YouTube video by Raffi Wartanian How To Orchestrate A Genocide / Raffi Joe Wartanian / Library of Congress National Book Festival

Reflecting on my birthday wknd w a highlight from the past year: the honor to be in community with so many inspiring souls last month & to share “How To Orchestrate A Genocide” at LOC's Nat'l Book Festival. TY to the Academy of American Poets & our tribe of storytellers.
youtu.be/O25EjwZD3W4

I sincerely appreciate everyone who has offered their support, collaboration, considerations, questions, and guidance. You all inspire me.

Thank you as well to the Academy for sharing with their beautiful community my poems, “How To Orchestrate A Genocide” and “ERASURE: George W Bush Address on Signing the USA Patriot Act.”

San Gabriel Valley Phoenix Poets

About our local project: San Gabriel Valley Phoenix Poets champions and celebrates the authentic self-expression of individuals and groups impacted by the Eaton Fire of January 2025. To learn more, please visit www.sgvphoenixpoets.org

Beyond humbled & grateful to be entrusted by The Academy of American Poets with the generous support of the Mellon Foundation, to join 22 other outstanding poets laureate across the US. More on the many inspiring initiatives here: bit.ly/4l4NhZe

Opinion | I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/o...

Cuomo & Adams will likely compete for an overlapping group of similar voters, thus enhancing Mamdani’s odds.

How many critics lambasting Cudahy, CA Vice Mayor Gonzalez’s extreme comments are likewise speaking out against the political violence advocated for and operationalized by the president and his criminal cabal?

And what if local law enforcement protected its citizens from ICE’s reign of terror?

Juneteenth 2025 dispatch

Surreal to watch & hear LAPD officers audibly threaten a local news reporter covering the scene in downtown Los Angeles followed by newsroom anchors sanitizing the police aggression & shifting the narrative to focus on protecting the city from a small group of unruly protestors.

True in 1776. True in 2017. True today. Freedom now! Today’s assembly and countless others are peaceful acts of resistance being misrepresented & distorted by the criminals in power to justify their expanding efforts to turn the US into an oligarchical authoritarian police state. Free David Huerta!

YouTube video by Raffi Wartanian Two Poems by Raffi Joe Wartanian // 2025 Armenian Genocide Commemoration

youtu.be/SwdvBgwDCn8

•“Phantom Tongue” by Raffi Joe Wartanian
•“ERASURE: THE MESSAGE OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY PRIME MINISTER RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN ON THE EVENTS OF 1915” by Raffi Joe Wartanian
•Monday, April 21, 2025
•Alex Theatre
•Glendale, California

we must exercise our endangered rights to speak up, raise our voices, and articulate our observations and experiences in this disturbing period of widespread gaslighting and historical revisionism.

This might seem like stating the obvious, but at a time when the extremist central governments of Azerbaijan, Israel, and the U.S. are perpetrating genocide with impunity, silencing those who suggest otherwise, and distorting the narrative,

“Our future survival is predicated upon our ability to relate within equality.” -Audre Lorde

We gather on March 28th to reaffirm that our solidarity together and against genocide is a simple expression of our commitment to the fundamental human rights that all people deserve.

The Plight of Artsakh's Artists in Exile “Sometimes I want to recreate the paintings I left behind,” said Artsiv Lalayan, one of tens of thousands of Armenians displaced by Azerbaijan, “but it’s impossible to recreate what you’ve lost.”

Siranush Sargsyan reports on the plight of artists in Artsakh and how they are trying to rebuild. “Sometimes I want to recreate the paintings I left behind,” said Artsiv Lalayan… “but it’s impossible to recreate what you’ve lost.”

Seeking submissions for Volume 2 of our poetry anthology, Jewel City Review. We’re seeking poetry (one or multiple pieces) from writers who are interested in sharing their work with others in a publication that will be available physically and digitally.

Writers! Next wkshp-reading's on 3/29/25, 11a-2p at Glendale Central Library with CA Poet Laureate Lee Herrick! All experience levels welcome. Free, with light refreshments & 🎵 by Paul Sprawl. Optional reg.: bit.ly/41FYyZV. Submit poems by 4/4: bit.ly/43jSlDW

This is a bigger issue than people realize. Not just jobs lost. But their families losing benefits. Landlords losing tenants. Cities and towns losing revenue. This is how recessions start

Ready Fire Aim is no way to govern.

Elon Musk isn’t a genius—he’s a government-funded grifter under investigation. Every contract, every dollar, every scandal—it all connects.

Keep this: It’s a roadmap for every move Musk and DOGE make.

You can’t script this better.

Elon updated DOGE, claiming to have fixed the mistakes we all pointed out. But instead of correcting them, he just added more false claims. He even inflated his so-called “savings” total from $55 billion to $65 billion, when in reality, the actual increase is only from $2 billion to $2.3 billion.

If the market continues to trend down, and the Atlanta Fed turns out to be right, the midterms will be very interesting.

The battle between republican self preservation and MAGA will be intense

❗️When America has your back: The Economist on the background of recent events