Albuquerque Final

On Friday in Albuquerque I went with the aforementioned Santa Fe group to Old Town. I was on the hunt for the elusive "Mama's Frybread" that I had visited with Jeannie a few years ago. After finding where it used to be, we were told that it had closed and a new place had gone up in its place. Fortunately they also served frybread so I ordered a plate. We sat in an outdoor table, but quickly had to move when it began raining. Luckily we moved our food to a patio table just as the downpour began. The rain came down so hard it made a small water fall off the roof. There is a picture called torrent in the pictures section that was taken at that moment. It lasted about half an hour which served as a great cool down, it had begun to get really hot and humid so it was a nice relief.
From there we went to the Latin showcase at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. There was a line up of more than 30 Latin poets from all different countries and even the poet from France turned out to be Latino so he dropped some hot poems that really gave the event some music. Rich Villar says this on his Blog but I want to echo it here. Latin people are not one shade, size shape or even race. So many of the poets thought they didn't have enough credentials to read because they did not fit the normal mold of Latin, IE. they looked, too white, too black or what have you. Being Latin is a cultural distinction that is not derived from your skin color, your tongue, or your dancing ability. I am glad that those poets finally found the courage to read. I think it added some diversity and some perspective on who we are as a group.
Later on that evening, after unsuccessfully trying to eat at La Siringitu again, we headed over to the NHCC again for the semi-final bout. The Louder Arts team read really powerfully, but in the end it was the home town Albuquerque team that took it and Hawaii reading an anti imperialism piece that they knew would disqualify them. No tears to shed though as NY really did a great job and left the audience reeling from the emotional trips of their work. I really had a wonderful time in Albuquerque. I would be hard pressed to say I had a better time at any other National Poetry Slam. Thank you Albuquerque, thank you all of the NY people who shared and read and laughed and ate and climbed mountains with me.