Two Poems by Justin Banks

Society attempted to box me in, in an attempt to make me
one of them, telling me I must live, must speak their way,
but if don’t; I’ll be punished for being different, for being
extreme. A menace to society. When I was chasing a
dream. I will stand for the destruction of mankind not
another day! Soon is the time to break down the walls of
society.

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Poetry & ProseJustin Banks
IN MEXICO

The mariachi musicians in TJ stumbled into the church bleary eyed

Dragging their instruments with them

Preparing to serenade the Virgin of Guadalupe

Whose day it was

Would the benevolent virgin bless them

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America’s Opioid Crisis: Pray for and Trust in God’s Grace

Every day in America, approximately 91 people die of an opioid overdose. According to the Centers for Disease Control, from 2000 to 2015, more than half a million Americans died of drug overdoses, and opioids account for most of those deaths. This epidemic is so serious that President Trump declared it a national emergency on August 10, 2017. This epidemic could be impacting your family members or friends.

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Salsa Meets Jazz for Puerto Rico

Steve and the gang took a trip to Le Poisson Rouge to check out some swingin' music.

This benefit concert featured:

Bobby Sanabria MULTIVERSE Big Band & David Amram, Paquito D’Rivera, Candido, Jimmy Owens, Randy Brecker, Jon Faddis, Larry Harlow, Eddie Montalvo, Brenda Feliciano, Antoinette Montague, Mariposa and Felipe Luciano, plus DJ Antonio Ocasio (Tribal Winds) and many more surprise guests

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Goodbye, Yosemite. Hello, What?

HOTELS generally don’t figure prominently in my imagination, but Yosemite Valley does, and so does the glamorous Ahwahnee Hotel. When my father took me on Yosemite climbing trips in the 1980s, we never stayed at the Ahwahnee — it costs a fortune — but Dad always brought clean dress shirts so that we could hang out in the Ahwahnee’s kitschy Indian Room Bar before we slept illegally under the evergreens.

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