Special Preview Screening of New Documentary on Free Speech at Rio Rancho High

According to SWOPblogger the documentary Word: Committing Poetry in Time of War will be shown one time only, at The Guild Cinema in Albuquerque at Noon, Saturday, July 15, 2006.

This film depicts a well known story about free speech, poetry and war that took place at Rio Rancho High School. It is an important story in today's cultural and political climate. Here's a post by Bill Nevins that describes what happened and how he lost his teaching job at Rio Rancho High School over free speech issues around the time of the start of the Iraq war. Bill Nevins is definitely one of the heroes in an era of almost unprecedented threats to our First Amendement rights.

From a bio produced in connection with an event held by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Jouranlism: Bill Nevins teaches journalism, writing and literature at Horizon Academy Northwest in Albuquerque. Nevins is an editor and publishing journalist who has helped start newspapers, journalism and performance poetry programs at Horizon Academy, Nuestros Valores, Rio Rancho and other New Mexico schools. He is a graduate of Iona College and the University of Connecticut, with additional graduate work at the University of New Mexico.

In 2004, he was nominated for the PEN International Freedom to Write Award and he received the Courageous Resister Award from the Artists Network of Refuse and Resist. His work defending educational freedom of expression is the focus of the forthcoming documentary film, Word: Committing Poetry in Time of War. His recent publications include a profile of This Revolution filmmaker Stephen Marshall, and articles on contemporary rock music. A proud grandfather, Nevins enjoys traveling, hiking, poetry slams and Ozomatli.