The Documentary Film TASTE THE WASTE is Food For Thought

Valentin Thurn's film TASTE THE WASTE reveals the shocking truth about the worldwide destruction of food and its global effects on the population and the environment. It poses the question:

Why do we throw away so much food that is still perfectly good to eat?

Is it prosperity? - Is it ignorance? - Is it madness?

One thing we can all agree on:

IT IS JUST PLAIN WRONG!

First watch this movie trailer - then follow the link below.

International poet and human rights activist Ana Elsner puts it this way:

"Would you directly or indirectly act as judge

over who eats and who starves?

If you are a supermarket customer

you might be an unsuspecting accomplice

in making this judgment..."

Find out what Ana Elsner is talking about:


CLICK HERE NOW

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Ana Elsner shows Poetry as Theater

Co-producer and director Ana Elsner is proud to present

Three Nights of Performance Poetry

at the RANDALL MUSEUM THEATER

Showcasing Thirteen Distinguished Poets

on March 5, 12 and 19, 2009

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This special three-part poetry series is designed to appeal to a large and diverse audience, targeting especially all those who are newcomers to poetry events.

It highlights select poets whose unique voices represent a sampling of the vibrant contemporary poetry scene.

If you reside in, or will be visiting the San Francisco Bay Area, you are invited and encouraged to attend this exciting and dynamic event.

: V e n u e :

The Randall Museum Theater in Corona Heights Park, 199 Museum Way at Roosevelt Way.

Maplink: Click here to see map

Free parking lot.
Muni #37

Call 1-415-554-9600 for directions.

Wheelchair accessible.


: P r o g r a m :

- First Night: "View Point Vistas"
on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 7pm,
with featured poets Jerry Ferraz, Charlie Getter, Don Brennan, Rosemary Manno;
special musical guest Betsy Stein, violin;
hosted by Stephen Kopel

- Second Night: "Passion Unveiled"
on Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 7pm,
with featured poets Stephen Kopel, Jari Bradley, Christopher Bernard, Joan Gelfand;
special musical guest Don Prell, acoustic bass;
directed and hosted by Ana Elsner

- Third Night: "Lasting Impressions"
on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 7pm,
with featured poets Ana Elsner, Al Averbach, Richard Beban, Lunation (Clara Hsu and Bill Mercer);
hosted by Stephen Kopel

-Admission to all events is free-


: S p o n s o r :

The San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department

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: Photo Montage of the PASSION UNVEILED Show :
(art work ©Ana Elsner)

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A Word in Your Ear

"In an age when city coffers are depleted and public and community venues and facilities such as the San Francisco Public Libraries, SFPL, the San Francisco Free Civic Theater, SFFCT, director Glenn Havlan, several neighborhood rec centers and many other free city-run programs are being threatened with cut-backs, it is especially important to come out in support of local literary and community events before they vanish forever.

The Randall Theater Poetry Series is one such program. Attending one, two or all three of the poetry shows will not only inform and entertain you, but will also send a message to the appropriate city agencies that events such as these are in demand, are vital to the local community and deserve continued funding.

Yes, we are soliciting your engagement and presence at these three shows, not just for the benefit of the featured poets and musicians who are giving so generously of their time and talent without monetary compensation, but also to help us make an important point.

So go ahead, jump on our (poetry) bandwagon. There's room for all of us!

Thank you."

- Ana Elsner
Poet, Producer and Patron of the Arts < click

: P E R F O R M E R S :

A Panoply Of Personalities
_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Click here to see
The Cast
of
"LASTING IMPRESSIONS"

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Click to see highlights of Elsner's past events and appearances

A Tribute to TONY VAUGHAN by Ana Elsner

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On the night of September 27, 2008, the San Francisco literary community lost one of its most forthright, giving, gentle and beloved members, the poet, artist and musician

Tony Vaughan
(July 14, 1947 - September 27, 2008).

