_{In the fall of 2010, Jihmye Collins asked me to have breakfast on a Saturday morning at the Big Kitchen, South Park's bastion of great, abundant food, the warm, welcoming magic of owner Judy the Beauty, and clientel who mostly lean to the left as they keep the 60's social activism alive and well..  As he enjoyed his} eggs and toast he explained he wanted me to help him co-host an open mic at the only black-owned coffee shop/deli in La Mesa, the Space Bar Internet Cafe. We set the target date for the 4th Thursday in October.  He told me he had arranged for San Diego treasure Michael Klam to feature.  As I enjoyed my oatmeal, fruit, and huge, warm muffin I told him I was in.

   Any art project shared with Jihmye Collins was an exercise in cooperation, creativity, and imagination   His combined experience with the United States Army, the Black Panther Party For Self-Defense, and his Bahai Faith paved a road for his students lined with respect and innovation. In the followng months, Lizzy Wann and Bennie Herron energized the Space Bar stage as Jihmye's and Lanetta's art adorned the walls.  The usual suspects showed up for the open mic:  award winners, youth, elders, beginners, the serious, the outraged, the wounded, the thinkers, the feelers, the seekers of poetry community.  The latter described Jihmye and I as our main reason for co-creating the gathering.  We wanted a diverse, talented community to share extremely deep creativity with one another about this beautiful and troubled world we inhabit.  We were especially interested in voices  that corporate media is shy about; voices  that inhibit the corporate world's bottom line.  Voices that we felt many Americans and nonAmericans make audible during our day, but are denied any public vehicle by a war government and a war society corrupted by the lies of the god of profit.

 When Jihmye passed away in March of this year (2011) from a stroke I was one of many who were not ready for him to be absent from our art and political scene.  The owners of the Space Bar, Frank and Patricia,  and I agreed that we would continue Jihmye's vision.  The 4th Thursday Open Mic Jihmye continues.  We'll be there every 4th Thursday waiting for you @ 7:30 P.M. at 7454 University Avenue, one block east of Helix High School on the corner of Lowell and University.  We'll keep the lights on and the coffee warm.  You bring your muse and a poem, a song, a dance, a vibe.  See you then.  

Jim Moreno   City Heights, May 2011.