A POET POETS

The poetry of Roy McBride.

Click here to learn more

See the start of the film



C. BECK

A portrait of the artist, Charles Beck

Read more

See the film

Order



The Painted Eye

A documentary with Jerry Rudquist

Read more

See the film

Order



I'm Sorry
I was Right


A documentary portrait of the politician and poet, Eugene McCarthy.

Learn more

See the film



Jim Northrup:
With Reservations


Jim Northrup: With Reservations is a wild trip through Indian Country. Follow the link below to learn more or to order the video.
Learn more



THOMAS McGRATH

The Movie at the End of the World is a video vision quest. Click here to see more.


Welcome to thecie dot org. We make poetic media with people of all ages from all over the world for everyone.

Please explore our website to learn more about our videos and our art work in the schools.

Saturday, November 16, 2024

WATCH THOMAS McGRATH 



You may purchase a DVD of THE MOVIE AT THE END OF THE WORLD; THOMAS McGRATH, on Amazon.

Here's a story about the late poet.



Wednesday, October 23, 2024

INNER GOLD: TRESSA SULARZ 



Watch Inner Gold. It is a portrait of the fiber artist, Tressa Sularz, told as an art story, a survival story, and a love story.

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

MEDIA DADA'S MANIFESTO 



This is the text for MEDIA DADA'S MANIFESTO, a video poem by Mike Hazard. It's a true story.

My mother went to Target the other day and when she came home she told my four-year-old daughter where she'd been. "Well, you can't go there any more," said Sonia. My mother asked why not? "Because they bombed all the targets."

I am more and more convinced that war begets war. When we build armaments and fight other nations, we build hostilities. We negate what we pretend to teach our children: Thou shalt not kill.

Think of it. This war must be sanitized. If you and I knew the truth, we might want to stop. I do want it to stop. Stop bombing the targets, whatever they may be.

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

SEEING RED 

Friday, September 20, 2024

REMEMBER THE 38 


This video spot was created in 1987 by Mike Hazard for the late Amos Owen. It honored the Year of Reconciliation in connection with the Dakota Conflict of 1862. Carrie Schommer speaks the Dakota voiceover. The next annual powwow in Mankato is will be held in Mankato, Minnesota from September 20–22, 2024. For more, visit.

Friday, September 22, 2023

THIS WORLD IS NOT ALTOGETHER BAD 



Watch Mike Hazard read at Common Good Books.

Read a poem from a new book by Hazard.

BLESSED FOR LIFE
A wild-looking man I don’t know
from Adam begged a ride from the PO
to the Dorothy Day Center. He’s jazzed,
jazzed about a Thanksgiving feast.
With a shock of hair like a thundercloud,
he looks like an old Testament prophet.
He got out and paused next to the window.
Standing so I can’t see his face, I was
blessed for life when a rich voice said,
“This world is not altogether bad.”

Read a rave of a review.

Hazard is artist in residence at our Center for International Education.

It’s a collection of poems about people. The writer Freya Manfred writes, “I love the often playful, musical quality which enhances the vital/vivid images of each praise-worthy person. These people are real and the poetry honors them. The poems play off each other well—father, mother, old-timer, uncles—quite wonderful all together in this world, as the book surely lives up to its title.”

Bengt Skoggard writes, "The Whitmanesque humanity shines through. They are simple drops of pure heart.”

Here are more ways to hear Hazard read:

On a Write on! Radio podcast, click.

On the Bat of Minerva.

Tuesday, July 4, 2023

WHAT TRUTHS ARE SELF-EVIDENT? 
On the Fourth of July in 1967, some American college students decided to see if people would sign a petition which read, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…"

Few would. Nobody knew what they wouldn’t sign was The Declaration of Independence.

Disturbed, a good friend made a sign for a float in the annual Independence Day parade in her home town.

The sign read: "WHAT TRUTHS ARE SELF-EVIDENT?"

The question remains a good one:"WHAT TRUTHS ARE SELF-EVIDENT?"

