Call for Volunteers

TL;DR: there’s a list of stuff we need help with at the bottom and a form to register as a volunteer

We need people! I felt a huge sense of relief when I filed our taxes this morning. I mean, even though it took about 20 minutes and the 990 e-postcard only requires 8 pieces of information from non-profits like us, it felt good to get it done. But then I looked at my checklist for PoetrIE stuff and felt less relieved. And that’s not even the half of it.

There’s the stuff we need to be doing that we’re not, like consolidating a mailing list, building contacts at local colleges, and maintaining our social media presence – there’s the stuff we do do, i.e. getting the Sin Filtro events organized and marketed, but then … then there’s the stuff we dream of …

• building our new website and getting it launched
• creating a line of products to sell on the site, broadsides, t-shirts, etc.
• designing new programming like the relaunch of our poetry critique group
• looking into publishing pamphlets
• hosting regular poetry readings aside from the Sin Filtro events

Isabel and me feel guilty we don’t do more. But Isabel teaches and is a full-time travelling writer, I have school and a relatively new baby. And we’ve known we need to get volunteers and new board members for a while – but, well … we need someone to volunteer to get people to volunteer 😀

We can’t pay, of course, but we’re good for letters of recommendation and sweet sweet resume candy. If there’s anyone out there who could help us organize our recruiting, please consider volunteering.

We need help with the following:

• drafting letter/email of interest to local colleges, to recruit students
• drafting comprehensive job descriptions for volunteers
• drafting job descriptions for board members
• creating job postings for board member positions
• building out a recruitment section of our website
• organizing our existing recruitment data

 

 

 

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Sin Filtro: Natalie Graham and Vanessa Angélica Villarreal

The Garcia Center for the Arts
May 19th, 2018
Workshop (with Vanessa Angélica Villarreal) 5:00 – 6:00 PM
Reading and Conversation 6:00 – 8:00 PM
RSVP on Facebook

Folks, we’re going to have Natalie Graham and Vanessa Angélica Villarreal reading at the next Sin Filtro. I hadn’t heard of the poets before Isabel told me about them, but I checked out their websites and I’m very excited that they’re going to be performing at The Garcia Center for the Arts (Natalie Graham and Vanessa Angélica Villarreal).

Natalie, described as a “Ph.D, poet and hip-hop scholar,” has a ton of links on her site like  a radio interview with the Los Angeles Review of Books and there are a couple of poems you can check out online, “Leaping Fire in Princeville Park” and “Underneath There is a Wound.” I’d really recommend you consider purchasing Natalie Graham’s collection Begin With a Failed Body too. I’ve always liked being at least somewhat familiar with a poet’s work on the page before I hear them read—that might just be me though. Otherwise, Natalie’s book will be available for purchase on the night of the reading too.

Vanessa Angélica Villarreal’s Beast Meridian, which I can also strongly recommend you purchase, is a huge deal. Not only has it been featured on an NBC best reads list, but it also picked up huge praise from The Los Angeles Review of Books. And Vanessa is not just a poet, but also does design and video work. Here’s an example of her work “Estrellada”: