Friday July 8th, 2005 - 7:55AM

So much to talk about so I'm jumping around a little bit. I've been trying to maintain (still) the discipline for writing i got going at Cave Canem. It wasn't too hard to do while i was teaching the residency in Ann Arbor last week. The other teachers, Kevin Coval, Scott Beal, James Kass all provided us with writing exercises that kept us going (i still have to type up my drafts though).

It was an excellent week, if only because the students' work was so scintillating all week long that i was ecstatic at every moment. I had to leave Ann Arbor and go straight to Prospect Park upon landing at La Guardia. I was tired as hell but the show there was brilliant. I got to ooen (together with Cheryl Boyce Taylor) for the Mighty Shadow - a legend in Trinidadian calypso. It was nerve-wracking because this was the most amount of Trinidadians for whom i'd ever performed; some 3000 of them. Seemed they dug it though; and that was a relief because i was holding onto every minute piece of energy i had. i was tired beyond belief. Of course Shadow's show was superlative in evry way and the park was a bouncing mass of Trinidadians jumping to Dingolay and Bassman as the party ended.

Meanwhile, i'm beginning preparations for Masquerade on July 23rd and i have new work to try to factor in and poems to memorize. Look out for some spectacular stuff from the LouderARTS Project in the Fall. Come check out the acentos, South Bronx series of the Project on Tuesday with Rigoberto Gonzalez and wait around for Amiri Baraka who's coming to Bar 13 in October.