by Michael Sedano

From: Labloga

Hitched  is a quarterly reading series, created and engagingly hosted by Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo. Notable for Bermejo’s pairing of intriguing voices, Hitched might feature seasoned with emerging writers, people working in complementary styles, writers with contrasting approaches. Bermejo always finds a delighting facet in her guests’ poetry and prose.

For December, the event paired two writers bringing debut books to light, Vickie Vertiz’s collection, Palm Frond with Its Throat Cut (University of Arizona Press) and Joseph Rios’s collection, Shadowboxing (Omnidawn)! In addition, all the writers were Macondistas, including liz gonzalez, Alex Espinoza, Tisha Reichle, Sarah Rafael García. With Saturday’s reading, Hitched reaches its seventh year. In Los Angeles, that’s an institution. That Macondo writers workshop has been an institution since Day One.

For years–since December 2010–Hitched was a feature on the remote Westside, at Beyond Baroque in Venice. When Bermjeo relocated the series to the eastside, Hitched got forcibly interrupted after a car crashed through the El Sereno front door of host, Holy Grounds Coffee & Tea.

The December 9 Hitched marked the return of Holy Grounds and Hitched. The owners of the venue donate their comfortable paved garden. The sound system provides clean audio adding no discernible artifacts. Readers Saturday showed how to use the two-step stage and microphone to advantage.

That microphone, however, complicates a photographer’s quest for a perfect portrait of an artist reading aloud. A listener’s brain can render the mic invisible, or at least irrelevant to enjoying the work. The camera is a dumb instrument that sees whatever comes between the lens and the speaker’s face.

Technology adds dimensions to a reader’s considerations that can enhance a presentation, or let it be a “more of the same” experience for audiences. There’s no such thing as a “bad job” but there are infinite ways to be good, better, the best you’ve done. Knowing your tools makes writers better readers. Read Rest of Article Here