The Center for International Education, Patrick D. Hazard.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

MEDIA MIKE'S MASK MUSEUM will be on display at the Black Dog Cafe until the end of the Day of the Dead, November 1, 2009. From head shots to found faces to performances for the camera, it's a free exhibition of photographs by the artist Mike Hazard, a.k.a. Media Mike.

Here is a gallery of the Museum.

Here are two of Hazard's poems from the Museum.

A BAT IN HEAVEN
I'm a bat in heaven
today for Halloween.
I want to bless & be
blessed by a bat I killed
like a bat out of hell.
As violence begets violence,
& peace makes peace,
so a little bat came to me
in a dream recently
& gently kissed my elbow.
Grateful as hell,
today for Halloween
I'm a bat in heaven.

THE CASE FOR MASKS
No no, I don't want to know
about some obscure mask
in a natural history museum.
I am not going to believe
any mask moved on its peg
while the other 30 in the case
were stiff as tourists. So what
if you rapped on the glass
and leaped up and down
and you couldn't make it
shake until all on its own,
it was poetry in motion.
No no, I don't want to know.

A CASE FOR MASKS
Told as a kind of argument with myself, this poem is a true story about a visit to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Literally, it tells a story about a display case for masks and something which happened which I can't for the life of me explain. Metaphorically, it makes a case for how its collection is the unpredictable face a museum shows the world.

"If you look, you will see things," Hazard likes to say. "You have to look to see."

Thursday, August 20, 2009

TAMA MUSHI IRO 


Tama Mushi Iro is a lively collection of bug haiku by the Japanese poet Issa. Read the back story. Order a dvd.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

QUESTIONS 


This video poem QUESTIONS is based on The Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda. The video was created by Jackson Burger as part of a MITY class with Media Mike Hazard and David Bengtson.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

A CINEPOEM BY DAVID BENGTSON 

Sunday, July 5, 2009

SOMETHING BRIGHT TO BE SEEN IN OUR WORLD 



This short will be featured in the Bicycle Film Festival at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis at 9pm, Thursday July 9, 2009.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

GREY MATTERS  is the last in a series of studies of the spectrum, color by color. Like RED EYE, AGENT ORANGE, FOOL'S GOLD, THE EVERGREEN MAN, THE BLUEBIRD OF HAPPINESS and SHRINKING VIOLET, it is a multimedia montage of poems, pictures and profound objects by yours truly, Media Mike Hazard.

Free for all, come see GREY MATTERS in the St. Paul Art Crawl, Friday 6-10pm April 24, Saturday 12-8pm April 25, and Sunday 12-5pm April 26, 2009 at Lowertown Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard E, St. Paul. Or call 651.227.2240.

Click to see a video.

Here are three poems from GREY MATTERS.

THE WAR WITHOUT END
Crickets sing the fall away.
The computer whines whenever it is on.
White noise, it is.
In a black hole, we are.
Lately, I don’t even want a piece of me.

FOOD CHAIN
A strident black crow struts.
He beaks the grass for breakfast.
I beak the bird like a poem, a feast.

SNOW JOB
Shoveling black Tiger Jack's white snow
in the midst of the first blizzard of the season,
I thought about how he prefers to call himself a Negro.
I scraped and skimmed that concrete fact, row on row.
When I was almost through, it was time to begin anew.
Black & white: a wise crow in the cold snow.
Black & white: history deeper than deepening snow.
Black & white: in old photos bold stories show & tell
of civil rights and wrongs, of heaven and hell,
of blacks and whites singing as one under the sun.
Shoveling black Tiger Jack's white snow
in the midst of the first blizzard of the season,
I thought about how he prefers to call himself a Negro.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

BLACK AND WHITE AND GREEN 



This is a video about my old neighborhood in Philadelphia, Longford Street, one of the first integrated housing developments in the country. It was created as part of the Precious Places project of Scribe.

