Third Thursday Poetry & Jazz at Point Arena Community Center

Thursday, November 16 – Ethel Mayes

On Thursday, September 16, at 7pm The Third Thursday Poetry & Jazz Reading Series will feature Ethel Mayes.

Ethel Mays, artist, poet, and writer, has walked the earth and ridden horses on diverse patches of the world. She was born and raised in California’s rural central San Joaquin Valley, near the skirts of the Sierra Nevada mountains, luckily to parents who were ahead of their time. Her parents’ encouragement to “do some traveling, learn a few languages, engage people and the arts” helped her to map a route to a university degree as well as to the points of her parents’ encouragement.

Mays’s eclectic work history, including singing in an opera company chorus, managing a cost analysis project for a company that built underwater robots, and providing administrative support for the California Judicial Council, put to rest the sometimes perceived “disadvantage” of a degree in the Humanities. “It’s not the sheepskin that gets you hired,” she says, “it’s all the experiences you go through getting that sheepskin.”

Throughout her studies, travels, and work history, the arts have been invaluable commitments and practices. Her dual Reno-San Francisco residency is a springboard for participating in literary readings and fine art exhibitions in those two cities. She has recently had artwork accepted in the San Francisco de Young Museum’s triennial group show.

Her poetry has been published by Poemata, Toronto; Whitefish Review, Whitefish, Montana; Marin Poetry Center Anthology, San Rafael, California; Writers in the Know, Daton, Minnesota; as well as Poets of the San Joaquin, a chapter of the California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc.

After a seven-year absence from Mendocino County, she is happy being back to visit a territory that still resonates as a much loved haven.

The reading will take place at the Point Arena Community Center at 40 School Street (the former Methodist Church). The reading will begin with live improv jazz, followed by a featured reading then an open mic with musical accompaniment. The reading will conclude with more live music.

Thursday, December 21, 7pm. Solstice Open Mic

Thursday, January 18, 7pm. Mendocino County outgoing Youth Poet Laureate Sidney Regelbrugge reading from her collect Questions Asked in the Midst of Midnight

Third Thursday Poetry is supported by The Third Thursday Poetry Group, many anonymous donors, and Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.