Albuquerque National Poetry Slam part 1

So my Albuquerque trip for the national poetry slam almost didn't happen. The day before I was to leave my car got towed by the marshal for some unpaid parking tickets. It cost me and Jeannie 7 hours and almost 600 dollars to get it out of impound. I was in such a bad mood because of that and the other unfortunate mishaps lately that I almost decided not to go to Albuquerque. After some coaxing by Jeannie I finally went. I was flying standby so it was lucky that I got there without incident. The atmosphere of Albuquerque was just what I needed to lift my spirits. The sky seems so big as to suck the problems right out of your chest. The weather was cooler than NY and I was glad for it. I picked up my priceline rent a car and headed off for the Hotel Blue where I was meeting up with the Acentos crew. Driving through New Mexico is beautiful. The adobe architecture is really so different than east coast architecture that you really feel disconnected from the commonplace. The earthy colors also make you feel as though you have somehow stepped back in time, or to some alternate timeline where the world was run by Native peoples. The radio stations weren't so great but luckily I brought along the new Cd by The Bravery, all of the restaurants on the way there looked so alluring I knew I was in for some tough choices. Anyway I drive up to the hotel and see that the park across the street is filled with poets, and a stage set up under some beautiful cottonwood trees. I had arrived just in time for the opening ceremonies . I parked my car and made the hello rounds. There were a lot of people I did not recognize. I would find out later that there were a lot of local and west coast teams that had not been in the competition before as well as some new teams from the south and Florida. This meant more people of color and I was glad for that too. I was also very happy to see Travis and the rest of team Hawaii as we had met in through an anti war organization a few months earlier. It was a good beginning.