Read stories about the project in the Inquirer and the Haverford News Room.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

BILL HOLM (1943-2009) was a large man who lived large.

His poems about boxelder bugs buzz with the generous and crazy energies of Issa's insect haiku.

"The bug's Latin name is several times as large as itself: Leptocoris trivittatus."

THE BOXELDER BUG PRAYS
I want so little
For so little time,
A south window,
A wall to climb,
The smell of coffee,
A radio knob,
Nothing to eat,
Nothing to rob,
Not love, not power,
Not even a penny.
Forgive me only
For being so many.

I used to love teasing him about his fierce hatred of television. I likened his piano to a tool: Technology. He brooked none of it.

He was a Bach man.

He tuned me into his good buddy Hoover in Xian when I went to China. Hoover's hugs were so huge, I dread telling him about our friend's passing.

I admired the way he spoke about Paul Wellstone with a class of kids who were making a film about the late senator and teacher with me.



Hear Holm read his poem Advice.

Here are obits and eulogies from the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, Marshall Independent, MPR, MinnPost, and Garrison Keillor.

He was a large man who lived large.

He leaves a large hole.

Friday, February 6, 2009

MANY MOVING WAYS OF LOOKING AT VIDEO POETRY 

HAN SHAN/COLD MOUNTAIN.

HOME TO ROOST/KAY RYAN

GENIUS/HAL SIROWITZ

BLINKING/MORTON MARCUS

NOW & THEN/BILLY COLLINS

PSALM 5/ERNESTO CARDENAL

FOOLING WITH WORDS/LUCILLE CLIFTON ET ALIA

FILM TRIP/ETAN THOMAS

SOMEWHERE I HAVE NEVER TRAVELLED/e.e.cummings

SLIP OF THE TONGUE/KAREN LUM

WHAT A POEM IS NOT/JOHN HEGLEY

THE THREATENED ONE/JORGE LUIS BORGES

CULTIVATE/YOKO OKUMURA

IN THIS COUNTRY/ALEX W

POEZIE IS KINDERSPEL/RADIOBOY

POETRY READING/TED KOOSER

BEAUTIFUL GROUND/STEWDIO

AN UNCOMMON GHOST/SHAKESPEARE

VOWEL MOVEMENT

DEATH OF A NATURALIST/SEAMUS HEANEY

PYRAMUS & THISBE/THE BEATLES & THE BARD

RUMI & OTHERS/POEMS

THE COCKROACH POET/RAUL SALINAS

POETRY FOUNDATION

MOTION POETS


Click
to read an article by David Bengtson on this theme.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

KISS, IT'S THE SOLSTICE. 
Kiss, it's the Solstice.
Light a candle.
Marvel at a miracle.
Ponder a parable.
Look for an angel.
Strum an instrument.
Hang an ornament.
Hum some hymns.
Sidle slow & glow
by the mistletoe.
Roll home video.
Muse on the mystery
of the lowly pine tree
and a tiny, tiny baby.
Pray for peace.
Jingle bells. Jingle bells.
Open, open your ears
Make merry the merry
music of the spheres.

This is a poem for the season, composed by Mike Hazard.

Friday, December 12, 2008

MR. POSITIVE is a poetic video portrait of an amazing fellow named Carl Bentson.

Winner of Honorable Mention at the Fargo Film Festival and Audience Favorite at Big Water, MR. POSITIVE will play in the 2008 MNTV series on Twin Cities Public Television.

Channel 2: Sunday, December 14, 10 pm (For those with basic cable in St. Paul, TPT 2 is on channel 23; in Minneapolis, it is channel 2.)

Channel 17: Saturday, December 20, 10 pm (For those with basic cable in St. Paul, TPT 17 is on channel 17; in Minneapolis, it is channel 13)

Check local listings for other cable systems, over the air digital and so on. MR. POSITIVE is the second show in the program.

To see a neat short cut, click.

