Host Blake More interviews Sonoma County author and poet Steve Trenam. They discuss Trenam’s life as professor, his literary leadership and his latest book, as this fine poet weaves his quirky, intelligent poetry into the conversation. Trenam is able to transform empty and blank spaces into places of awe that entice the reader to leave “the dark corners of our rooms” to experience not only the world he creates through these poems, but also the ways in which art, music, dance, and poetry are rooted “at the heart of things.” The show originally aired on KZYX&Z 90.7FM Philo, 88.1FM Fort Bragg, and 91.5FM Willits, as well as streams on the web www.kzyx.org.

KZYX&Z’s Be More Now Features Mendocino Youth Poets reading their PoetryTune into KZYX&Z’s Be More Now program at 7pm on Thursday, June 1 when host Blake More celebrates the successful end of the 2022-23 school year with a show featuring the literary voices of K-12 students in Mendocino County. Voices you will hear include 3-8 students Manchester Elementary School, 3-8 students from Pacific Community Charter School, as well as some poems from the Mendocino County Youth Poet Laureate Sidney Regelbrugge. Tune in and hear the kids read their poems!

KZYX&Z’s Be More Now Features a conversation with Dot Brovarney, the author of Mendocino RefugeTune into KZYX&Z’s Be More Now show at 7pm on Thursday, May 4 when host Blake More will interview Mendocino County authors Dot Brovarney and Kate Dougherty. They will be discussing Brovarney’s new book, Mendocino Refuge: Lake Leonard & Reeves Canyon, which explores the Mendocino canyon that holds the County’s largest natural lake and a fascinating history, telling a multifaceted story of place through the interconnected lives of its plants, wildlife, and human inhabitants from geological time to the present.Historian Dot Brovarney, M.A., writes about the connections, past and present, between humans and the natural world. She published The Sweet Life: Cherry Stories from Butler Ranch, and co-authored the award-winning Remember Your Relations: The Elsie Allen Baskets, Family, and Friends, chronicling the lives and art of Native Pomo basketweavers. For thirty years, she made her home in Mendocino County’s oak woodlands before recently resettling “over the hill” on an ancient marine terrace in Fort Bragg. Find samples of her work at www.landcestry.com.Dot Brovarney’s new book, Mendocino Refuge: Lake Leonard & Reeves Canyon, explores the Mendocino canyon that holds the County’s largest natural lake and a fascinating history, including over 200 photographs and watercolor maps. For more about the book, visit www.mendocinorefuge.com. The show originally airs on KZYX&Z 90.7FM Philo, 88.1FM Fort Bragg, and 91.5FM Willits, as well as streams on the web www.kzyx.org.

