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>> our most popular streaming video is another expression of japanese culture. a form of comic story telling produced without background scenary, make up or stellar performers. main stage taped a performance. >> important.

new dudes are too soft and soggy. no good. should be nice and firm. slurp.... h hum... disgusting again. to soft a noodles. it's good for my -- it's hard to pick up a noodles without breaking them. ha, ha, do you use a fish cake? yes, really? really? i have been looking for it. [laughter]. but i cannot find any. i got one. oh , no wonder i could not find it it is so thin. i can see through to over there. [laughter]. that's okay. sometimes at the noodle shops

you use sponge cake it's terrible. hum, hum, yes. this is real sponge cake. that's okay. that's okay. i am a [inaudible] person anyway. do i have to eat it all? slurp... hum, yuk. slurp, hum... disgusting. i'm almost done. [laughter]. slurp, slurp. i gave up eating noodles. thank you, thank you. >> sometimes notable authors come to main stage and do more than read passages from their work. they sit in a live conversation with a reporter, playwright discusses the relevancy of his work with one of his theatre

critics. as part of the yearly 1 city one book event. fields questions from sm scott chauffeur. >> before writing the book you want to louisiana and did a lot of research. what reception did you get there? what obstacles did you find? well -- it depends on which decade you are talking about. i did research, actually starting in from the time i was very small. and we went back every summer even though i was born here in berkeley, as a matter of fact we went back every summer to louisiana and i was always interested and did a lot of -- um -- both formal and informal research. starting in the 50's and the 60's. and i will tell you that when i first startd that research and a

lot of the research i did in that time period was i was largely unaided by any official source. i would go to the courthouse and i would ask for records. they would not give them to me. it was just -- it was very clearly -- it was very clear they were not going to give them to me. >> what records were you asking for? >> i was looking for land records. i was looking for records of the fredues. the concept was there were black fredues and white fredues and there was not an acceptance of me setting out to prove they were commingleded even though everyone knew they would. >> very southern.

>> i wanted to make it contemporary times. doesn't anybody care, they took away our rights. is the constitution a piece of paper that means nothing that the president can sign another ask we lose our citizenship and they can do what the hell they want. it's wrong then and now and i don't care what kind of questionnaire it is i will yell it at the president, roosevelt, whoever, it was wrong and it matters. he says it has to matter. to me it's the speech i gave him was drawn from what's happening i think in the country right now in relationship to the war. who is considered patriotic who is considered a trader? and the point of a play to me is that it isn't just the museum piece.

that, in fact, it does have relevancy now. and that it does spark a certain amount of controversy in relationship to what goes on now. >> twice in the same day the auditorium was standing room only. new york times best seller crediting mortson came to talk about his book. cup of tea. . he talked about the penny for peace campaign. the provides education for the communities of pakistan and afghanistan. >> i came back to america, i was broke after k 2. i had to raise 12 thousand dollars. and i didn't know how a clue of how to raise money like that. i went to the local library. any librarians here? let's give them a big hand. [applause] so, i went to the

library, i talked to the librarian we looked up 580 cell rities and sports heroes. over 3 months i hand typed 580 letters and wrote dollar michael jordan and dear mr. stalone. guess what happened? nothing. at christmas i got a check from tom brocaw for a hundred dollars. i sold my car a buick for 500 dollars in a seedy area in oakland. by spring i raised 200 dollars. my marth was a principal at an

elementary school. she invited me to talk to the kids. when i was leaving a fourth grader looked me in the eye and said, i have a piggy bank at home and i will help you raise money for the school in pakistan. i didn't think anything of it. 6 weeks later the school is raised 65,000 penes. >> main stage's loud efts performance was about bief the detroit native high strung. they had an energyic performance. the concert was a plash back to the kinks and the who and tv shows like hala blue. ladies and gentlemen. the high strung. [music]

>> hope you enjoyed this look back at some of the entertaining guests that graced the stage of the main library. you can watch more highlights from main stage on you tube and new episodes on sfg. org. watch for more readings, speakers and performances during the next year. we leave you with a bonus performance from the high strung. and a thank you to everybody that made the last season possible.

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>> hi, my name is katie the my first poem is "chipped blue nail polish." heads of the ground focus on her hands, altern ating expressions, multicolored moods, unpredictable. [applause] my second poem is about pro craffletination. that day i had a panic attack.