This short is also in the line up for the Film Anthropist screening on Sunday, December 14, 2008 from 3-5pm at the Riverview Theater, Minneapolis.

This documentary by Mike Hazard and Emily Rumsey shows how Bentson lives a good life with a disability which is never actually defined. Like spokes of a wheel on his legendary bicycle, Carl is at the center of a network of support which makes our world go around.

One student at the school where Carl works says, "His favorite word is yeah." Yeah.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

LOCAL COLOR is a collection of camera works clicked by Media Mike Hazard within easy walking distance of the Black Dog Cafe. The show is on exhibit at the Black Dog, 308 Prince Street, St. Paul, through Sunday November 2, 2008. Call 651-228-9274.

"My camera comes with me whenever I go for a walk. Things happen. People, buildings, parades, plants, and a fair number of just plain peculiar photo ops present themselves. Things click," Hazard says.

"I am inspired by the naturalist, poet and parson Gilbert White (1720-1793) who wrote, 'It is in zoology as it is in botany: all Nature is so full that that district produces the greatest variety which is the most examined.'

White wrote this after living his whole life in one neighborhood, Selbourne, England. He wanted to see and name everything that lived. Towards the end of his life he realized he was never going to identify all the birds, beasts and bugs who lived right under his nose. There is always more than one can see.

The point is, the more you look, the more you see. Every neighborhood is like that."

The artist gratefully acknowledges the support of a Bush Artist Fellowship which has made LOCAL COLOR possible.

Monday, October 6, 2008

MEDIA DADA is a multimedia portrait by Media Mike Hazard of his daughter.

MEDIA DADA will play at the St. Paul Art Crawl October 10-12, 2008 in the fifth floor atrium of Lowertown Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard E, St. Paul.

Here is a poem from MEDIA DADA.

THE WEE ONE WONDERS
Where does outer space go?
Did dinosaurs turn into monkeys?
Dada, can I watch you sexing?
I said my prayers after Gramma's treatment; why is she getting sicker?
Don't you know watching TV is my hobby?
When can I get keys?
Does a camera take pictures when you are not looking through it?
Can I use the f word?
How does the Easter Bunny lay all those eggs in one night?
Do you think there is one of you that is good up in heaven and one of you that is bad in the underworld?
Why do we have to pay to live, if these are our bodies?
Who made God?
There are lots of things in this world we don't know, do we?

MEDIA DADA began as a video made to show and tell the kids at my daughter's day care center what her daddy does for a living. Now 21 years in progress, the length will always stay the same, but new images and sounds will be added as life evolves.

PULLING DUCHAMP'S LEG was made with kids once upon a time one Saturday morning at the Walker Art Center to complement an exhibition called DUCHAMP'S LEG.

MEDIA DADA plays with the playful ideas of the Dada artists, using chance and peace as sources of power. Here is another piece of MEDIA DADA.

THINK TANK
My kid freaked yesterday. A tank wheeled onto the schoolyard at Central High, recruiting.

She got it. At the school with a zero tolerance policy for weapons of ass destruction, a killing machine parks.

In her face, the soldier told her her right to go to a public school, to wear long hair, was because of his tank. The Pentagon thinks it wrote the Bill of Rights.

In her face, the history teacher tells my child she is free because of our tank. Two men, one teen.

War is my job, that's what I do.

No, you are an army recruiter. You are parked here following orders. You are promising the moon to kids who dream big with little means.

With raw poise, like our children, we have to stand in the way of the tank.

Dada is dada.

Monday, June 9, 2008

THREE MEDIA PIONEERS, George Stoney, Nicholas Johnson, and Randall Pinkston, presented a session at the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis on Saturday, June 7, 2008. It will be available soon as both an audio podcast on line and a dvd.

Called Past Success and Future Possibilities: A Discussion with Media Reform Pioneers, these three engaged veterans of civil rights and media activism bore witness to and helped shape more than half a century of U.S. media policy.