Host Blake More interviews artist/printer Felicia Rice, poet Theresa Whitehill and poet Sidney Regelbrugge, the Mendocino County Youth Poet Laureate.Heavy Lifting, the outcome of a 3 1/2 year collaboration between artist/printer Felicia Rice of Moving Parts Press and poet Theresa Whitehill is part event, part film, part exhibition and part reading, and it is currently touring Mendocino County and beyond. Our discussion will center upon how this project presents an opportunity for dialogue and healing in an historic time of crisis and renewal. Heavy Lifting is a fierce work that names the darkness in the belief that the first stage of recovery from grief is acknowledgement, and that the precursor to action can be anger. It is a response to a call sounded by artist/educator Paul Soulellis in 2021: “Publishing has always been political, but has it ever felt as urgent as it does right now in the global distress and intersecting crises of the past year? There’s a desperate need for new language to express publishing’s renewed urgency and importance. …let’s turn away from old, legacy publishing models towards something new: an ethics, craft, and politics of urgent making.”The limited edition artists’ book, Heavy Lifting, is the outcome of a close collaboration between artist/printer Felicia Rice of Moving Parts Press and poet Theresa Whitehill. It began in 2019 with an exchange in which a poem sparked a drawing which sparked a poem which led to a book structure, then spiraled back round again. In 2020, during their early work on the project, Felicia lost her letterpress shop of over 40 years to a devastating megafire in the Santa Cruz Mountains just as the death of George Floyd trained a blazing light on the many deep-seated inequities in this country amid the global pandemic and threat of political totalitarianism. Heavy Lifting took flight in spite of and because of our personal and collective crises of this terrible time and tackles these issues in book form, performance, and dialogue in search of a tenable future. The innovative book structure of nested accordion-fold panels features stunning poems by Theresa Whitehill in compelling conversation with prints by Felicia Rice. Inge Bruggeman writes in the preface to The Heavy Lifting Companion, “Felicia Rice has … an unsurpassed commitment to the book as a unique space for expressing artistic content…. Heavy Lifting not only demonstrates Rice’s innovative use of the artists’ book format, it reveals the unique power of this art form to unfurl within the hands of the individual, thus beautifully connecting the individual’s role to art, poetry, and the world around them.”Heavy Lifting acknowledges the almost unbearable pace of relentless crises that have unfolded in recent years—covid, climate change, racial injustice, the threat of totalitarianism, immigration crises—and begins to dwell in what might lie beyond these times. Theresa Whitehill’s poems tread a tenuous path at the boundaries between personal and collective reckonings with work that portrays alternating grief, tenderness, defiance, and outrage. For more informtation on Heavy Lifting, visit: https://movingpartspress.com/publications/heavy-lifting/**************************This show originally aired at 7pm Thursday April 6, 2023 on KZYX&Z 90.7FM Philo, 88.1FM Fort Bragg, and 91.5FM Willits, as well as streams on the web www.kzyx.org.

Tune into KZYX&Z’s Be More Now program for part two of our trip down poetry lane, featuring Silent Motif, Conference of the Poets, a compilation poetry CD put together by poet Kirk Lumplin with Berkeley Musicians Robert Keller and Paul Mills. Poets you will hear include myself, Kirk Lumpkin, Chris Olander, Sara Mithra, Steve Arnston and David Shaddock. I will also feature a few wonderful original compositions written and performed by my dear friend Nymphya — from her album Dream Dance.Enjoy. **************************This show originally aired at 7pm Thursday March 2, 2023 on KZYX&Z 90.7FM Philo, 88.1FM Fort Bragg, and 91.5FM Willits, as well as streams on the web www.kzyx.org.

Tune into KZYX&Z’s Be More Now program when host Blake More interviews Mendocino County muralist Lauren Sinnott.A blend of painting, process and artistic discovery, they’ll be discussing Lauren’s bright life and colorful contributions to the county’s urban landscape, including her block long county history mural in Ukiah and her most recent “From Finland to Fort Bragg” mural project in Fort Bragg.A resident of the southern Mendocino coast since 1998, Lauren Sinnott is a working artist in an old-world manner: She paints pictures that are full of pattern and decoration, but also tell stories, often with portraits. She says she makes things that regular people need, like business signs, logos, and even a high school mascot on the basketball court floor. She learned to sew from her mom and grandma, which is always useful, not just to make her own clothes and create the Velvet Vulva line of purses, but also to hem pants and take prom dresses in.She grew up in Wisconsin’s dairyland, in a creative, beatnik home. Her mom was an artist and illustrator and she copied her from before she was 2. An exchange year abroad in Belgium shaped her – there really is good coffee in the world! And houses that are 400 years old. At Rice University in Houston she got the training necessary to shape talent, in painting, but also art history. Her masters degree focused on the Renaissance and exposed her to art that was full of meaning, held symbols, had inscriptions, and told stories that people with a shared culture understood. That’s what she aims for now, using her sons and the people around her to populate the painted stage.Her newest history mural, From Finland to Fort Bragg, illustrates the rich heritage of the many Finnish immigrants to this coastal northern California town.For illustrated pictures of Lauren’s “Finland to Fort Bragg” mural, visit: https://historymural.com/finn/**************************This show originally airs at 7pm Thursday February 2, 2023 on KZYX&Z 90.7FM Philo, 88.1FM Fort Bragg, and 91.5FM Willits, as well as streams on the web www.kzyx.org.