i spent $20 for my class. running late, half-assepd and i still spent $20 for that class. red lights almost every black -- block. the traffic nearly made my heart stop. i ran through my class presentation straight out of the cab. i paid 20 freaking dollars for that cab. thank you. >> hi, my name is daniel and the first poem i'm going to read is shadows. ♪ i'm a shadow that moves away from night falls. i'm a shadow that makes other shadows rise. i'm a shadow that sprints, walks, and plays. some shadows are huge and mountains and others are tiny snails. some are old and others young. the sun generates our society. shadow gives a shade of dark to

everything. shadows are your reflection on the ground. we are all in one society of shadows. we are all different sizes but aim for the same goal -- to be someone in this year the shadow is you. >> my michael -- mother say mountain holding up sky for me. she is the sun who gives strength to those who need it. my mother is the hand that helps me keep going in this world of chaos. she is a light that will always shine in my heart." my second one is called it's -- "dear president obama." dear president obama i hope you can change all the problems our world faces, the war in iraq, the war in afghanistan, pal

istine and global warming. i am from california and in the valley here, people, especially from latin america, are getting sick in -- working in the fields for hours every day for little pay and no health care. please help them because without them no one could even be vegetarian the sincerely, natalie. >> sometimes desperate for attention but not rebellious. i don't have bad influences and i try hard not to give in to peer pressure but somewhere along the road someone calms long with temptation close to their side and offers me whatever they got, but do i get

the power to say no? always sitting blankly at the sky hoping for a miracle to happen, hoping someone will come around to understand. i don't want toys anymore and i don't want it show my baby pictures and if i'm crazy and loud then you're insane and rude and if today is not our day, so be it, there is always tomorrow. thank you. >> ok. the average american dream and dreamer built dreams on shatorde hopes and left off on their own spaceships of life. but the average american laws are in a state of corruption. man is allowed to work -- to go to war and kill other. at age 18 but a man can't buy a

drink until age 21. i mean the government has money to pay for wars but not to feed the poor. politicians say more taxes will solve everything -- everything the politicians say vote for me and i'll set you free. but then, dear politician, why are innocent men and women being arrested for helping a dying man on the street? men and women create but we got our name from our women and then we take from our women. when did we get to the point where we're buying everything but can't pay for anything? we have credit cards or checks and check books but not a dime in our pocket? we had dreams in the beginning but let them fizzle in the end so when the ship goes down we better get ready. thank you. [applause] >> ok the so it's called this

guy. so there's this guy, right, and he has a smile that can turn my day brighter than bright and the scent he wears i can no longer bear because it gives me that sensational floating on cloud nine feeling. i try to restrain myself from pulling and grasping every bit of my attention toward it. notice how i said base hit not home run because in the end when the play is done there still wasn't an end run. you see, this guy i'm talking about, he makes me want to take a different route, a different sky, sing and dands -- dance and run and shout all at the same time. he makes me feel nothing but pure ecstasy whether he -- i think about him kissing melt he makes me want to find a cure

for cancer and every question an answer. i will always be with him to the very end but him and me we're a different kind of friends, you see, him and me, there's this magnetic pool tonight -- attraction between us. if i knew he was here tonight i'd turn on my red light and probably have stage fright. but he's something new. maybe he's scared of change but if he would just let me, perhaps i could help him real estate range his thought process. so how about we put this game on pause instead of sneaking around like mice because we can focus on making an amazing display of something 35eusing, earth taking, something

unfailing, smag maysing the but -- something amazing. but i can see it's impossible, unimaginable, and very unexplainable. i may not like it. i may hate it, hate it with every inch of movie body, with every atom that makes up my existence, every molecule, every cell in my system but life isn't like one big, bird and you can't always have things your way. before i say goodbye, there's this guy and when he smiles, everything just seems all right. [cheers and applause] >> up next is my girl lajenae. >> ok, well, my name -- the

majority of people call me la. i wrote this poem this morning and it's dedicated to a couple of people in the audience right now. so -- never had someone like you. i understand you can only be you but does you include us? does you include the ones you are supposed to cherish? i remember those days we used to go to the zoo. nowadays you're mostly with boofment don't get me wrong but missing you and the way things used missing you and the way things used to be -- wow -- sorry, missing you and the way things used to be, now it's like we're paying the fees while you go where you please. now i'm asking for one thing and that one thing is please don't take my sister away from me.

>> up next we've got talia baby. >> all right. all right. what's up? what's happening? >> i'm -- doesn't really need a time. if you should love a trip, i'll give you a clip but babe this, buttercup that, i've heard it all before. i'm in love with prada and christian dior. you see, i'm way ahead of your plan. not trying to have you as my man. my cell, please quit calling it. you see i ignore the calls. you can't play me. i'm done with games. stop with the kid games. got you heated because i'm done with you and you know i'm on to the next dude. love nobody, trust nobody, and most definitely near fear nobody. it's a cold game.

play your part the you ain't even on topic. let's not speak about it. i do what i do and i does it with. i saw your mommas. i got me one and i call them daddy instead of papas. you ain't with it, you in the past. since i guess you have nice things well you whack and because of that aspect i never ever slacked. not the female you used to date. i got a unique type situation. i'm so glad these birds they just bloop me. i speak fluently. she busy with all that blah, blah, blah. hear me out though. i'm going to leave you stern. [applause] >> in an urban high school in the science laboratory lab, two girls are discussing their