Together--Stoney, as independent filmmaker and professor of film and television at NYU's Tisch School; Pinkston, as broadcast journalist and the first African-American news anchor at WLBT-TV, the Jackson, Mississippi, CBS affiliate; and Johnson, as writer and former FCC commissioner--provide a unique complex of views on social change, from the inside out. Stevie Converse, Free Press Communications Coordinator, moderated.

This session featured a video history of the landmark WLBT case, in which Dr. Everett C. Parker and other concerned citizens ultimately moved the FCC to revoke the station's license--the first and only time a station lost its license for failing to serve the public interest. It was this case which established the right of American citizens to testify at federal regulatory hearings, the right of standing.

Another clip shown at the session documents the history of the public interest in American media. Excerpted by Media Mike, both clips come from ON TELEVISION: PUBLIC TRUST OR PRIVATE PROPERTY, written and directed by Mary Megee for On Television, Ltd. Aired on PBS from 1988 to 1992 and first distributed by Charles Benton’s Films Inc., this documentary is available through California Newsreel. Megee [ontel2@aol.com] is currently developing a 20-year update on the issues.

Generous support for this session was provided by the Benton Foundation.

Friday, May 9, 2008

THE REVEREND DOCTOR Everett C. Parker is an extraordinary ordinary citizen. In his own words, "I have spent 70 years trying to awaken the conscience of the government."

Hear Parker here on Democracy Now!.

Working with George Stoney and Charles Benton, we have begun a documentary video portrait of the 95-year-old media activist, minister and professor who has never given up trying to change the world. "The bad guys hope the good guys will get tired of being good before the bad guys get tired of being bad,"ļæ½ Parker jokes.

Guided by a strong sense of ethics, Parker seeks to irritate and worry the media establishment. He is a professor of telecommunications at Fordham University and founder and treasurer of the Emma Bowen Foundation.

Indeed, Parker's sense of ethics is a golden thread which has guided his many good works and good life as activist, minister for the United Church of Christ, professor, organizer, PR guy, gadfly, author, broadcaster, film producer, philosopher and father.

Born, raised and educated in Chicago, Illinois, Parker is most famous for organizing the successful revocation of the television license of WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi, on the grounds of institutional racism. That mission began when he asked Martin Luther King in 1962 how he might help the cause of civil rights. King answered, "Do something about television." Parker did.

In a struggle that took 17 years, the ultimately successful case established the right of American citizens to participate in federal regulatory proceedings, the so-called right of standing. It is no exaggeration to state that all the public interest, environmental, communications and civil rights actions which follow in the courts have been enabled by this decision. The story of that successful citizen action is still a potent and inspiring model for us all.

Stay tuned for progress.

Friday, April 25, 2008

SOLO FLIGHT will fly at the St. Paul Art Crawl April 25-27, 2008 in the fifth floor atrium of Lowertown Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard E, St. Paul.

SOLO FLIGHT is a collection of pictures and poems by Mike Hazard of people on quests.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

JON HASSLER has died. Once upon a time, I wrote a one line poem portrait:

DEAR JON
Slightly stooped, he looked up to everyone.

Click to see a wonderful piece by Dave Wood with a video webcast.

And Peg Meier wrote.

Read Sarah T. Williams.

Mary Ann Grossman.

Funeral services will be at 2pm Thursday March 27, 2008 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

ORGANIC MEDIA Come see a free evening of shorts, clips and bits from works-in-progress by Deb Wallwork and Media Mike Hazard at The Black Dog Cafe at 7pm, on Sunday March 9, 2008.

Wallwork and Hazard are two well-known home town indie filmmakers who make organic documentaries with genuine people. The show will feature the late Carol Bly, Elsie's Farm, C. Beck, Mr. Positive, George Stoney and other home-grown surprises.

