wore new ones. burned our parents name and let our pasts curl into smoke. >> no longer my father's daughter. no longer my husband's wife. only the sea gulls know who i really am. for months we were held in separate rooms. the dampness seeped through the bunks and gnawed or bones. at night the wales of ghosts kept us awake. 32 steps to my father's house, 4 windows facing north. 24 steps to my uncle's house, 2 doors facing south. i have 3 sisters, 2 brothers, 4 cousins on my father's side.

now i store the memory in a drawer. along with bitter herbs and rhineos ris horns. we dine at restaurants on the better side of town with pink table cloths and real flowers in the vases. we hardly go to china town. >> in a casual way, they had fun with his body. they chained him to the back of the car and did fish tails. forensic evidence suggests his body came loose and they rechained him after rolling back over him to get him. now most of us heard about this. something we don't hear, dragged to death we assume it was -- >> like this. chained to the bumper of a

truck. that's not true. it's like this. chained the back of the truck. watching the road behind him as he goes. this poem is called big thicket. jasper, texas. >> to big thicket a crack is a buck shot, a stick broke, cracked headlights. crack, the big thicket we go 2 sticks. drink, drink, light, light. stagger in the road. statistic o statistic broke. the light, buck shot light. >> buck on stagger. what you looking at. the white stick. along the trees, along the trees. the buck staggering home. the crack. big thicket. what are you doing here? >> stick broke.

white light. break for home. white homing. ha, ha, go, go, buck shot, kra e crack, crack, crack. hit lights. what you think you are. >> ha, ha, stick broke. in the brushes. in the rushes. put them back on. bufks head in the rushes. put them back on. to big thicket we go, hot we go to hit staggeringly along the frees. crack, a steak broke. we go, go, go, buck shot. we go, go, go. up the road. road kill. staggering bucks. head light rushes. pick up brushes. race broke, screeching. the big thicket we go, buck shot, crack. the road kills. crack e a broke stick. on we go on.

[applause] >> omni bus program. and choose to muses are exciting because they bring authors together to read at once. there are times where a special guest has the stage all to themselves. the samurai's garden by gale suckiama has become a high school favorite. her appearance brought out a young crowd. possibly looking for answers to their next english exam. when crediting charls brought house of rain to main teenage the commenttator shown pictures searching for the can bols. the first discovery of a hidden chamber. >> i immediately started for t. climbing hand over hand up the cliff. feeling an anxious press of

revelation as i ascended. my breath was hot i found a so kret. i saw many grainaries they were broken open emptied by archaeologist and erosion or by perhaps by the residents themselves returning centuries later. this was built so no stranger would see it. i went beside the structure. i touched the face with probing diagnostic fingers measuring it with my eyes. 3 feet tall. 2 feet wide and 3 feet deep. i lightly dusted off the grainaries flat roof, which was undamage said. i licked my lips feeling their dry chap. >> don't be frightened, child,

find the knife and end your misary. return honor to your family. i knew i didn't have the courage of to mocko nor this women. the waves washed over her. i turned away from her and began running. i ran and ran away from the beach and all the death and dying. even now i don't remember what i was thinking. the greatest honor i could have given my family was that of my death and i ran from it. i was frightened at not only fulfilling my obligation. not giving code to my parents. there was a voice inside we telling me it was a mistake. at night i hit along theistries on the stretch of road much it was cold that first night alone and i was so hungry.

i began to think may be death was a better way after all. >> main stage start in this magazine rack much the fliers for the upcoming events and i used to walk past in every day going to the tv studio. i said, that looks like a fun event i wish i could go to that. i could make a tv show and go to these events. >> main stage is produced through a private/public partnership coordinated by sfg tv. library staff set up the shoes. media services gathers the production details and stages the live event. sfg tv brings the equipment and the crew and the crew is the glue. main stage is taped and editted by interns. in exchange for class credit and the opportunity to use equipment. interns produced 15 hours of

original programming during year 1 of main stage. the auditorium hosted talented performers who brought the cultures of the world home to san francisco. like the culture of the bay area these performances are adding a fusion of tradition. >> master protectinist. explored the historic influence of african music in peru. in the modern interpretation, created his irish and native american roots to create a unique sound. [music]

>> speaking spanish... >> from some of the sounds they used to play we almost lost all of them we still have some that he remembers. for instance. >> this means attention, be alert. something's going to happen. wake up, wake up.

>> some of the drumming part has been rescued by compose the cultural association. drumming... [music] [applause]

[music]

>> 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.