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

PANDEMIC PICTURE POSTCARD PROJECT 


Saturday, December 25, 2021

GOOD WORK 

49_IMG_4094 Tressa weaves heart red (1)

Good work progresses.

We are organizing a retrospective for the fiber artist Tressa Sularz. As part of the exhibition in April, I will present a series of paper movies which portray the artist and her work.

We continue developing a video portrait of the architect Louis Sullivan.

And we are moving to donate our archive to a public library. This collection will be free for all to use and/or repurpose in perpetuity.

We invite donations to our 49 year old, tax-exempt, nonprofit 501-c-3 organization, The Center for International Education. Read all about it.

If you prefer to write a check, make it out to THE CIE and mail to:


Mike Hazard

THE CIE

743 Fillmore Street NE

Minneapolis, Minnesota 55413 USA



Help us do good work, please, and thank you.

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

AMAZON SMILE 

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

365 FRIENDS is inspired by Ko Un who writes a poem about every single person he has met in his life, and William Stafford who tried to write a poem every morning, and Jim Denomie who painted a painting every day during 2005.

Stirred by these models, Mike Hazard has been posting pictures with stories to Facebook every day for 12 years.



To begin every morning thinking good thoughts about a person is a luminous way to start the day.

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

SHELTER 



We made a brief video with one of the poems from a new book, Shelter, by Margaret Hasse and Sharon DeMark.

Saturday, October 17, 2020

PEACE HOUSE PEOPLE 



Mike Hazard is profiling Peace House people with poetical picture stories. To learn more about the project, click.

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE 



A short poetical montage of lights made by Mike Hazard.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

MIKE HAZARD IS OUR ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

BLENDED FAMILY 

Blended Family_Peace House People photo by Mike Hazard

For 47 years, we have been creating an array of multimedia, multicultural projects for audiences of all ages all over the world. It's a vision of life as a blended family.

One current project is Peace House People. It is a documentary portrait of a year in the life of a homeless shelter. The three-year project will culminate with an exhibition at Franklin Library in February, 2020.

We invite donations to our tax-exempt, nonprofit 501-c-3 organization (EIN 51-0191863). To read all about it, click.

If you prefer to write a check, make it out to The Center for International Education (THE CIE) and mail to:

The Center for International Education
743 Fillmore Street NE
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55413 USA

In addition, members of our board have donated a matching challenge, $2,750. Gifts of all sizes matter. Thank you for your consideration.

Monday, October 21, 2019

WEAVE OF LOVE 

IMG_6029 Tressa chooses colors for weaving

Weave of Love is an exhibition that features two artists, Tressa Sularz and Mike Hazard. Tressa makes fiber art. Mike makes camera works. They are happily married and they live a good life making things. Art and life intertwine.

“When I weave, I weave love into every piece,” says Tressa.

“All my pictures are love stories,” says Mike.

Weave of Love will be on exhibit until October 25, 2019, at Homewood Studios Gallery , 2400 Plymouth Avenue North, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55411. Hours for the gallery are Tuesdays 5pm – 9pm, Wednesdays & Fridays 1pm – 6pm, Saturdays 1pm – 4pm. For information, call 612.587.0230.

Saturday, June 22, 2019

WE COME FROM THE FLOWER 

Mike Hazard has been photographing the Hmong American Farmers Association farm.

There is a video, a book, and a growing collection of photographs.

Having been exhibited at the Minnesota Museum of American Art, the Minnesota State Capitol, Hastings Arts Center, Morrison Gallery at the University of Minnesota, Morris, and Red Wing Arts, the current venue is The Gordon Parks Gallery at Metro State University April 22 – June 27, 2019. Learn more.

Watch the video.



Here is one spread from the book, WE COME FROM THE FLOWER.

Zoo Nkauj_Beautiful_We Come from the Flower

DSC06508 Choua Pao son wheel work benefit HAFA FARM

Click to see a large chronological collection of pictures.

Click to see a selection of pictures.