Be More Now offers yet another trip down poetry lane, this time featuring Silent Motif, Conference of the Poets, a compilation poetry CD put together by poet Kirk Lumplin with Berkeley Musicians Robert Keller and Paul Mills.Poets you will hear include myself, Kirk Lumpkin, Chris Olander, Sara Mithra, Steve Arnston and David Shaddock. I will also feature a few wonderful original compositions written and performed by my dear friend Nymphya — from her album Dream Dance.It is the end of the holiday season and the jump start into a brand new year. So tonight, I figured I would go easy on myself, and you too, perhaps. This show is an invitation to tune your brain to what these poets and musicians have to say to each other. And to you! Enjoy. **************************This show originally aired at 7pm Thursday January 5, 2023 on KZYX&Z 90.7FM Philo, 88.1FM Fort Bragg, and 91.5FM Willits, as well as streams on the web www.kzyx.org.

Mark Sanford Gross considers himself “1/3 NY, 1/3 Washington, DC and 1/3 San Francisco.” and for the past 8 years Mark, along with his husband Billy and their two Hungarian shepards, has called Anchor Bay home.He moved to Washington DC to work in radio where he sold advertising for ABC radio’s first FM Rock station, WRQX. During that time he earned his MBA in Management from Marymount University. He moved on to two other radio stations learning radio formats and audience behavior. The Washington Post took Mark out of radio and into the world of newspaper in the nation’s capitol. It was during that time mark was accepted into part-time creative writing at John Hopkins University where he earned his MA over three years of full time work and full time writing fit into part time structure.After 12 years at the Post’s “DC mothership” he was asked to start an experimental remote home office in San Francisco to be the brand ambassador representing The Washington Post and Washington DC. “It was the first time of blending opposite ways of thinking. Silicon Valley was becoming the center of innovation and Washington, DC was the center of policy and regulation. Often one didn’t understand the language of the other”.Over the next fifteen years Mark developed his relationship skills learning how to bring together groups and teams of individuals with all their differences.In 2013, Mark was awarded the Washington Post prestigious Eugene Meyer Award named after Katharine Grahams father for his career contributions and principles. He retired in 2015 when they moved to Anchor Bay.Since coming to the coast he’s been a reporter for the ICO. Volunteer for KGUA. A board member of Gualala Arts Center and the Point Arena Lighthouse. He contributed to the Lighthouse Peddler and volunteered for programs at Action Network. He started a running club. In 2022, he hosted discussion groups on James Joyce, Ulysses.Everything he’s done so far has been a part of learning how to build community across differences. “When I left the Post I returned my laptop and computer. Soon after, I realized my skillset and all I learned about people was mine to own.”He continued his writing development attending significant writing workshops including Cheryl Strayed’s Writers Camp at Esolen, Dorothy Allison’s workshop at Writing x Writers, Alexander Chee at Corporal Writing. Paul Lisciky at Provincetown Writers Offerings, Napa Valley Writers Conference, Summer workshop in Chamonix, France with Pam Houston and Cheryl Strayed.In 2015 he met best-selling author Lydia Yuknavitch. It was a turning point for his writing as he became a regular in her workshops followed by one year exclusive mentorship with her. In 2015, Mark was accepted to Skidmore’s New York Summer’s Writing Institute working under Garth Greenwell and a list of incredible writers.A little bit from him. A little bit from her. A little bit from them. A little bit from everyone including his fellow writers helped Mark put together his own format and program to help writers on every level to get the stories out of them, heard by others. When he partnered with Peggy Berryhill his role in the community grew. Peggy was unconditional in teaching and trusting Mark to help him grow into an integral part of KGUA while strengthening his own skills.During his three cross-country drives in the past two years Mark decided to start “Let’s Go Bookstoring.” A series of interviews with independent local bookstores he discovered while driving.“It gave me a chance to talk with unsung heroes passionate about reading and books who struggled through the pandemic to keep reading alive with people locked-down. It was a fascinating learning experience about the power giving of small used bookstores. Southland Books in Maryville, Tennessee, The Source in Davenport, Iowa, Hooray for Books in Alexandria, Virginia. Just a few.He turned these interviews into KGUA special segments.A discussion with Kristina Jetter, Executive Director of the Sea Ranch Lodge lead to an on-going monthly Storytelling Writing workshop. It was this when branded his workshops as Write-Up-The-Coast.Mark leads with passion, energy and enthusiasm. All of which he gets by watching others grow and take chances. He started running in 2018 and since then has done half marathons in NY, SF, Humboldt and Washington DC. He took up Canicross (running with dogs) and together he and his dogs have done countless 10Ks. **************************This show originally aired at 7pm Thursday December 1, 2022 on KZYX&Z 90.7FM Philo, 88.1FM Fort Bragg, and 91.5FM Willits, as well as streamed on the web www.kzyx.org.