Cancer struck him down and took him from us, but his courageous spirit and his compassion for all living things lives on in his legacy of poems and paintings and in the hearts of all who knew him. We publish here a poem that was written by his fellow poet ANA ELSNER and is a tribute to Tony, his life and work, and his sojourn on this earth.


(Photo above: Tony Vaughan performs at the UCSF Cancer Center, Healing Garden Music Series)
::

TONY VAUGHAN
by Ana Elsner


so much
so much
LIFE,

so much
so much
LIVED;

hard
jabs
heart
break

the tyranny
of love and tenderness
transcended,
transcending,
and lapping
at the shore of consciousness;

this valiance
of gingerly rebelling against
the intimacy
of a merciless reality

in soft words
in gentle song
in pastels
on paper;

drifting

on a whiff of the herb,
on a whim of the soul,
on the threadbare sole
of street-corner anonymity
and bus-stop penance;

retracing your footprints,
embedded
in the un-cured clay of mind,

and always seeking by feel,
by feel;

wagering in the currency
of song,
of poem,
of shape and color,
pinned-down,

at times half-veiled in riddles
and distant echoes,

yet decoded to all those
who hold the key of
shared mysticism and wonderment.

You navigated
the un-fathom-able BEING of it all
with stubborn tenacity

while doing battle with the ever-present
specter of resignation.

You kept on moving,
kept on riding the rails,
kept on strumming your guitar,
perhaps to an inattentive crowd,

kept on sketching and re-sketching
the outer reaches
of self.

I call you POET

I call you FRIEND

I call you BROTHER


I RECOLLECT YOU


© Ana Elsner

One of the poems that Ana Elsner reads
in this video recording
is her poem Tony Vaughan
[Click image above to play video]

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At a gathering of friends Ana Elsner reminisces:

"I see Tony sitting across from me at a table outside Café Trieste. I don't remember him ever sitting inside the café. Always outside, with his hat on. He has just taken his guitar out of the beat-up case and cradles it in his lap, while continuing our conversation. Then, almost subconsciously, he fingers a few riffs. He tells me about his novel and the ongoing struggle he has with it, a sort of love/hate relationship with (his) life. I buy him a glass of wine. Later we walk a few steps up Vallejo Street to where the steep alley goes down to Broadway and share a smoke. We are not in a hurry. It's only late afternoon. A fogbank is pouring over the top of Russian Hill. We shiver just a little. But we don't care."

-:-

Ana Elsner remembers George Tsongas, another poet who was dear to her.

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Ana Elsner Reading and Book Signing at SFPL

The San Francisco Public Library presents:

Ana Elsner speaks Words that are Poems

Event Type:

Author reading and book signing

Date/Time/Location:

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008, 6:30 p.m.
at the San Francisco Public Library - Glen Park Branch,
2825 Diamond Street (near Bosworth), San Francisco

::

Event Description:

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Polyglot poet and world citizen Ana Elsner delivers poetry for everyone in a performance of her poems from Ciphers of Uncommon Origin - Poems by Ana Elsner.

Accompanying Ana Elsner's reading will be special guest Chad Ostwald on double bass.

Immediately following her recital, Ana Elsner will answer questions about her poetry and her creative life, which spans half a century and two continents.

At this event Ana Elsner's book will be for sale by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Ana will autograph copies of her book by request.
Click to go to the
OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF ANA ELSNER
to read her biography and her poems.

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Contact person: Kate Brown (415) 355-2858

Click here to view event listing at the San Francisco Public Library

:

This poetry reading and book signing by Ana Elsner is a Library Sponsored Public Program.

:: Click here for more details ::

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Hearing Other Voices

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Conceived of and implemented by Roger B. Humes in June of 2004,

The Other Voices International Project

is a cyber-anthology that erases the boundaries of nations, ethnicities, religions, cultures, and age in order to collect and present some of the world's best poetry.

To date, April 2008, Humes, himself a poet, has published 32 Volumes of poetry on his othervoicespoetry.org site. Each volume showcases 15 poets from around the world with samples of their work and a short biography.

