Upcoming Events: January-February 2012

January 21, 2012 - Workshop at the Pacific Asia Museum

Meeting starts at 2:00 p.m. Newcomers are welcome! The Pacific Asia Museum is located at 46 N. Los Robles, Pasadena, and is only a few blocks walk from the Gold line station. Bring a season word from the current season with you.

January 28, 2012 - Haiku Walk (Ginko) at the Coachella Valley Preserve

Our winter desert haiku walk and workshop will be held 10-3 pm, at the Coachella Valley Preserve. The preserve is adjacent to Palm Desert, CA.

Please note this is a change from the original workshop location. The Coachella Valley Preserve is about a 2 hour drive from Los Angeles area, located near Interstate 10 near Palm Desert. Admission is free. No dogs or pets allowed.

We will meet at the Coachella Valley Preserve Visitor Center/Main Entrance, which is located at 29200 Thousand Palms Canyon Rd, Thousand Palms, CA 92276. Directions are posted at the end of this email.

The walk is an easy, 2-mile round trip suitable for all levels of walkers/hikers.

The workshop will be led by Debbie Kolodji & Ruth Nolan, who also led the very successful & enjoyable 2010 haiku desert workshop at Indian Canyons in Palm Springs. We'll take a walk and learn about the area from Ruth Nolan, desert native & scholar, and generate haiku during and after the walk.

Participants should bring their own lunch, plenty of water, drinks, snacks, hat & sunscreen, and light jacket. Note: there are no food/drink facilities at the preserve. It's also advisable to bring additional winter weather gear in case the weather is chilly, as needed (warmer jacket, gloves, cap). Wear walking or hiking shoes. Bring your own writing materials.

Directions:
1. Take Interstate 10 EAST out of the L.A. Basin, towards Palm Sprints.

2. Stay on I-10 and Go PAST the "Palm Springs" exit (do NOT take the palm Springs exit)......you will continue past the windmills, and past several freeway exits, and continue east for another 15-20 minutes along the freeway.

3. Take MONTEREY AVENUE exit off the freeway. Go LEFT on Monterey Avenue, and back over the freeway. Continue until you reach RAMON Road.

4. Go RIGHT on Ramon Road. Continue for approximately 5-10 minutes, heading out into open desert, until you reach THOUSAND PALMS ROAD. Be sure to keep a careful lookout of Thousand Palms Road; it comes up on the left-hand side of the road.

5. Go LEFT on Thousand Palms Road (note: Thousand Palms Road ONLY goes left.)

6. Drive several minutes on this road.....it goes past one big palm tree oasis on the left side of the road and you may see a few cars pulled off at the small dirt area here, but continue to drive. Thousand Palms Road gets a bit curved here, so be careful on this part of the road, as some people drive really fast through here.

7. You will very soon see a sign for "COACHELLA VALLEY PRESERVE-THOUSAND PALMS OASIS" and this will be the MAIN VISITOR CENTER area. Turn LEFT into the dirt parking lot. Find a parking spot and then join us at the visitor center.

8. Call RUTH NOLAN IF you get lost and/or need help finding our location. 760-964-9767

9. Call DEBBIE KOLODJI before the event if you would like to carpool from the Los Angeles area. 626-201-2151

Coachella Valley Preserve Main Entrance-Visitor Center
29200 Thousand Palms Canyon Rd, Thousand Palms, CA 92276
http://coachellavalleypreserve.org/

February 18, 2012 - Workshop at the Pacific Asia Museum

Meeting starts at 2:00 p.m. Newcomers are welcome! The Pacific Asia Museum is located at 46 N. Los Robles, Pasadena, and is only a few blocks walk from the Gold line station. Program: Greg Longenecker will do a program on Basho. Naia will be the featured reader.

scent of rain - 2011 SCHSG Haiku Anthology

I am very pleased to announce that scent of rain: the 2011 Southern California Haiku Study Group Anthology is complete on its way to the printer. From our first beautiful hand-made 2001 edition with eight founding haijin, we have grown to a volume featuring 62 poets. Our new book will be perfect-bound with a full-color heavy-stock cover, featuring poems in both English and Spanish (with English translations). This collection emphasizes our unique climate and geography, our rich cultural diversity, and the broad range of experience of our contributing haijin. I think you will be very pleased with the superb quality of work in this edition.

The Anthologies will be available at our annual reading and celebration at the Pacific Asia Museum, 46 North Los Robles, Pasadena, CA, on Sunday, November 20th at 2:00 p.m. There will be another reading in San Diego at The Ink Spot, the downtown gallery loft of San Diego Writers, Ink, located at 710 13thStreet, San Diego, CA, on Saturday, December 3rd at 1:00 p.m. Please mark your calendars. For those of you who have paid for postage, the books will be mailed Monday, November 21st.

