The Immigrant Experience

Sunday, February 23, 2025
2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

On Sunday, February 23rd, CBSRZ will host an afternoon of poetry and music devoted to the Immigrant Experience. Our featured poet, José B. Gonzalez, was born in El Salvador and came to the U.S. at the age of eight. He once knew no English and is now a professor at the Coast Guard Academy in New London with a PhD in English. He is the author of the Latino Book Awards Finalist, Toys Made of Rock and the CT Book Award Finalist, When Love Was Reels, as well as the co-editor of Latino Boom: An Anthology of US Latino Literature. A Pushcart winner, he has been anthologized in the Norton Introduction to Literature and has presented at colleges throughout the U.S., including at Harvard and Yale universities and at the National Museum of the American Indian.

His poetry has been published in various journals, including Boston Review, Callaloo, and Acentos Review. An excerpt is part of the first-ever Latino exhibit at the National Museum of American History in DC. A Fulbright Scholar, he is the founder and editor of LatinoStories.com. As is true for so many Latino children, Gonzalez was left in the care of his grandmother while his parents went in search of the American dream. The poems in When Love Was Reels shed light on Salvadoran immigration to the U.S.

A musical preface will be provided by Joe and Laurie Zelman. Joseph Zelman has played piano (and improvised) as long as he can remember, studying with several classical and jazz teachers, most recently with Dan Crisci in Maplewood, NJ. His musical career includes 25 years of music directing at Montville United Methodist Church in New Jersey, as well as playing for musicals and accompanying classic silent movies. He recently retired from teaching piano, guitar, and ukulele at the Music Shop in Boonton, New Jersey. Laurie Zelman is an ordained deacon who specializes in arts ministries, and is a published lyricist and librettist whose hymn texts with composer Mark A. Miller are sung worldwide. Laurie is a member of The Zeltones, playing jazz, samba, and American songbook. She co-leads the folk group Nathan Halestorm at the Coventry Senior Center and is a member of the Coventry Arts Guild. Laurie is a retired mental health and addictions counselor. Their music will reflect the theme of the program.

Opening voices: CBSRZ members will be reading poems they’ve selected or have written themselves on immigration as we face the impending deportation of refugees.

Coffee & refreshments will be available. Guests will be checked in at the door. Donations welcome.

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