Thursday, August 30, 2018

SCREEN GENE MCCARTHY 








Wednesday, November 22, 2017

WHO IS JIM NORTHRUP? 



This is one scene from WITH RESERVATIONS. Learn more here.

You can also watch the film on line. Click.

Monday, September 11, 2017

A RAINBOW 



Mike Hazard composed a picture poem to remember nine one one by.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

SEE THE FUTURE 



Click to screen the silent movie.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

WATER IS LIFE 

Monday, December 19, 2016

CULTIVATING MULTICULTURAL CHANGE 



Donations to support our mission of cultivating multicultural change with multimedia art have been tax-deductible since 1975. Please give a little, if you can.

Monday, August 22, 2016

WATCH MARGARET HASSE 

Sunday, August 14, 2016

WE ARE THE MELODY 



This mélange of music was made at Catholic Eldercare in Minneapolis by many participants with the teaching artist, Media Mike Hazard.

Friday, July 1, 2016

POEMS-ON-STICKS? 


Watch poet David Bengtson go ON THE ROAD with Jason Davis.

Bengtson has hand made and handed out more than 12,000 poems-on-sticks illumined with photographs by Mike Hazard.

Saturday, April 9, 2016

I'M SORRY I WAS RIGHT 


Watch Eugene McCarthy recite poetry and reflect on American history. The year 2016 marks the centennial of his birth on March 29, 1916.

Friday, May 1, 2015

A PLETHORA OF POETS 

THE MOVIE AT THE END OF THE WORLD: THOMAS McGRATH is one of seven of our films now in play on public TV in Minnesota.


A MAN WRITES TO A PART OF HIMSELF: ROBERT BLY is another.

A first for a Minnesota filmmaker, a retrospective of seven films by Mike Hazard is playing on public television in Minnesota and North Dakota.

All featuring writers, the seven films in the series are:

A Sampler of Minnesota Poets: Robert Bly, Michael Dennis Browne, Louis Jenkins, James Moore, Margaret Hasse and Phebe Hanson (1975/15:30)
A Man Writes to a Part of Himself: Robert Bly (1978/57:30)
The Movie at the End of the World: Thomas McGrath (1981/56:56)
American Grizzly: Frederick Manfred (1983/28:16)
With Reservations: Jim Northrup (1996/28:42)
Eugene McCarthy: I'm Sorry I was Right (2001/28:35)
Cold Mountain: Han Shan (2009/28:15)

Four of the films have been already nationally telecast on PBS. This may be a record for an independent Minnesota filmmaker.

Watch a Robert Bly clip.

Watch A Sampler of Minnesota Poets.

Watch Cold Mountain.

Many of our films are for sale at Amazon.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

RELATIONSHIPS 




This lively video was created by all the kindergartners at Hillcrest Community School in Bloomington, Minnesota. Media Mike Hazard directed in concert with the teachers, Amy, Trista, and Ally. The production was made possible by the PTSA.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

THE WORLD IS ANYWHERE 

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

ROBERT GARDNER (1925-2014) 




Sad I am to read Robert Gardner died June 21, 2014.

His eye opened mine.

When I was 12, I saw his film DEAD BIRDS. Its mysterious beauty turned me into a documentary filmmaker.

Read his obituary in the New York Times.

Read another, in the Boston Globe.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

THE MOO MOO MOVIE 



A wild video about animals made by students at Langdon Area Elementary School.

Monday, January 20, 2014

RAZOO 

Donatebutton_narrow

Thursday, December 12, 2013

LOCAL COLOR  is a collection of pictures made within walking distance of what was the artist Mike Hazard's home from 1999-2012: Lowertown Artists Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard East, Saint Paul.

We are now organizing a book publication of pictures from the series. Click to learn more and to support publication.

Many of the pictures can be seen here and here.

LOCAL COLOR is inspired by Gilbert White who wrote, “All Nature is so full that that district produces the greatest variety which is the most examined.”



Watch the artist do camera work.

The more we look, the more we see.