Among the chosen poets are

Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003, Billy Collins;

Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish;

Jean-Michel Maulpoix, auteur d'ouvrages poétiques;

Multicultural poet, artist and translator Ana Elsner;

Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko;

Arab-American award winning poet and novelist Naomi Shihab Nye;

Jimmy Santiago Baca, of Chicano and Apache descent, founder of Cedar Tree, a non-profit organization for the empowerment of impoverished and imprisoned people through literacy.


Humes, founder and director of this international poetry project, goes about the choreography of content in a very selective way. As stated on the index page: "Participation in Other Voices is by invitation only". Humes is assisted by his artistic partner and co-director, Iranian poet and human rights activist Sheema Kalbasi.


An excerpt from the Mission Statement:

"The soul has become an endangered species and Art must regain its voice to save humanity from extinction.... To help you and I rediscover some semblance of our humanity, these OTHER VOICES INTERNATIONAL POETRY PROJECT writers creatively share the adventures, desires and dreams of the human heart and spirit, wherever it resides. Through this singular poetic voice we can claim unity in our diversity and strive to live in honor of human dignity."

The Other Voices International Project has been indexed by the World Poetry Directory of UNESCO under "journal", United States.

Other Voices is an outstanding resource to anyone who wishes to explore the vast world of international poetry. It is continually growing as new poets are added.

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Read Ana Elsner's poem about the Oboe


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[Related link: Read the biography of international poet Ana Elsner]


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The reason

"Let us remember ... that in the end we go to poetry for one reason, so that we might more fully inhabit our lives and the world in which we live them, and that if we more fully inhabit these things, we might be less apt to destroy both."

- Christian Wiman, poet, essayist
and editor of
Poetry Magazine

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Bicultural poet Ana Elsner
starts most of her readings with her poem titled POETRY
to prepare her audience for what is to come.

Read the poem here:

"Poetry"

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Black and White - Devorah Major and Ana Elsner

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The San Francisco Public Library presents

:
POETRY IN BLACK & WHITE -

Devorah Major and Ana Elsner:

Two Colors, Two Voices


In honor of Black History Month international poet Ana Elsner and former San Francisco Poet Laureate Devorah Major come together in a performance of poetry presented as a dialogue between a European-American and an African-American voice.

At this special event Devorah Major and Ana Elsner join forces in the staging of a unique poetry duet. The two poets take turns bringing their poems to life in this juxtaposition of two distinctive personalities. Poet and writer Ana Elsner is a repeat-feature at the San Francisco Public Library. She designs and produces programs that appeal to a wide audience in an ongoing effort to raise the popularity of poetry. Devorah Major is a poet, novelist, essayist and performance artist, who served as San Francisco's third Poet Laureate from 2002-2006.

This show
takes place in
San Francisco's famous North Beach district
on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 7p.m.

See and hear two strong women poets delivering powerful poetry in this dynamic dialogue conceived and choreographed by Ana Elsner.

One night only.

'Poetry in Black and White - An Attraction of Opposites'

held at: The North Beach Library, 2000 Mason Street at Columbus

This is a free event, produced by poet and author Ana Elsner and sponsored by The Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

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View Event Listing for this program posted at the Redroom.com website on Ana Elsner's author page


:
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Click to see other highlights of

Ana Elsner's 2008 performances

-:-

Visit the official website of poet Ana Elsner

-:-

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Check List

CROSS CULTURAL OUTLINE congratulates
Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for winning the
2007 Nobel Peace Prize


How about taking some time to pay attention to even just one or two of the global issues on the list that are due to the effects of human activity on the natural environment.

How about finding and defining your own personal strategy to help preserve our planet?

