everything will be fine, you see. i saw something tighten in my chest the way i saw her gazing out at the party. highway could i say, no? okay mom, i knew i would regret this. >> of course not i understand democracy is people power the people chose whom they want. our education system has been gutted the president says our childrens has not been doing. people get the news from the few new outlets. josh, are you saying you will believe in democracy once people catch up to you? >> of course, not. brian, you know i'm a mess. i say i will believe in democracy when the people catch up to you because you are a substantial person. and i don't understand how this happened we started so

similarly, brian and i. 2 east coast jews. both studied at princeton and studied under the same political theorists. here we are 2 guys in our shared park in berkeley my son the same age as his daughter. why out of the 2 of us only one has bottom an adult. >> i'm never getting married. she sank back against the ground. i sat then next to her i could smell fabric softener. >> this is nothing hoeky about loving something with all your heart. that's not how anyone has loved me. that's why they leave me. i'm everyone's good luck charm

but mine. >> she was right. there was nothing hoeky about a great love to span a lifetime. >> love struck couples staring into each other's eyes. waitress with tired legs waiting for the end of her shift receives a visit from johnitto. he turns, one last time to the faces above the steaming plates before he's out. into the neon lit street leaving behind a trail of rose petals, dark as sacrificial hearts. >> if we killed you now, if we took aim for your belly with our cross bow or laser sight and pulled a trigger or let a tipped arrow rip through the night air, there would not be a story to

tell. so, while we lay and wait for you to appear, chewing the fat, lit up on beer. lit up on the last of the evening light, we will honor ~ess you in speech laszo you with language and make you bleat like the common peg you were. >> one of my favorites lines. we are spending a lot of time studied enequalities in algebra which makes sense, >> we have a wide range of forces that we call upon. and we try to respond to the diverse community throughout san francisco. we may partner with cultural organizations. we support literary organizations and lit quake that we do annualy.

we might be promoting an author reading who is on a national book tour. there is just a wide range. and oftentimes we go out to the community and seek the partn partnerships or they might approach us with an idea for an event or program. as well as we have active community minded staff throughout the library who have a wealth of resources and ideas at their finger tips. they often bring ideases and from that we create programs. >> that was a really great program. that came to us as a lot of events and programs do through our book seller community. bo and our staff worked to bring poets and writers for a wonderful program. we had over a hundred people that attend third degree event

in the auditorium. from that, bo is continuing to do work toward the knobby street project today. >> on march fifth 2007 a car bomb was exexploded in baghdad, more than 30 people were killd and more than a hundred were wounded. this local is the historic center of baghdad book selling. a winding street filled with book stores and out door book stalls. named after the famous 10th century arab poet, this is an old and established street for book selling and has been for hundreds of years. book selling on this street is no different from book selling here. we traffic in memory, ideas and

dreams. in that sense we feel the street starts at the front door of all of our book shops. monthknabe street starts here. >> just before the street was eviscerated by a searing length of deaths and despair, delusion and destruction that destroyed more than the 30 lives. twisted more than the 100 souls who were bent and crippled amidst it's rage. just before the moment you were the proclamation, the prayer as they summoned and swore laugh, controlled, denied and affirmed. did you hear the words as they fell. for 2,000 years we have. what do you think. this says, map, border, resistance. truth. spirit, faith. doctrine, domaine. love, free, open, winds, cut.

did you here the euphony of the street like birds among the fluttering leaves of their books and newspapers as they addressed if not solved, defined if not created the problems and the promise of tomorrow? did you hear the explosion, the screech, the howl the scream. did you even know? >> the photograph. the photograph was of an iraqi boy on the front page of the new york times. he sat at the edge of the truck. 8 or 9 years old. surrounded by his family. his father, mother and 5 siblings were asleep. his head was buried in his hands. all the clouds of the world were waiting on the threshold of his

ice. let all man wipe off the sweat and start the digging the 7th grace. >> for nearly a hundred years there was a station in the middle of san francisco. chinese were detained before being allowed to enter the u.s. in this reading, writer nancy om, takes the audience to angel island. >> palm trees faced us when we landed. they were like garred yens to pass the golden gate we told them what wement todd hear. on the island of desperate dreams we shed our skins and 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. ne