Here is our roster of poets:
Lynn Halley Allgood, Don Baird, Karina Balderrabano, Ashley Baldon, Jerry Ball, Marcia Behar, Tom Bilicke, Darrell Byrd, Peggy Castro, Phyllis Collins, Joan E. Day, Billie Dee, Marcyn Del Clements, D'ellen, Pauli Dutton, Kimberly Esser, Kendall Evans, Olga García, Maury Garnholz, Victor P. Gendrano, Risa Goldberg, Liz Goetz, Anita Guenin, William Hart, Maura Harvey, MargaretHehman-Smith, Una Nichols Hynum, Gloria Jaguden, Oleg Kagan, D.J. Keddy, Patricia Kelly, Deborah P. Kolodji, Sean Kolodji, Elva Lauter, Marie Lecrivain, Gregory Longenecker, Eve Luckring, Janis Albright Lukstein, Seretta Martin, Frances Ruhlen McConnel,Aida Mendez, Christine Moore, Naia, Genie Nakano, Ruth Nolan, Victor Ortiz, Melinda Palacio, Wendy Rathbone, Beki Reese, Brosnan Rhodes, Susan Rogers, Dan Spurgeon, Melissa Spurr, Stevie Strang, Karen Stromberg, G. Murray Thomas, Beverly A. Tift, Megan Webster, Kath Abela Wilson, James Won, Wendy Wright.

For those of you who have not yet ordered copies, please be aware that there will no second printing. This full-size poetry book would ordinarily retail for $15, but is available to contributors at the generously discounted pre-publication price of $8 for the first copy, $6 for each copy thereafter. They make wonderful holiday and thank-you gifts. To order your copies, or to add to your current order, please make your check out to SCHSG and mail to:

Haiku Anthology
c/o D. Kolodji
10529 Olive St.
Temple City, CA 91780

Be sure to add postage of $2.75 for the first book, plus $0.85 for each additional copy if you will not be picking up yourbook(s) at one of our readings. If there are any questions, please contact usathaikuanthology2011@gmail.com

- Billie Dee, 2011 Anthology Editor

Ginko on Sunday, March 13, 2011

On Sunday, March 13, 2011, the Southern California Haiku Study Group will have a ginko at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. We will meet at 10:00 at the foot bridge near the parking lot on Pacific Coast Highway.

For those who wish to carpool, contact Debbie at dkolodji@aol.com or Wendy at bachouse272@aol.com.

After our haiku walk, we will stop by Subway on the way to Wendy's house (or bring your own lunch). At Wendy's, we will share and workshop haiku, as well as eating our lunches.

Previous visits to Bolsa Chica by the haiku group have produced excellent haiku, many of which were published in our group anthologies, including last year's anthology title haiku by Margaret Hehman-Smith. It is an inspirational place, teeming with birds.

Dress in layers. There is no shade, so it can warm up, yet the wind is very cold when it blows off the ocean. Wear sunscreen, a hat, sunglasses. Bring your writing notebook, something to write with, a camera if you wish, and binoculars if you have them.

It's a wetlands area, mostly flat. You can expect to see pelicans, cormorants, great blue herons, snowy egrets, great egrets, willets, marbled godwits, terns, loons, ducks, gulls, grebes, plovers, sandpipers, and long-billed curlews. You might see black-crowned night herons, a hawk or osprey, an American avocet or even a reddish egret.

Here are some photos of the birds of Bolsa Chica from photographer Kirk Bensen:
http://www.pbase.com/kirkbenson/bolsa_chica.

Here are photos from the November 2009 SCHSG Bolsa Chica ginko and workshop at Wendy's:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dkolodji/sets/72157622766026238/

Anthology reading in San Diego

The Southern California Haiku Study Group presents a reading of their 2010 haiku anthology, An Island of Egrets, this Saturday, October 9th at 2 p.m. at The Ink Spot, 710 13th Street, Suite 210, San Diego, CA. A no-host dinner will follow (more details at the bottom of this announcement).

Edited by Billie Dee, the anthology is a 124-page perfect-bound volume of work by 65 haiku poets throughout Southern California, including a number of San Diego writers. Of particular note is a bilingual Spanish-English selection of haiku by well-known border-region authors.

This collection emphasizes our unique climate and geography, our rich cultural diversity, and embraces the broad range of experience of our contributing poets. Books will be available for sale at the reading.