: Climate change - Global warming; Greenhouse gas emissions; Sea level rise

: Conservation - Invasive species; Species extinction; Habitat destruction

: Energy - Energy conservation; Petroleum dependence

: Genetic engineering - Genetic Pollution; Genetic Erosion

: Agriculture - Intensive farming; Overgrazing; Irrigation; Monoculture

: Soil - Soil conservation; Soil erosion; Soil contamination; Herbicides; Pesticides; Soil salination

: Land degradation - Desertification; Crop decimation; Famine

: Overpopulation - Urban sprawl; Increased longevity

: Air Pollution - Acid rain; Air Quality Index; Atmospheric dispersion modeling; Chlorofluorocarbon; Global dimming; Haze; Ozone depletion; Particulates; Smog

: Water Pollution - Marine pollution; Ocean acidification; Oil spill; Surface runoff; Thermal pollution; Wastewater; Waterborne diseases; Drinking water quality

: Depletion of natural resources and non-renewables - Overfishing; Deforestation; Depletion of fossil fuels; Over-consumption

: Waste - Waste types; Waste management; Waste collection; Toxicity; Contamination; Waste treatment technologies

It is easy for us to forget about how much garbage we produce because once a week the truck comes along, sweeps up that trash and whisks it away to a landfill out of sight and smell.

_______________________________________________

UPDATE: A Message from human rights activist and poet Ana Elsner on March 12, 2012:

It is now 5 years later. The year 2012. German Filmmaker Valentin Thurn has made his documentary TASTE THE WASTE calling attention to the issue of worldwide food waste and the problem with its disposal. Precisely one of the issues that Al Gore raised these many years ago...
HAVE WE LEARNED ANYTHING in these five years? Have we taken any steps to protect the environment and the billions of people that share this planet? The sad answer is: Clearly NOT! The same old problems still persist, have even escalated and gotten worse on a global level.
How stinging an indictment this is for our so called 'civilized society' that acts as irresponsibly as ever. When will we wake up and rally to the rescue of our abused planet earth? Perhaps not until it is too late...

->CLICK HERE AND WEEP<-
_______________________________________________

::

At the Supermarket Checkout:


Commenting on winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Gore said,

"We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."

Gore plans to donate his share of the $1.5 million that accompanies the prize to the non-profit Alliance for Climate Protection.


[See also An Indictment]

[Pass on the plastic]

[Try out a different product]

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Hikikomori by Shahar Golan

© Shahar Golan
From 'Almost Finished'
(via Frgdr)

Hikikomori, a Japanese term for "acute social withdrawal" is a noun that describes both the problem and the person suffering from it and is also an adjective, like "solitary"). It defines a societal group of reclusive individuals, primarily young Japanese males, who feel uncomfortable in public, are suffering from social anxiety, and have chosen to withdraw from normal life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement in small spaces. This seclusion and lack of interpersonal stimulus results in the gradual loss of the social skills and reference points that are necessary to integrate and interact with the outside world.

[Read the NY Times Article about Hikikomori and their families, by Maggie Jones]



-About the Poet-

Shahar Golan was born and lives in Israel. He is an emerging photographer and digital artist and recent graduate of the Musrara School of Art in Jerusalem who decided to leave a comfortable IT position in order to fulfill his lifelong passion for poetry and the arts.
In July of 2007, Shahar Golan published his first book titled 'Almost Finished'. It includes mainly Hebrew poems and short stories.

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[Check out Other Voices]


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Pavarotti unparalleled

The World of Music Mourns



A Reflection about a Man
and his Voice

By Ana Elsner


Luciano Pavarotti (October 12, 1935 – September 6, 2007), the world-famous Italian tenor, was one of the most charismatic, talented and celebrated vocal artists of opera stage and concert stage alike. Born in Modena, Italy, Pavarotti studied voice and gave unpaid recitals for several years before embarking on a professional singing career that proved to be of stellar proportions. In 1961 he made his opera debut as Rodolfo in 'La Boheme' in the footlights of a small regional Italian opera house.

Soon he debuted at the most distinguished opera houses of Europe and eventually became a beloved regular in the international world of opera and concert, garnering the affections of thousands of devoted fans.
His perfect pitch and the unique brilliance and deeply resonant beauty of his voice, reaching far into the upper register, earned him the title of "King of the High Cs" and made him one of the most successful recording stars.

