On the 4/9/25 edition of Dr.Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Eric Paul Shaffer joins the show to discuss his upcoming and recent book publications, Free Speech and Green Leaves. Shaffer recounts his time at the University of California, Davis and discusses his most recent collection, written in two long sequences. Shaffer then praises Coyote Arts Press and reads a poem, “Watch for falling rocks” and two verses that can be sung along to The United States National Anthem. Julia B. Levine is the next guest on the hour, and details her upcoming reading on April 17th at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Levine discusses her various writing projects and her feelings upon being awarded a Pushcart and the 2024 Terrain Poetry Prize. She explains how she writes about death, love, sex, and aging, trying to articulate the unique vulnerabilities each of these domains contain. Levine then shares a poem titled “This American Spring.”

Eric Paul Shaffer is author of nine volumes of poetry, most recently Free Speech and Green Leaves, Selected & New Poems, Even Further West, A Million-Dollar Bill; Lāhaina Noon, and Portable Planet. More than 650 individual poems appear in reviews in the USA, Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Nicaragua, India, Iran, Scotland, Singapore, and Wales. Shaffer received Hawai‘i’s 2002 Elliot Cades Award for Literature; Ka Palapala Po‘okela Book Awards for Lāhaina Noon (2006) and Even Further West (2019); and 2009 James M. Vaughan Award for Poetry. Shaffer is a retired professor of English and lives on Oʻahu.

Julia B. Levine’s poetry has won many awards, including a 2021 Nautilus Award for her fifth poetry collection, Ordinary Psalms, (LSU press, 2021), as well as the 2015 Northern California Book Award in Poetry for her fourth collection, Small Disasters Seen in Sunlight, (LSU, 2014). Recently she has won a 2024 Pushcart Prize in Poetry, the 2024 Terrain Poetry Prize, 2023 Oran Perry Burke Award in Poetry from The Southern Review, as well as a 2022 American Academy of Poetry Poet Laureate Fellowship for her work in building resilience in teenagers related to climate change through poetry, science, and technology. Her work has appeared in many literary journals, including, Ploughshares, The Missouri Review and Prairie Schooner. She received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of California, Berkeley and an MFA in poetry from Pacific University. Her chapbook, Lullaby for the Sixth Extinction, won the Wolfson Poetry Prize and will be published in early fall, 2025.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM in the John Natsoulas Gallery. The event is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

On the 4/2/25 Edition of Dr Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Clarence Major joins the show to discuss his storied career as a writer and his upcoming release, Four Days in Algeria. He shares a poem from the collection titled “Closed on Sunday” before the next guest, Professor Anne Schilling joins the show. Professor Schilling details the upcoming play which is coming to the UC Davis Campus, “Diving Into Math with Emmy Noether,” which will play at the Wyatt Theater, April 9th at 6 P.M. The next guest of the hour is Seo Nguyen, who outlines some exciting upcoming events hosted by UC Davis’s Fashion and Design Society (FADs). Nguyen describes FADs new print magazine and their upcoming Fashion Show on Picnic Day, “Through the Looking Glass.” The last guest on the show is April Ossman, who details the thematics of her recent release, We. Her collection takes an unapologetically spiritual stance in bridging politicized divides, exploring conscious and unconscious prejudices with lyricism, warmth, and self-implicating humor. Ossman shares two poems, “Knee Deep” and “Deer Atilla.”

Clarence Major won a National Book Award Bronze Medal for Configurations: New and Selected Poems. He is the author of seventeen collections of poems. His forthcoming collection is Four Days in Algeria (2025). He has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, Harvard Review and many other periodicals. Major is distinguished professor emeritus in English at the University of California Davis.

Professor Anne Schilling studies quantum algebras and representation theory using combinatorial methods. In particular she is interested in affine crystal graphs [2], which first arose in the exactly solvable lattice models in statistical mechanics. She is also involved in the study of affine Schubert calculus [1], which is a vast generalization of classical Schubert calculus. Many parts of her research involve computational experimentation. She is an active developer for Sage, http://www.sagemath.org/.

Seo Nguyen is a third year double major in Design & Psychology. As the Co-editor in chief for FADS, Seo manages a team of graphic designers and is designing the first physical issue of the FADS magazine that will be printed in May! She derives a lot of inspiration from Japanese and editorial fashion magazines from the early 2000's and is creating something unique and physical to keep and remember FADS by.

April Ossmann is the author of We (Red Hen Press, 2025), Event Boundaries and Anxious Music, recipient of a VAC Creation Grant, and former director of Alice James Books, and an independent editor at: www.aprilossmann.com

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM in the John Natsoulas Gallery. The event is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. The readers on 4/3/25 will be Clarence Major and April Ossmann.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

On the 3/26/25 Edition of Dr Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Allison Proffitt joins the show to discuss the duality of her scientific and artistic practices. She details the upcoming event "ASSEMBLAGE: A Concert of Music Featuring Rare and Intriguing Instruments" which will feature seven newly commissioned works, highlighting the guzheng, shakuhachi, duduk, glass harp, kamancheh, and taiko drum. Proffitt then shares lyrics to “Mantra” by Santiago Jimenez. Chris Hennessy is the next guest of the program, and he shares exciting news about his upcoming memoir Touched by Hannah. He shares a sample from the manuscript before the last guest of the programs, Isabelle Sato joins. Sato speaks on her love and appreciation for the natural world, and how that influences her poetics. Sato describes the writing class she has been taking, which author Grant Faulkner teaches before sharing a poem “Bright Midnight.”

Allison Proffitt is a classical soprano who performs with the professional-level women's vocal ensemble Vox Musica. She has been performing in choirs for over twenty years. Allison holds a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior from UC Davis, where she sang in the Early Music Ensemble. Allison works at UC Davis Health conducting clinical research studies. She is a regular performer at Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis.

Award-winning filmmaker, author, and speaker. Board Member, California Writers Club, Sacramento. Chris Hennessy dominated the San Francisco Bay Area's independent filmmaking scene from 1990 to 2018, marketing, selling, and producing over 1,500 professional projects for clients, including Google, eBay, the SF 49ers, Deloitte, Office Max, and The American Cancer Society. His digital content has garnered more than 8 million views across various platforms. After retiring from professional filmmaking in 2018, Hennessy launched his television series Yolo YoYo's which won Sacramento's Best New TV Cable Series (2019). The show attracted 125,000 Facebook views (TV stats unavailable), aired four segments on CBS's GoodDay Sacramento, and generated multiple newspaper articles written by Hennessy. The series' season two premiere, "Miracles on College Street"—produced to promote his forthcoming memoir, Touched by Hannah—won the prestigious 'Film Heals' award (most inspirational) at the 2022 Manhattan Film Festival and was runner-up for 'Best Narrative Episode West Coast' at the 2022 ACM Western Region WAVE Cable TV Awards.

Isabelle Sato graduated UC Santa Barbara in 2020 with a B.S. in Physics. While in college she hosted 2 Startup Weekends. And after graduating, she worked as a Jr. Scientist at TAE Technologies in the field of fusion energy for 3 years doing computational plasma reconstructions. She left in Nov of 2023 and since then she has been exploring new topics and ways of being through reading, traveling, volunteering. She has recently picked up hobbies like poetry, music production, and designing clothes.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM in the John Natsoulas Gallery. The event is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

On the 3/19/25 Edition of Dr Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Michael Todd Gallowglas joins the show to discuss his upcoming reading and storytelling event at the John Natsoulas Gallery. On Thursday March 20th at 7:00 P.M., Gallowglas will be reading from his new book, The Re-Imagined Princess, a book that combines poetic narrative and storytelling. Gallowglas also shares a poetic section from his new book, and touches on his storytelling practice along with writing in multiple genres. The next guest on the show is Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas. She discusses the recent publication of her two books of poetry, and outlines how she sticks to a regimented schedule to keep her writing life on track. Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas cites being a lifelong scholar of the genre and an active reader as inspiration to her craft, and discusses the works and life of Slyvia Plath with Dr.Andy. She then shares a poem titled “Maybe If.”

Michael Todd Gallowglas is a creative writer. He originally wanted to be a comic artist, but he couldn't draw, so he thought telling stories with words and sentences would be much easier. Three degrees in writing later, he occasionally wonders if he should have learned to draw instead. Still, with over 30 book credits to his name across fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, Gallowglas has settled into his stride. His most recent publications include Dance Among the Lighting Bolts, book four in his Tears of Rage sequence, The Four Principles of Engaging Writing, and The Re-Imagined Princess - an epic fairy tale in verse that explores the heroine's journey and the relationship between children and their imaginary friends, releasing on March 20th, World Story DayTo find out where he's performing next and to purchase books directly from him, you can visit his website - mtoddgallowglas.com.

Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas is a graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts, with an MFA in Writing. She is a 13-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a seven-time Best of the Net nominee. In 2012, she won the Red Ochre Chapbook Contest with her manuscript Before I Go to Sleep. In 2018, her book In the Making of Goodbyes was nominated for The CLMP Firecracker Award in Poetry, and her poem, A Mall in California, took 2nd place for the Jack Kerouac Poetry Prize. Her poems have been published widely online and in print and recently featured in The Comstock Review, Poets and Artists, and Mezzo Cammin. She is a former editor-in-chief for the Tule Review and The Orchards Poetry Journal. Her latest collections of poetry, Handful of Stallions at Twilight (Finishing Line Press) and A Shared and Sacred Space (Kelsay Books), were released in 2024.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM in the John Natsoulas Gallery. The event is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

On the 3/12/25 Edition of Dr Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Pia Baur joins the show to speak on her recent essay “Every Day Anew” which touches on her lived experience with epilepsy. The essay was recently chosen for the Felice Buckvar Prize for Nonfiction and will be published in the Bellevue Literary Review this Spring. Baur then details her colleague Elizabeth Mitchell’s upcoming horror-sci-fi anthology called "The Claw Machine," which Baur will be contributing to. Will Alpers then joins the show to discuss his upcoming workshop, where he will teach prospective authors about self-publishing their work. He shares a poem titled “In a middle school biology class”, before the last guest of the program, Grant Faulkner calls in. Faulkner describes the structure of his upcoming reading at Avid Reader in Davis, California where he will be discussing his book titled The Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story. He also details how he came about starting his Write-minded podcast and his virtual writing classes that he runs out of Berkley, California.

Pia Baur is a writer born to German and Korean parents and raised in the United States. She received her BA in English from UC Davis in 2011 and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana in Missoula. She lives and works in the Pacific Northwest.

Will Alpers has self-published one book of poetry, The Demon is Curious About My $45 Lunch, which will soon be available for purchase on Amazon.

Grant Faulkner is the co-founder of 100 Word Story, the co-host of the Write-minded podcast, and the author of The Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story, All the Comfort Sin Can Provide, a collection of short stories, and Fissures, a collection of 100-word stories. His “flash novel,” something out there in the distance, a collaboration with the photographer Gail Butensky, is coming out in September 2025 with the University of New Mexico Press. His essays on creativity have been published in The New York Times, Poets & Writers, Lit Hub, Writer’s Digest, and The Writer.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM in the John Natsoulas Gallery. The event is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

On the 3/5/25 Edition of Dr Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Professor Jesse Drew joins Dr. Andy in the studio to discuss the Davis screening of his upcoming movie, Open Country. He shares details on the event, which is occurring this Friday, March 7, at Sudwerk‘s Beer Hall, before telling a story about his time spent interviewing the American Folk legend Pete Seeger. The next guest on the hour, the poet Anthony Xavier Jackson, joins the show to speak about an event for late poet and friend Al Cortez. The event occurred Wednesday, March 5th at Sacramento’s California stage, but the organizers will still be collecting donations to pass on to the family of Al Cortez. The last guest on the hour, Christina Deptula, opens her segment by sharing a poem, “Spontaneous Grace.” She then shares details about an upcoming event, “The Hayward Lit Hop, " a writing group gathering to share and improve their respective crafts.

Jesse Drew is an American artist, author, media activist, and educator. He became a teenage runaway at age 15, and lived on communes in Vermont and California. In 1974, he was a candidate for the State Legislature of Vermont on the Liberty Union Party ticket with Bernie Sanders. In 1975, he was recruited by Fred Ross to work for the United Farmworkers Union in California. He was a boycott organizer in San Francisco before moving into industrial organizing in the San Francisco Bay Area. Drew is now a professor in the Cinema and Technocultural Studies (CaTS) program at the University of California, Davis.

Anthony Xavier Jackson is the recent winner of The 2024 Sacramento Poetry Week’s Annual Poetry contest. Jackson has been writing poems and songs since his teens, drawing inspiration from sci-fi, myths, all genres of music, and all manner of spiritual pursuits, including recovery. Jackson has recently published his first collection of poetry, The Razor of Your Smile, available on Amazon. Jackson is a member of GTFO Poetry Collective based in Sacramento. You may find his poems paired with his music on SoundCloud and Bandcamp.

Cristina Deptula is a UC Davis alumna, a science journalist, book publicist, and publisher of the online literary magazine Synchronized Chaos.

