Jesse Minkert

From "McKinley's Bronze Eye A ring of bars enclosed the town square, separated by an occasional dry establishment. To the north, the drab and crumbling Arcata Hotel sheltered its drab and crumbling guests. To the east, the Plaza Gourmet sold mountainous pastrami gut bombs. To the west, the burnt-out shell of the Rexall Drug Store smeared the neat silhouette of the low Arcata skyline, like a cigarette ash by a cube of sugar. I won't forget the night I saw it burn, the same night I heard John Hammond shake down the walls in a club under the old storehouse to the south, filled now with a hive of trendy shops with the lifelines of mayflies. Jesse Minkert 332 17 th Avenue East Seattle, WA 98112-5107 Phone: 206-323-7190 Fax: Please make a voice call first. email: aviaboss@aol.com Business Name: Arts and Visually Impaired Audiences BIO: Jesse Minkert began his studies in art at the age of twelve, in Bryan, Texas, under his father's instruction.  Minkert acquired his master,s degree in Sculpture from Humboldt State University in 1981. Shortly thereafter he developed an eye disease called diabetic retinopathy. He emerged from treatment with most of his vision intact, but the experience led him to begin working on access to the arts for visually impaired people, which he has done since 1983. Minkert directed radio theater workshops for the visually impaired in 1984, 1985 and 1986.  He founded the non-profit corporation, Arts and Visually Impaired Audiences, in 1991.  He wrote and produced several radio plays, including "Margaret Jean, A Radio Portrait, which has reached national audiences on the NPR Playhouse, and "Turf Fire, Irish stories of Halloween adapted from storyteller Joe Heaney, broadcast on stations in Washington State.  He wrote and produced the plays, "He Needed Sleep in 1987 and "Dust Jackets, with a King County Arts Commission Playwright,s Production grant in 1991.  He participated in "The Sketch Club, a reading series at the Richard Hugo House, produced as a radio series and broadcast on KUOW-FM in 1998.  His story, "A Sweater in a Chair, was published in The Raven Chronicles, Urban Writing issue, 1999, Volume 8, Number 2.   In 1999 Minkert collaborated with sound artist Susie Kozawa on an interactive environment of computer raphics and sound for Jack Straw Productions. I have been featured reader twice at the Red Sky Poetry Theater.  I am a regular contributor to Red Sky's Open Mics.  In 1999 I self-published a booklet of my story"The Last Brazilian.