Please welcome, from Miami Florida,
underground recording artists…
Swift Slay

THE URGE
by Oscar Alejandro Plascencia,
of La Puente California

The urge,
the need…
is always there,
calling like a lover spurned.
Fragments flicker to life
then fade away,
before they can prosper,
like the spark of a matchstick
too humid to light.
Phrases
fold unto themselves
collapsing
from the weight
of expectation.
Then the moment passes,
the muse…
is gone,
like the foggy memories
of a dream
lost in the space and time
between slumber
and consciousness.
Still the urge,
the need…
is always there,
calling like a lover spurned.

set design by Keyur Panchal, Ahmadabad India

written, edited & directed by Kendall F. Person,
Sacramento California

We hung on as long as we could, but when the horn sounded the 4th time, we knew that we had to say goodbye. We were only 16 when we met, puppy love is what they called it, love is what we felt. We survived our final two years in high school together, albeit there were more than a few close calls. We stayed together through our collegiate years even though we attended schools thousands of miles apart. She said yes, the first time I asked, and we did not wait for a wedding, but eloped on the mountaintop with just us and God. Our first born stayed up all night, screaming, not crying, colic is what he had, stress is what we got, but together, we held on and raised a healthy son.

We both had our careers, she a teacher and I an engineer, but nothing stood in the way of our love or our family and we soon gave birth to a second child, my little girl. The four of us soon became five, and we were a loving family, the apple of our own eyes. For the next 45 years, we would live a fortunate life. Somehow immune to tragedy and the everyday disappointments of life. Some say we were charmed, others say we were blessed, but living with so many good years under our belt, when tragedy hit… we felt cursed.

and the Nominees are….

2014 Best Art Piece

Solitude by Charitha Kulatunga, Sri Lanka

Nacago, Summer Rose, Sacramento California

Primitive, Rick Daddario, Hawaii

la ropa justa, Martin Jimenez Tassara, Buenos Aires Argentina

SketchUrsula, Danijel Firak, Zagreb Croatia

the beauty of weeping, by Himitsuhana Photography, Chiara Fersini, Italy

The Day Came, Cpt. Gabor Dvornik, Budapest, Hungary

and the winner is…….

from Miami Florida, Jay Red featuring Swift Slay

Never respect men merely for their riches,
but rather for their philanthropy;
we do not value the sun for its height,
but for its use.
– Gamaliel Bailey 

The 2014 Peace Award

Nikki Bollerman and 3rd grade class

When so much of the headlines – as of late – on race, having to do with hate, Nikki Bollerman is a pleasant distraction or change of pace. Not only does she enter a contest to win much needed books for her 3rd grade class, but when she wins the grand prize of $150,000 in cold hard cash, she donates the bounty to her school in hopes to build a computer lab.

Nikki Bollerman, for the size of your heart and the foresight of thought and for leading us away from hate, The Neighborhood is proud to announce the first ever recipient of The 2014 Peace Award, forever known, from this day forward as The Nikki Bollerman Peace Award.

2014 Song of the Year

the winner’s circle

My wife, the love of my life, was dying, you see and because of her age, the kidney transplant she needed would never take place. Our son had ventured into different parts of the globe, had found a solution, illegal for sure, immoral only God knows, but I would do anything to save her life. So as the horn blew a final time, we release our grasped, since I could not travel with her, my heart would not allow me to fly. So she and my son took off for Singapore, a kidney was awaiting her, how they got it, we do not know and nor would we ask, allowing ignorance to remain bliss. My son pulled her from my arms, tears rolling down both our faces. Neither of us knowing if we would ever see each other again or was this goodbye my love….. to be continued

Day Two: Performance is Underway