Pavarotti, like no other, brought his signature arias and brilliant performances, previously limited to the trained ears of the opera crowd, to a far wider audience.

Hearing him sing, one cannot help but open one's heart to the man and his voice.

Beyond his fame as a tenor, he is noted and remembered as a humanitarian hero for his tireless charity work, raising millions for hunger, HIV/AIDS and refugee issues and for countless other charitable causes.

This is a man who was large in life.
His legacy is and will always be larger than life.

Pavarotti passed away in the early morning hours of September 6, 2007, from pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his first and his second wife and by four daughters.

Many tears will be shed in his memory.


Pavarotti in his own words:

"I think an important quality that I have is that if you turn on the radio and hear somebody sing, you know it’s me. You don’t confuse my voice with another voice."

"I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent."

[See also: 'Luciano Pavarotti Is Dead at 71' by Bernard Holland of the NY Times]

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A Russian Tale

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Добры́ня Ники́тич

Dobrynya Nikitich,

Medieval Russian Knight
and Dragonslayer


The theme that Palekh artist Dmitry Bonokin has chosen for this miniature painting is the ancient Russian bylina (Russian oral tradition, folk legend) "Dobrynya and The Dragon". This bylina tells how the mighty bogatyr (Russian knight) Dobrynya Nikitich killed the evil Dragon for devastating Russian land and for kidnapping the niece of Prince Vladimir.

In the middle of the composition is the heroic figure of Dobrynya, of the noble warrior class, sitting on his faithful steed and trumpeting his horn to announce his victory. Just under Dobrynya's figure, the artist depicts the body of the dead Dragon.
To the right we see Prince Vladimir and different citizens of Kiev triumphing and saluting their hero, while on the left girls are laundering clothes in the Puchai River (according to ancient legend, the citizens of Kiev were baptized in the waters of this river).

In the upper left corner of the composition the artist writes in gold paint this excerpt from the folk tale:

"Wherever you were brought from, each of you go in your own direction, and the Dragon will not touch you, the evil Dragon has been killed!"

In the upper right corner of the composition there is another quote in gold letters from this bylina:

"The blood of the Dragon flew from the east down to the west, never more will the Russian and Christian people be imprisoned, for the Dragon was killed!"

Historians believe that the personage made imortal by this tale evolved from the real Slavic warlord Dobrynya, who led the armies of Svyatoslav the Great and tutored his son Vladimir the Fair Sun.


Dmitry Bonokin is a young artist and graduate of the Palekh Art School of Miniature Painting. This particular piece is Bonokin's diploma work, signed, titled and dated 2002, and was shown in the Moscow exhibition "Origin and Contemporaneity" in 2003. It is pictured in the exhibition catalogue. The painting now resides in the Ana Elsner Collection, U.S.A.


[More about The Legend of Dobrynya Nikitich as portrayed in Russian Miniature Art]

[Read the entire story on Wikipedia]

Hermann Hesse on Learning

Lesen ohne Liebe, Wissen ohne Ehrfurcht, Bildung ohne Herz, das sind die schlimmsten Sünden gegen den Geist.

- Hermann Hesse, deutsch-schweizerischer Lyriker, Essayist, Erzähler und Kritiker (1877-1962)


Reading without love, knowledge without tribute, education without heart, those are the worst sins against the mind.

- Hermann Hesse, German-Swiss poet, essayist, novelist and critic

(Translation by Ana Elsner)


Published in many languages, Hesse is best known for his works:

Siddhartha, an allegorical novel about the search for enlightenment, first published in 1922,

Steppenwolf, a demonstration of the duality of human nature, pub. 1928,

and The Glass Bead Game (Das Glasperlenspiel), a futuristic novel, describing how people construct, deconstruct, signify, encode and program their perception of reality, pub. 1943.

"The above quote of Hesse reminds me of his novel Unter dem Rad, where the protaganist's spirit is crushed by the rigid educational system of the day.

Hesse's short stories called Märchen deal with the artist's struggle to create great art. They are told in painstakingly beautiful detail and sometimes with humor and irony.

