Jesse Drew, Anthony Xavier Jackson, and Christina Deptula

On the 3/5/25 Edition of Dr Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Professor Jesse Drew joins Dr. Andy in the studio to discuss the Davis screening of his upcoming movie, Open Country. He shares details on the event, which is occurring this Friday, March 7, at Sudwerk‘s Beer Hall, before telling a  story about his time spent interviewing the American Folk legend Pete Seeger. The next guest on the hour, the poet Anthony Xavier Jackson, joins the show to speak about an event for late poet and friend Al Cortez. The event occurred Wednesday, March 5th at Sacramento’s California stage, but the organizers will still be collecting donations to pass on to the family of Al Cortez. The last guest on the hour, Christina Deptula, opens her segment by sharing a poem, “Spontaneous Grace.” She then shares details about an upcoming event, “The Hayward Lit Hop, " a writing group gathering to share and improve their respective crafts.

Jesse Drew is an American artist, author, media activist, and educator. He became a teenage runaway at age 15, and lived on communes in Vermont and California. In 1974, he was a candidate for the State Legislature of Vermont on the Liberty Union Party ticket with Bernie Sanders. In 1975, he was recruited by Fred Ross to work for the United Farmworkers Union in California. He was a boycott organizer in San Francisco before moving into industrial organizing in the San Francisco Bay Area. Drew is now a professor in the Cinema and Technocultural Studies (CaTS) program at the University of California, Davis.

Anthony Xavier Jackson is the recent winner of The 2024 Sacramento Poetry Week’s Annual Poetry contest. Jackson has been writing poems and songs since his teens, drawing inspiration from sci-fi, myths, all genres of music, and all manner of spiritual pursuits, including recovery. Jackson has recently published his first collection of poetry, The Razor of Your Smile, available on Amazon. Jackson is a member of GTFO Poetry Collective based in Sacramento. You may find his poems paired with his music on SoundCloud and Bandcamp. 

Cristina Deptula is a UC Davis alumna, a science journalist, book publicist, and publisher of the online literary magazine Synchronized Chaos. 

Our March 6th, Poetry night will feature local poets Cindy Juyoung Ok, Jade Menshew, and Roy Magat. We meet at 7PM at the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis, and we hope you can join us.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.