Mike Hazard was a fiscal year 2012 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is funded, in part, by the Minnesota State Legislature from the State’s arts and cultural heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

WHAT HE SHOULD LEARN FROM HIS DREAM 


This is a video poem made by David Bengtson and Media Mike Hazard with a class of students.

Monday, November 5, 2012

CORNUCOPIA is a feast of poems and pictures by Mike Hazard depicting the Saint Paul Farmers Market.

Media Mike will exhibit CORNUCOPIA during the Saint Paul Art Crawl, 6-10pm Friday October 12, 12–8pm Saturday October 13 and 12-5pm Sunday October 14, 2012. The exhibition is on display at Lowertown Lofts Artists Cooperative.

Watch a video about the project here.




Read one poem:

A PINT-SIZED CHILD
A pint of raspberries rests
in the lap of a pint-sized child.
Lolling in her stroller, she’s
living in the lap of luxury.
“Don’t eat them,” Mom says,
as the little one begins eating,
two-handed, two-fisted,
too much; we laugh until
we grow red as raspberries.

CORNUCOPIA is supported by Irrigate.

Monday, April 23, 2012

ROUND DANCE is a multimedia meditation with pictures, poems and profound objects composed by Media Mike Hazard.

Free for all, come see ROUND DANCE during the St. Paul Art Crawl, Friday 6-10pm April 27, Saturday 12-8pm April 28, and Sunday 12-5pm April 29, 2011 at Lowertown Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard E, St. Paul.

Here’s one picture poem.

And a poem:

ROUND SONG
Akin to rings of a tree,
all the old faces
that make me me
are embodied in
the face you see
looking at mine.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

THE JOY OF ROY 




POETRY is one poem in a film about Roy McBride called A POET POETS.

The film will play on channel 16 on MTN cable in Minneapolis in the following timeslots:

12/29/2011 6pm
1/1 3:30pm
1/2 7pm
1/5 9am

Read Bao Phi on a poet's poet.

BIO
Born in 1943, Roy Chester McBride began his literary career at Magnolia Colored Elementary School in Magnolia, Arkansas 1948. After learning his abc's and starting to read "Dick and Jane" and other great books of that period, Roy was bitten by the writing bug. Performing the written word was a skill he developed early.

"That voice" for which he is known was frequently invited to recite Bible verses at area churches of various denominations. After World War II was resolved, Roy's family and lots of other families left the South and headed for the booming North.

By way of Chicago and Milwaukee they finally put down roots in Muskegon, Michigan, where his interest for writing was encouraged by his elementary teachers--especially by Mrs. Ruth Anderson who encouraged him to keep his writing in a folder.

"We moved a lot...I don't know what happened to my writing folder." Life went on. Roy wrote stories like "Dick and Jane," only better....

On July 17, 1968, Roy motored out of the Motor City as Detroit began to burn in the riots. He arrived in Minneapolis by chance. While working in the mail room for a magazine, he spent every lunch and break reading. His work colleagues, Macalester College graduates, recommended that he visit Mac and consider applying. Roy did attend Macalester for three years in the early 70's and had a transforming social and academic adventure.

As one of the very few African American students writing poetry and performing, his professors invited him to parties to meet all the touring writers of that time. Roy met LeRoi Jones (now Amiri Baraka), Raymond Patterson, James Wright, Robert Bly, Sonja Sanchez, Etheridge Knight. The poet’s life began.

The poet's life ended in Minneapolis on July 29, 2011.