Our March 6th, Poetry night will feature local poets Cindy Juyoung Ok, Jade Menshew, and Roy Magat. We meet at 7PM at the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis, and we hope you can join us.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

On the 2/26/25 Edition of Dr Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Ethan Gallogy joins the show to discuss his award-winning novel The Trail, which follows two character’s journeys on the John Muir Trail. Gallogy shares his experiences on the John Muir Trail, stating that a month straight in the wilderness was an unforgettable experience. He reiterates the importance of being disconnected from technology, and outlines some of the traits of the novel's main character Gil. Gallogy then imparts some advice about how to go about hiking, seeking out trails, and joining hiking groups. Connie Poet then calls in to discuss her poetic habits, including submitting to a variety of journals, as well as setting writing goals. Post shares a poem titled, “The Wandering” before stating that she intentionally writes poems about topics like Sexual Assault in aim to help readers in their healing. She ends the episode by sharing another poem, this one in honor of her late brother titled, “Broken Metronome.”

Ethan Gallogy is a local author and an avid hiker and backpacker. He graduated from UC Davis with a PhD in Physical Chemistry in 1993, has taught around the world, including at UC Berkeley and in mainland China, and is an emeritus professor from Santa Monica College, and has now returned to live in Davis. He has written two books and is the author of The Trail, an award-winning novel set on the John Muir Trail in the High Sierra.

Connie Post’s work has appeared in Calyx, Slipstream, Comstock Review, 2 River, American Journal of Poetry, River Styx, Spoon River Poetry Review, Slippery Elm, and Verse Daily. Her poetry awards include the Caesura award, Liakoura award, and the Crab Creek Poetry Award. Her full-length collections include Floodwater, Prime Meridian and Between Twilight. Between Twilight was a finalist in the 2023 Best Book Awards and the International book award. Her 2023 chapbook, Broken Metronome has been a finalist for six book awards and won the American Fiction award for a chapbook.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

On the 2/19/25 Edition of Dr Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Denisha Coco Blossom joins the show to discuss how she aims to uplift the world with poetry. She cites music as an influence of her early poetics and reflects upon her journey from open-mic nights to becoming a published author. She then shares a poem from her book The Makings of a Project Queen titled, “Welcome to Opportunity” about her time at the University of California, Davis. Blossom then explains her role in Sacramento-Area Youth Speaks, where she inspires the community and individuals alike through sharing culturally relevant literature and media with her students. Anthony Xavier Jackson is the next guest of the program, who joins in to speak on the release of his new book The Razor of Your Smile. He then details the lengthy process of collecting and curating the poems that make up his collection. Anthony Xavier Jackson then shares a poem in honor of the late Al Cortez, one of the original founders of the GTFO Poetry collective, titled “Promises.” He also outlines some upcoming projects the collective is working on, including publishing the posthumous works of Al Cortez.

Denisha Coco Blossom is a Poet-Mentor, Educator, Author, and Scholar-Activist recognized for her advocacy, community empowerment, and storytelling. Raised in South Sacramento, she serves as Associate Director of Sacramento Area Youth Speaks (SAYS), mentoring youth to find their voices and create change. With degrees in African American Studies, Education, and Organizational Communication, Blossom combines her academic background with a passion for spoken word as a tool for healing and empowerment. She has performed at major events like the Sacramento Women’s March and opened for Hillary Clinton. Her accolades include the Sacramento Poetry Day Award and the SAYS Tupac Scholar Award. Her poetic memoir, The Makings of a Project Queen, available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and her website, captures her journey, faith, and philosophy: Love yourself first before you lose yourself. To learn more about Denisha Coco Blossom, visit her website at www.cocoqueendom.com or visit her social media @cocoqueendom across all platforms.

Anthony Xavier Jackson is the recent winner of The 2024 Sacramento Poetry Week’s Annual Poetry contest. Anthony Xavier Jackson has been writing poems and songs since his teens, drawing inspiration from sci-fi, myths, all genres of music, and all manner of spiritual pursuits, including recovery. Anthony has recently published his first collection of poetry, The Razor of Your Smile, available on Amazon and other venues. Anthony has enjoyed publishing honors from the likes of Bar Bar, Wingless Dreamer, Dipity, The Word’s Faire, and Tule Review 2024. Jackson is a member of GTFO Poetry Collective based in Sacramento. Find his poems paired with his music on SoundCloud and Bandcamp. Jackson is also a Substance Use Disorder Counselor who aspires to Social Work credentialing. He firmly believes everyone deserves healing.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. The featured speakers of 2/20/25 will be Denisha Coco Blossom and Anthony Xavier Jackson.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.