Born in Santa Monica, John Allen Cann eagerly acknowledges his first grand enthusiasm began with the arrival of the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles. Along with playing shortstop came a fascination with the stats & brief bios on the back of baseball cards; he considers this the inception of all following passions of study—at times he just wants to turn the world over & see what’s on the other side. The radio by his blue bed entranced him with songs, their lyrics knocked about his head as the figure of the poet gathered a strange, numinous nobility.Sports in high school was joined by an involvement with the theater; soon he arrived at Cornell University during its years of student unrest, & where he received his B.A. in Theater Arts. His time in the east proved California the best place for him. As wordsmithing overtook acting, he earned an M.A. in Creative Writing at San Francisco State, landing in Santa Barbara afterwards, where Mudborn Press published his first book, Lemurian Rhapsodies. Here he hosted a poetry show, The Unseen Rose, at KCSB, began Aetheric Press, as well as working with kids & poetry, his livelihood for the next three decades. His Dinosaurism – An Illuminated Manifesto, & Lunch – An Omnimodal Experience, were both performed before his departure to Sacramento in Orwell’s fateful year, 1984.In the state’s capitol, he married artist-teacher, Robyn Cota, a true blessing, followed by another, the birth of their son, Dylan. Family camping on the north coast evolved into the good fortune of securing a parcel in Anchor Bay in 2002; building ensued at a modest pace. John Allen began teaching English at Cosumnes River College; surprisingly, he became an assistant scoutmaster while his son earned his Eagle. A central figure in the Sacramento Library’s 2013 award-winning Poe Project, John Allen ordered, introduced & added commentary to The Slender Poe, an anthology of the great American writer’s work. A volume of his own poetry, The Moon Over Madrid, followed from i street press. On-campus classes were suspended at CRC in March of 2020—you know why—& he finished his last semester on-line living full-time in Enchanted Meadows.His study & writing of poetry has been steady for decades, & always he endeavors to be equal to the adage of Wallace Stevens, “Poetry is the scholar’s art.” His phantom mentors include Heraclitus, Emerson, Whitman, Dickinson, Yeats, Rilke, & Jeffers. Like many who hold dear the mystery of poetry, he already knows there’s not enough time left to read deeply all the great poems that the world treasures. But he will keep at that joyful task as he composes his own work at the edge of history. **************************This show originally aired at 7pm Thursday October 1, 2022 on KZYX&Z 90.7FM Philo, 88.1FM Fort Bragg, and 91.5FM Willits, as well as streamed on the web www.kzyx.org.

Be More Now features the bi-coastal NYC/SF Jazz performance poet and longtime Town Crier Raymond Nat Turner discussing the placement of poetry in community, finding one’s voice and fearless expression with host Blake More. “The Town Crier,” Raymond Nat Turner, is a NYC poet privileged to have read at the Harriet Tubman Centennial Symposium. He is Artistic Director of the stalwart JazzPoetry Ensemble UpSurge!NYC and has appeared at numerous festivals and venues including the Monterey Jazz Festival and Panafest in Ghana West Africa. He currently is Poet-in-Residence at Black Agenda Report and former Co-Chair of the New York Chapter of the National Writers Union (NWU). Turner has opened for such people as James Baldwin, People’s Advocate Cynthia, sportswriter Dave Zirin and CA Congresswoman Barbara Lee following her lone vote against attacking Afghanistan. ********************Originally aired 7-7:30pm, Thursday, on KZYX&Z FM, Mendocino Public Broadcasting. Also streams live at https://kzyx.org