People Say
“All of Roy’s poems are love poems.” Paulette Myers-Rich, artist book maker and publisher of Roy’s book Love Poetry

“He has a buffalo heart.” Maureen Skelly, writer

“He is the pastor of the street poets. He is the John Coltrane, the Miles Davis of poetry, The Love Supreme of poetry.” Kevin O'Rourke, writer

"This is fantastically funky." Chuck Olsen, media maestro

"A beautiful piece: so Roy-like, with circularities and humor and rhythms and open faces and good humor." Margaret Hasse, poet

“Roy is the master of time and spaces.” Louis Alemayehu, poet/Ancestor Energy

“A POET POETS is a vivid video word ride with Roy McBride. A labor of love, I videotaped Roy on the fly starting in 1986. Recordings were made at The Loft, Roy’s famous poetry salons, a poetry in the schools residency, various poetry slams, impromptu poetings, intimate family get-togethers, a theatrical performance with Heart of the Beast Theatre on Lake Street, the print shop of the award-winning artist book maker Paulette Myers-Rich and the poet’s summer home, Dandelion Ranch. I love the joy of Roy.” Mike Hazard, director

Monday, October 31, 2011

JEROME LIEBLING, R.I.P. 


The photographer Jerry Liebling has left our world. He made pictures of “the afterlife of things.” Take a look.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

SNAKE PIT is a multimedia meditation with pictures, poems and profound objects composed by Media Mike Hazard.

Free for all, come see SNAKE PIT in the St. Paul Art Crawl, Friday 6-10pm October 7, Saturday 12-8pm October 8, and Sunday 12-5pm October 9, 2011 at Lowertown Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard E, St. Paul.

Here's one poem:

A SNAKE STICKS OUT IN THE GARDENER’S MEMORY
An Anaconda in the Amazon amazed the man who approached warily.
Sluggish with a deer stuffed in its thirty foot length,
a third out of the water in the jungle, the snake was going nowhere.
The man’s name is Juan. The snake has no name, just “anaconda”.
Juan, who was teaching Spanish to the gardener sharing this story,
said he slipped up close, and touched the enormous serpent,
like Adam touching God in Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling.
The snake’s eyes opened and closed, aware, unable to move.
Sluggish with the huge image, we ponder it for a moment.
I recite Pablo Neruda for her: “And deep in the huge waters,
the enormous anaconda lies like a circle around the earth,
covered with ceremonies of mud, devouring, religious.”
The gardener has a poetry group yet has never heard of Neruda.
She tells me on a trip into Latin America, I think it was Honduras,
she met a grandmother who upon hearing she liked poetry
walked home, which was a hike longer than an anaconda,
and came back with a gift of a book of her own poems.
Stuffed with the delicacies of life, we can barely move. We blink.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

LIGHT SHOW From dusk to dawn, Northern Spark will illumine the Twin Cities on June 4, 2011.

Two of my films will be in the mix.

Solar Power & Moonshine

Something Bright to be Seen in Our World

Friday, April 29, 2011

29 CATS is a multimedia meditation on herding cats with pictures, poems and profound objects created by Media Mike Hazard.

Free for all, come see 29 CATS in the St. Paul Art Crawl, Friday 6-10pm April 29, Saturday 12-8pm April 30, and Sunday 12-5pm May 1, 2011 at Lowertown Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard E, St. Paul.

Here's one poem:

ANIMAL BEHAVIORS
We walked right into the night to pretend we were cats.
A large dog of a dog sent us clawing under the sheets...
Eyes wide as wings--our clothes flapped; fur flew.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

MEDIA MIKE'S 3 MINUTE EGG 

Sunday, February 20, 2011

COLD MOUNTAIN is a half hour film portrait of the Tang Dynasty Chinese poet Han Shan, a.k.a. Cold Mountain. Recorded on location in America, China and Japan, Burton Watson, Red Pine, Jim Lenfestey and the legendary Gary Snyder describe the poet's life and recite poems.

Read Britt Aamodt's article.

Marianne Combs enthuses.

And Dwight Hobbes.

To see the beginning of the documentary, click.

Watch it on line here.

Co-directed by Mike Hazard and Deb Wallwork, the music is by the internationally renowned pipa player Gao Hong and animations are by John Akre. A project of The Center for International Education, the film has been supported by the Outagamie Foundation, the family of John W. Brower and the Bush Foundation.

