From: La Bloga

Ninety-degree weather at the end of October is a normal California Fall. Almost as normal, it was the fourth Sunday of the month, and that normally means a La Palabra Hosted by Karineh Mahdessian  celebration at Northeast Los Angeles’ cultural soul, Avenue 50 Studio.

Mahdessian began the event with Open Mic. The popular La Palabra, and its counterpart series hosted at Avenue 50, The Bluebird Reading Series, encourage emerging voices to take the floor and share up to five minutes’ work. This month, Mariella Sanchez performed for the second time in her writing career.

Poets travel from throughout the LA basin to join La Palabra Open Mic. Writers and poets enjoy the warm sense of community that has long been a feature of Avenue 50 readings, as well as enthusiastic audiences.

At one time La Palabra and Bluebird were among the only shows in town, on the Eastside. Now regular poetry readings take place across the eastern part of town, from Alivio Open Mic in Bell hosted by Eric Contreras, toHitched, which moved from the Westside’s Beyond Baroque to El Sereno, hosted by Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, toUptown Word in North Long Beach, hosted by Liz Gonzalez.

La Palabra Hosted by Karineh Mahdessian this month featured work by three poets, Michelle Brittan Rosado, Uptown Word’s Liz Gonzalez, and Cynthia Guardado. Read a poem from each of the features here.