The Black Dog is at 308 Prince Street, St. Paul, right by the Farmers Market. Call 651-228-9274 or visit.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

C. BECK is a film portrait of the artist, Charles Beck, by Deb Wallwork and Mike Hazard.

C. BECK was chosen by ITVS as Grand Prize winner of the Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival. To see the film, click. To read an interview with Beck, click. For an essay, The Music of Woodcarving, click. To see a collection of pictures, look.

To acquire art by Beck, visit the Ripple River Gallery in Aitken, Minnesota or call the Rourke Art Museum at 218.236.8861 in Moorhead, Minnesota.

To order your own DVD or VHS video, for $20 plus $5 for S&H, call 651.227.2240. We take VISA/MasterCard. Or click to see how to order by mail.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

CURIOUS AND FIERCE to the end, Carol Bly has passed away.

Bly recorded THE LUCKY PREDATORS, a video essay on the psychology of violence, during the first Gulf War. While we hear her, we see a peace rally recorded by Mike Rivard. The piece was edited by Media Mike for PEACE WORKS.

Read a moving obituary by Sarah T. Williams. This blog of wonderful comments is terrific!

A public memorial service has been set for Bly on Sunday February 10 from 2 to 5pm at Hamline University's Sundin Music Hall, 1536 Hewitt Avenue, St. Paul. Program begins at 3 pm. For more, click.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

MAKING A SCENE:  Twin Cities Youth Media is a one hour teevee special to be broadcast on TPT 17, at 8pm, Sunday, February 10, 2008. This awesome program produced by Daniel Bergin features an interview with our own David Bengtson and several video poems from our classes with MITY.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

STRANGERS BECOMING FRIENDS  is a video snapshot of the annual International Friendship Festival in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota.

Edited by Deb Wallwork and recorded by Media Mike Hazard, it’s a video about a global village. The next festival is June 20-21, 2008.

Friday, October 12, 2007

CORNUCOPIA is a feast of pictures and poems made by Media Mike Hazard at the St. Paul Farmers Market.

The art can be enjoyed in several ways. First, the artist will appear with a copious display of pictures at the market itself downtown in Lowertown on Saturday September 29 and Sunday September 30, 2007 from 9am-12 noon.

Second, a selection of pictures and poems will be exhibited at the Black Dog Cafe, 308 Prince Street, kitty corner to the southeast corner of the market, from Saturday September 29 through Wednesday October 31.

Third, CORNUCOPIA will be on display during the St. Paul Art Crawl October 12-14 in the fifth floor atrium of Lowertown Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard E, St. Paul.

Here are some poems made at the market.

A LITTLE SERMON ON THE SUN
The light in this farmer's blue eyes
comes from farther away than the sun
which is now shining on her stand.
Facing her in the milling market,
I step forward and pretend to click.
Seeing my camera game, she beams.
Teased about how far off she was--
expecting to hear something about
the chores, how early she had to rise,
and on a Sunday morning, when
sleeping in might have been heaven--
she says, "Kiss of the Lord. I feel
I am being kissed by the Lord when
the sun kisses me. Kiss the Lord."

DIRTY WORK
He holds out his hands in a beam of sun.
Dirt jammed under finger nails, informed
by ceremonies of dust and mud, he teaches
"Every day above ground is a good one."

A PINT-SIZED CHILD
A pint of raspberries rests
in the lap of a pint-sized child.
Lolling in her stroller, she’s
living in the lap of luxury.
“Don’t eat them,” Mom says,
as the little one begins eating,
two-handed, two-fisted,
too much; we laugh until
we grow red as raspberries.

You may also hear poems from CORNUCOPIA on Write On Radio. Click on September 13 in the calendar, then STREAM, and run the slider to about 34:50. It is the last half hour of the show.

WHEN I ADMIRE THE SHINING
When I admire the shining
strawberries, praise the grower,
shining like a fresh berry
he tells me they shine most
the moment they are picked

GENESIS
How did we get here?
In the market, stirred
by the lavender of Russian sage
the aroma of romantic rosemary
a delicate lingo of cilantro
the ephemeral squash blossoms...
How do we stay?