Hesse is one of the greatest psychological novelists since Dostoyevsky. He was a manic-depressive who was not afraid to delve into the depths of his soul. One can clearly see the influence that Jungian psychology had on his work.

In his novel Narcissus and Goldmund, the two protagonists embody the two necessary components of the creative spirit: logic/abstract thought balanced with intuition/emotion. Narcissus, the ascetic monk, is of the Father world coming to terms with the processes of individuation through his intellect. Goldmund, the woodcarving icon artist, is of the Mother world feeling his way through life in the quest for discovering his true Self. This novel is literally steeped in Jungian archetypes and dream symbols on just about every page.

Applying the Riso-Hudson enneagram personality theory, Narcissus represents the five (the Thinker) and Goldmund the four (the Artist) on the scale of personality types. It is no surprise that Hesse, himself, was a four with a five wing."

Vincent Russo, Composer, Orchestrator and Conductor

[Take your own Personality Test]

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DAWN by Ana Elsner

Suddenly and uninvited Dawn appears

and reaches deep inside of you

piercing your outer shell

of eyelid skin and flesh cushion.

OH DAWN OF STEALTH!


Mercilessly it jolts your mind

out of its cocoon of amniotic Suspension

which transcends all laws, natural and man-made,

out of blissful Disembodiment from self,

out of Fantasy beyond description,

where that palpable state of Omnipotence resides.

OH CRUEL DAWN!


Now dreamscapes evaporate under morning sun's invasive glare,

Sleep-drunk torpor gives way to the inevitability of purpose

Synapses twitch into brain-controlled efficiency.

OH DAWN OF DUE-DILIGENCE!


When the bathroom mirror reveals a light crusty stain on your cheek,

the tracks of your tears cast a slip-shadow of remembrance,

as fleeting as the hummingbird darting away,

of that un-chartable nameless territory,

where your subconscious mind is a nightly Explorer,

pouring out and being replenished,

shedding the tears of Pain,

shedding the tears of Ecstasy.

OH DAWN, INTERCEPTOR OF DREAMS!


© Ana Elsner



From 'Ciphers Of Uncommon Origin - Poems By Ana Elsner'
(InstaPLANET Press 2007)
Reprinted by permission

Find out about the author of this poem:
enter The World of Poet Ana Elsner
"Poetry is a Journey"



: :

Click to read three more poems:


Ana Elsner's The Intervention Rhapsody In Three Movements

Poetry by Ana Elsner

Oboe

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Sit and ponder this

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I Sit and Look Out

I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world,
and upon all oppression and shame;
I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with themselves, remorseful after deeds done;
I see, in low life, the mother misused by her children,
dying, neglected, gaunt, desperate;
I see the wife misused by her husband -
I see the treacherous seducer of young women;
I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love,
attempted to be hid -
I see these sights on the earth;
I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny -
I see martyrs and prisoners;
I observe a famine at sea - I observe the sailors
casting lots who shall be kill’d,
to preserve the lives of the rest;
I observe the slights and degradations
cast by arrogant persons upon laborers,
the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these -
All the meanness and agony without end,
I, sitting,
look out upon,
see, hear, and am silent.

-Walt Whitman, (1819-1892),
American humanist, poet, journalist, editor, teacher, and clerk at the U.S. Department of the Interior

Visit the world of Ana Elsner, a contemporary poet who was inspired by Walt Whitman

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MOKU - The New Haiku by Ana Elsner

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Moku stands for "modified haiku" and was established by contemporary poet Ana Elsner. It has three lines, the same as haiku, but allows for more syllables per line. Ana Elsner's moku present rich and condensed imagery, illuminating moments in everyday life or interpreting existing conditions or human nature at large, - Commentator

Window Number Nine

screeching siren ambulance

rents in half congested one way street

trailer of uncertain fate

© Ana Elsner

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Visit
Ana Elsner's website
to see her biography, read her poems and watch video clips of her readings.

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