Mike Sonksen

1 month ago | altaonline.com | Mike Sonksen

My poem “We Are Still Alive in Los Angeles” is a sequel to one of my earlier poems that mapped Los Angeles. When I interviewed Wanda Coleman in 2013, she told me that she had a few poems that she would write a sequel to a decade or so later, after she gained a new perspective. That idea stayed with me, and I have done the same now with this poem.

Dec 18, 2024 | lataco.com | Mike Sonksen

Like listening to music, reading is an activity that recharges the spirit. It offers a chance to unplug for an hour to fill your soul and slow down. I like reading after a long day in the city or on a slow weekend morning. This is my fifth year in a row creating this book list for L.A. TACO, and similar to years before, as Los Angeles-centric as it is, it is also all-California and centered on building bridges in a time where we need all the interconnections we can get.

Nov 21, 2024 | altaonline.com | Mike Sonksen

More than freeways, the east-west and north-south streets of Los Angeles—the arteries that connect the city end to end—unlock the city’s narrative, how it segues and transitions from one style, thought, intention, declaration to the next,” writes journalist Lynell George in her 2018 nonfiction collection, After/Image: Los Angeles Outside the Frame. This observation applies especially to highly mythologized South Central Los Angeles.

Aug 14, 2024 | laparent.com | Mike Sonksen |Emily Ip

Seven years ago, a brilliant student in my introductory writing course forever changed the way I teach. She was an animation major with an incredible eye for detail. Over the course of the semester, she turned in pages and pages of image-rich writing that crackled with life. Her final portfolio of writing even included a four-minute short film she made based on a piece she wrote in class. I’d never had a student go this far beyond an assignment before.

Jul 3, 2024 | laparent.com | Mike Sonksen

Growing up in the 1980s, I went to countless Dodgers and Angels games with both my grandfather and stepdad. I recently took my 10-year-old son to our first baseball game, and we had — well — a ball. Aside from hitting the beach or having a barbecue, nothing else captures the spirit of summer like taking your children to a professional sporting event. Below, I offer a few tips for visiting some of our local stadiums this summer with your kids.