OVERHEARD IN THE MARKET
Once upon a time, it was all organic. Now, not.
Wow, I’ve never seen that before.
Holy buckets, look at those radishes.
Climate is what you expect and weather is what you get.
We’re up to our eyes in groceries here.
Soda pop is liquid corn.
On a farm, everything is dangerous.
I love to watch stuff grow.
Plant your corn by the light of the moon.
A farmer farms soils and a writer farms brain cells.
If it was easy, you’d see it on every table.
I’ve known these Brussels sprouts since they were seeds.
Enjoy every blade of grass. Don’t miss the miracle.

CORNUCOPIA is dedicated to the late Dick Broeker, grower of tart cherries, city manager in the Latimer era who organized the resurrection of the farmers market, and advocate of self-reliance and the home-grown economy.

The artist is grateful for help from Bernie Brand, Patty Brand, Jack Gerten, Sarah Remke, Don Roberts, Edible Twin Cities, Deb Wallwork, Write On Radio, Digigraphics, The Friends of the St. Paul Farmers Market, and all the growers and customers who make the market the marvel it is.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

THE BARBARA SCHNEIDER FOUNDATION has commissioned The Center to produce GETTING IT RIGHT, a documentary film about how police officers and other public safety and health workers can better serve people with mental illness. It will be authentic and useful.

World premiere is at the Minneapolis Public Library on Thursday, July 26, 2007. For information, click.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

ROBERT WILCOX & TED HARTWELL Click to see a video snapshot of the photographer Robert Wilcox as described by the late Ted Hartwell. Hartwell was a photographer and the curator of photography at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

The piece was created in the summer of 2006 by Conrad Zbikowski and Phoebe Bottoms, a couple high school students in the Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth working with their teachers Media Mike and
David Bengtson.

The sweet enthusiasm of Hartwell for camera works and camera workers shines.

For moving tributes to Hartwell, visit the awesome blog of Alec Soth.

For a fine obituary writ by Mary Abbe in the Star Tribune, read.

For a sweet obit created by Marianne Combs broadcast on MPR, listen.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

THE COMMOD SQUAD is a film about diabetes made with kids at Circle of Nations School in Wahpeton, North Dakota.

In Minneapolis, on MTN on channel 16:
Thursday May 24 at 4:30pm
Tuesday May 29 at 11pm
Saturday June 9 at 10:30am
Wednesday June 13 at 9:30am

In St. Paul, on SPNN on channel 15:
Friday May 25 at 11:30pm
Saturday May 26 at 5pm
Sunday May 27 at 6:30pm and 8:30pm
Thursday May 31 at 3:30pm
Friday June 1 at 10:30pm
Saturday June 2 at 9:30pm

Friday, April 27, 2007

RISING STARS, a half-hour film made by students at the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind, plays on public television in Minnesota, TPT-17, on Sunday April 29 at 9:30pm.

To see a really cool reel of clips, visit Minnesota Stories.

Or click YouTube.

Or go to Listen Up!.

Directed by Media Mike with support from Young Audiences and V S A arts of Minnesota, this film made by blind and low vision kids shines.

For your own copy, call Media Mike at 651.227.2240.

MEDIA MIKE LOOKS FOR PATTERN IN RISING STARS
I like to think the essence of my teaching has been contained in the phrase "hands on". I learned to make video by doing it, getting my fingers on equipment.

Yet, I learned new levels of the phrase, hands on, with this project.

Wondering what we might do, I saw a film about a school for the blind in Czechoslovakia by Mira Janek which taught me to free myself. It opens with blind kids feeling a camera.

Wow, that is so simple, it is a wow.

I had to resist the urge to warn these kids, keep your fingers off the lens. The most exciting passages in our film are when the kids feel the camera. Cayla in the Central Court is so stimulated by the discovery, she giggles ecstatically.