NO-HOST DINNER AFTER READING for those who would like to join us. Reservation is currently for 25 people at Soleluna Care at 702 Ash Street, Ste E (ll-blocks west of the Ink Spot – we can carpool there). LINK: http://solelunacafe.com/

LINK: The Ink Spot (directions): http://www.sandiegowriters.org/about_where.htm
LINK: about the reading: http://sandiegowriters.org/programs_readings_haikusandiego.htm
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143823302328698&ref=mf

The Anthologies Have arrived!

Dear Haiku Friends,

I've just received the shipment of our new book: an island of egrets . . . the 2010 Southern California Haiku Study Group Anthology. They are beautiful! The Anthologies will be available at our annual reading and celebration this coming weekend:

Sunday, Sept. 26th at 2 p.m.

Pacific Asia Museum

46 North Los Robles

Pasadena, CA 91101

There will be another reading in San Diego

Saturday, Oct. 9th at 2 p.m.
The Ink Spot
710 13th Street,
San Diego, CA 92101

Please mark your calendars!

For those of you who have paid for postage, the books will be mailed Monday, Sept 27th.


If you would like to order additional copies and will not be able to attend one of the readings, the price is $9.95 each, plus shipping. Your book will be mailed in a sturdy crush-resistant book-box. Here's a cost schedule:

 1 book: $9.95 + $3.35 shipping......... $13.30 total
 2 .........................4.20.........................24.10                        

 3..........................5.05.........................34.90

 4..........................5.90.........................45.70

 5..........................6.75.........................56.50

 6..........................7.60.........................67.30

 7..........................8.45.........................78.10

 8..........................9.30.........................88.90

 9                        10.15.........................99.70

10                       11.00.......................110.50 

Contributors are entitled to a $2/book discount from the above price. Please send a check made out to SCHSG to:

Haiku Anthology

P O Box 620457

San Diego, CA 92162

I look forward to seeing you at one of the readings. If you have any questions, please contact me at

haikuanthology@gmail.com

Billie Dee, Editor

Another Beautiful Meeting in the Blue Room, Pacific Asia Museum, Sept 18, 2010

In the Blue Room at the Pacific Asia Museum,








while our wonderful moderator, Deborah P. Kolodji and many of our members were attending the Asilomar Haiku Retreat in Northern California, a smaller group of us kept the haiku fire alive in Southern California. Phyllis Collins beautifully managed the session, introducing a lovely kigo discussion and overview of the season, to which many contributed natural developments of our Southern California environment at this time. Phyllis brought some fascinating haiku books for perusing and as we shared two rounds or our newly written work, a few using special poems they were attracted to in the journals. We sipped tea and shared seaweed snacks and tamari almonds, and other sweets as we collected our cards and began our interesting writing session. Our meetings held in such a beautiful museum enhances the experience. We wander in the courtyard where koi swim, and new flowers bloom, small waterfalls sound and excite the imagination. This day was especially unusual,there was a performance by dancers and orchestra of Los Angelos Indonesian Culture Center, and the drums and bells could be heard even from our Blue Room writing table! The contrast between the quiet light in this inner room, compared with the bright and colorful costumes and lights outside was remarkable. The colors and sounds permeated many of our haiku! The anonymous reading proceeded to the Indonesian tunes but clearly spoken by our reader, and our interesting discussions complemented our appreciation as we listened and considered. We are all looking forward to the Book Launch Reading of our Southern California Haiku Study Group sponsored Anthology, "An Island of Egrets" this Sunday, September 26, 2 PM in the Japanese gallery of the Pacific Asia Museum, 46 N. Los Robles Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101. We are also looking forward to hearing the stories of our friends in Asilomar! It was a special feeling of simultaneity... our haiku spoken in the Blue Room simultaneously with our friends afar on their adventure in the sea air of blue haiku shores of Northern California.

Meeting in the Blue Room, Pacific Asia Museum, Saturday August 21, 2010

While our wonderful moderator, Deborah P Kolodji was on her way to San Francisco to be one of the four honored readers at "Two Autumns" reading, Billie Dee was here from San Diego to host the meeting and lead the anonymous haiku workshop. Many interesting discussions extended throughout the meeting on topics of kigo, Japanese language elements, Southern California seasons, characteristics of haiku composition, historical and contemporary, haiku books for study and more. We each read a new haiku to begin the session, or one favorite from our books. Conversation on haiku and Billie's interesting views and questions followed, while we sipped jasmine tea and shared snacks. After ripening figs was suggested as a local summer kigo, one of our members walked in with figs from her own tree! After a break we contributed and continued with an anonymous haiku workshop. Genie wrote the haiku on the whiteboard, and Lynn timed the discussion, which was very animated and helpful. By extending the end-time we finished discussions on all the haiku and more! We were all thinking of Debbie and her reading, happy that she was honored in this way, and looking forward to our next meeting and our anthology reading September 26.