Deb Wallwork writes, "Cold Mountain is a rollicking, tasty film filled with poetry, colorful characters, Zen wisdom and witty commentary. The film gives us glimpses of that mysterious--some say crazy, some say enlightened--figure, Han Shan, who left the dusty world to become a hermit and a poet, and in so doing wrote the intimate and inspired lines that speak to us today.”

Mike Hazard adds, "One way to look at the film is to see that literally everyone and everything in the film is channeling the spirit of Han Shan: the Mandarin of Jin Hua, the trickster animations of John Akre, the street singer, the rice thrashers, the Butterfly Woman, the four poetical guides, the monks in the temple kitchen, the bats in the cave, Gao Hong's pipa, even the cicadas compose a richly layered portrait of Cold Mountain."

Hazard and Wallwork are veteran documentary filmmakers with a dozen national releases on PBS between them. Their most recent collaboration, C. BECK, was Grand Prize winner of the Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival produced by ITVS.

To order the film, click.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

WINGNUT  is a new piece from Media Mike’s Menagerie. It’s a montage of pictures, poems and profound things with wings.

Free for all, come see WINGNUT in the St. Paul Art Crawl, Friday 6-10pm October 8, Saturday 12-8pm October 9, and Sunday 12-5pm October 10, 2010 at Lowertown Lofts, 255 Kellogg Boulevard E, St. Paul.

Here’s a poem.

A HOLY CHILD DEPICTED AMONG THE CLOUDS IN A CHRISTMAS CARD CREATED WITH A COMPUTER AT AGE ONE, AT AGE TWO STUDIES THE PICTURE AND SINGS
Blue sky.
Wings.
Baby fly.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

FOOT IN THE DOOR 

Solar Power & Moonshine from Mike Hazard on Vimeo.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

MEDIA MIKE'S MENAGERIE is a wild collection of animals.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

READ MY GLOBAL EYE, the blog of the founding father of The Center for International Education, Patrick D. Hazard.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

MEDIA MIKE'S MASK MUSEUM will be on display at the Black Dog Cafe until the end of the Day of the Dead, November 1, 2009. From head shots to found faces to performances for the camera, it's a free exhibition of photographs by the artist Mike Hazard, a.k.a. Media Mike.

Here is a gallery of the Museum.

Here are two of Hazard's poems from the Museum.

A BAT IN HEAVEN
I'm a bat in heaven
today for Halloween.
I want to bless & be
blessed by a bat I killed
like a bat out of hell.
As violence begets violence,
& peace makes peace,
so a little bat came to me
in a dream recently
& gently kissed my elbow.
Grateful as hell,
today for Halloween
I'm a bat in heaven.

THE CASE FOR MASKS
No no, I don't want to know
about some obscure mask
in a natural history museum.
I am not going to believe
any mask moved on its peg
while the other 30 in the case
were stiff as tourists. So what
if you rapped on the glass
and leaped up and down
and you couldn't make it
shake until all on its own,
it was poetry in motion.
No no, I don't want to know.

A CASE FOR MASKS
Told as a kind of argument with myself, this poem is a true story about a visit to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Literally, it tells a story about a display case for masks and something which happened which I can't for the life of me explain. Metaphorically, it makes a case for how its collection is the unpredictable face a museum shows the world.

"If you look, you will see things," Hazard likes to say. "You have to look to see."

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Cold Mountain

A creative documentary portrait of the Chinese poet Han Shan.

Learn more

See the start of the film

Order

Mr. Positive: Carl Bentson

A documentary about a good neighbor who does his best to clean up the world.

Learn more

See a short

The Magic Green School Bus

A documentary portrait of the late teacher and senator Paul Wellstone.

See the film

Learn more

A Man Writes to a Part of Himself

A documentary with the poet Robert Bly.

Learn more

FOUR SISTERS

FOUR SISTERS FOR PEACE is a film about peace and justice as seen through the eyes of the McDonald Sisters. For all ages.

Learn more

See the film




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The Center for International Education 743 Fillmore Street NE Minneapolis Minnesota 55413 USA (651.227.2240)
Contact: mediamike@thecie.org © 2015