In our studio classroom, Cassie demonstrates she has learned the basic metaphor of the machine as an analog of the body. "The lens is the camera's eye and the microphone is the camera's ear," she says as the camera is physically explored.

These are moments when a teacher says, "Yes."

I'm an artist whose life is seeing things. It is a tiny thing, but every morning since this project, I close my eyes and shave without looking.

Studying RISING STARS, I have been impressed with how much our tools do without our actually consciously using them. We see without seeing, hear without hearing.

Given a camera, Steven, who can't see at all, made pictures for everyone in his life to see. It was a power to behold how good it made him feel. He was ten feet tall. Me too.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

RED EYE is a multimedia montage of poems, pictures and profound objects written, recorded and collected by Mike Hazard on the color red.

Free for all, come see RED EYE in the St. Paul Art Crawl, Friday 6-10pm April 20, Saturday 2-10pm April 21, and Sunday 12-5pm April 22, 2007 in the atrium on the fifth floor of Lowertown Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard E, St. Paul. Or call 651.227.2240.

Here are three poems from the collection.

THE RED CARPET
The red carpet was
unrolled from a roll
of red paper to honor
the world premiere
of a movie the artistic
and autistic kids made.
As the students entered
our ad hoc theater,
the paper crinkled.
Cameras flashed,
reporters questioned,
the kids twinkled.

MARASCHINO MAN
Spoony as a maraschino cherry
his cheery spoon reddens
in the sun of her affection
ablush in the garden of Eden
spoony as a maraschino cherry

EULOGY IN RED
Cadmium sunset reds,
sunburned bald-headed reds,
flag-waving Communist reds,
bleeding, bleeding heart reds,
a raspberry on the elbow from
stretching a single into a double reds...
your funeral at 39, Greg Kelsey--
painter, baseball player, revolutionary--
parted a sea of red eyes.

Coming soon is FLYING COLORS, where Hazard's color collections RED EYE, AGENT ORANGE, FOOL'S GOLD, THE EVERGREEN MAN, THE BLUEBIRD OF HAPPINESS and SHRINKING VIOLET will become one.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

THE MAGIC GREEN SCHOOL BUS is a half-hour documentary portrait of Paul Wellstone. Created by kids at Lake Country Montessori School in Minneapolis, it is a trip for people of all ages. See what lessons we learned from the life of the late teacher and senator from Minnesota.

Click to see a scene from the movie. To see the whole shebang on line, click on the panel for the bus to the right where it reads, "See the film". We are grateful to Stinkless Communications for hosting the video.

The historian Howard Zinn enthuses, "It is delightful. And a brilliant idea to tell his story through the magic bus, the bus driver, the utterly charming children! It is a good example of how to take a subject that at first glance seems rather dull, and invest it with vitality, humor, inspiration, without sacrificing serious ideas."

Music includes Ballad of Paul and Sheila by Mason Jennings, Star Spangled Banner played by Larry McDonough and On the Bus by Larry Long and Wellstone Elementary School.

You might also want to learn more about the current legislation for Mental Health Parity.

To order your own copy, zoom. To order on line at Wellstone Action, click.

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Cold Mountain

A creative documentary portrait of the Chinese poet Han Shan.

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See the start of the film

Order

Mr. Positive: Carl Bentson

A documentary about a good neighbor who does his best to clean up the world.

Learn more

See a short

The Magic Green School Bus

A documentary portrait of the late teacher and senator Paul Wellstone.

See the film

Learn more

A Man Writes to a Part of Himself

A documentary with the poet Robert Bly.

Learn more

FOUR SISTERS

FOUR SISTERS FOR PEACE is a film about peace and justice as seen through the eyes of the McDonald Sisters. For all ages.

Learn more

See the film




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The Center for International Education 743 Fillmore Street NE Minneapolis Minnesota 55413 USA (651.227.2240)
Contact: mediamike@thecie.org © 2015