Mikel
Louis Weisser (born February 7, 1959) is a poet, teacher,
activist/entertainer and currently candidate for U.S. Representative for Arizona's 4th congressional
district. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Early life,
education, and teaching career
Originally
named Michael Louis Frazier, Weisser was born in Beaumont, Texas, and
raised in Raymondville, Texas, the son of Patsy Anne (née Perrodin) and Jackie
Oren Frazier. After divorcing Frazier, when Mikel was an infant, Patsy supported
herself as a nightclub singer until she remarried to Roger Eugene “Bud”
Weisser, who adopted Michael. His step- grandparents were immigrants from
Sweden and Germany and his maternal grandparents were from East
Texas. His maternal
grandfather was of Cajun descent. His mother was a nightclub singer. His
stepfather was an electrician who moved the family to the Rio Grande Valley of
Texas and ran a mechanical construction business.
A former
teen runaway, Weisser attended Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas,
majoring in communications and theater. Weisser was part of the 1978 PASS, Pan
American Summer Stock theater company with a supporting role in the musical Boys From Syracuse. He dropped out
following a house fire and briefly served in the US Navy, though he left after
only four months with an honorable discharge. While
in the Navy, Weisser’s first name was inadvertently misspelled as “Mikel,” a
change Weisser never corrected.
Reconciling with the mother of his son,
Samuel, Weisser worked various construction/manual labor jobs in South Texas
and eventually earning a journeyman’s plumbing license working for his
stepfather’s company, Portal Electric. After moving from South Texas to
Springfield, IL in 1987, Weisser soon returned to college and earned BA in
Literature in 1992 from Sangamon State University paying his way with
scholarships, grants, and by working as a carnie. He graduated with High honors
and a GPA of 3.91. While working as a program coordinator at a homeless
shelter, he continued on to earn an MA in literary criticism in 1999 though the
university changed its name to University of IL at Springfield. Weisser represented UIS at a trio
of national graduate student literary conferences when four of Weisser's papers
were presented on Hemingway, Shelley, John Irving and Depression Era Crime
Films. His thesis was on postmodernism and literary allusion.
After
spending a year working as substitute teacher and freelance journalist, Weisser
moved to Bullhead City to teach social studies. Weisser earned a Master in
Secondary Education from Northern Arizona University in 2005. His thesis was on
using social studies to teach writing and vice versa. He has presented papers
on reading enrichment. Weisser has been a member of National Middle School
Association and the Arizona Education Association. He spoke to the Peace and
Social Justice Caucus at the 2012 National Education Association convention in
Washington DC. Currently he teaches social studies in Kingman, Arizona. Weisser
lives in the hillside community of So-Hi, where he moved with his second wife Beth in
2007, following the suicide of Lisa on Dec. 3 2005.
Though Weisser
began writing as a teen, and he continued writing all along, his” writing
career” did not begin until his 30th birthday, when Weisser self-published
his first book, a collection of short fiction, Stories for the TV Generations in 1989. In 1991, Weisser edited
the Sangamon State University's anthology of student writing, The Alchemist's Review. Weisser
also self-published two later collections of short fiction, Gossip (1990) and Sampler Pack (1992), which included a short section
of poetry. Weisser began
performing poetry and self published a collection of poetry the following year, Songs of Assonance &
Experymence [sic](1993).
Later self-publications include A
Simple Calendar (2000), Verb*I*Age (2004), and Leaving the Empire (2010). In 2006, he also edited and
released his late wife’s haiku collection, Little
Girl Lost.
Following the
publishing Stories for the TV Generations,
Weisser began writing for SSU’s college paper and Springfield underground
newspapers, The Alternative (1990-1992) and The Chronicle of Unlimited Possibilities (1992-1997) where he created
his ongoing political humor series “News
for the TV Generations,” which would later be renamed “Current Comedy.” In
addition to the political series, Weisser’s freelance journalism would appear
in various Springfield publications including Illinois Times and Springfield
Magazine. Though he moved to Arizona in 2000, he continued to publish in
Illinois publications until his wife’s death in 2005. He resumed his political
column in 2007 and created the website, Current Comedy (http://yzurblog.blogspot.com/),
following his remarriage in 2007. The column has been posted on Op-Ed News, Dissident Voice, AZ
Central, and Daily Kos, among other national
sites, in addition to locally in the Mohave
Daily News and Kingman Daily Miner. In 2012, Weisser suspended his
political column to focus on his candidacy (See Below).
In 1993 and
2000 Weisser won Springfield poetry slams before moving to Arizona in late
2000. After teaching a poetry class in 2004, he began hosting local poetry
readings in Bullhead City and Kingman and joined NORAZ Poets ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NORAZ_Poets). Starting in 2009, Weisser began
competing in the AZ poetry slam circuit and has performed in several
prestigious locations around the country including The World Stage and Beyond
Baroque in L.A., The Beat Museum in San Francisco and The Green Mill in
Chicago.
Though he did
not take up the guitar until in his 40s, starting in 2006 Weisser also began a
sporadic musical career and released a self-published album of original music, Quarter Blues (2008) of vocals & acoustic
guitar. As a visual artist, Weisser had early art shows while attending Pan
American University, but did not avidly resume art until moving to Springfield.
There, Weisser incorporated set design, performance poetry and theatrical monologues,
found objects, and traditional art forms to create basement “theme parks” that
were profiled twice by the university public access channel. Upon moving to So-Hi,
Weisser began adopting the couple’s two acre property into an outdoor peacesign
theme park, with hundreds of peacesigns, including some large enough to be seen
via Google Earth. Weisser’s peacesign themepark has been profiled in both
Kingman’s Weekly Standard and Prescott’s Daily Courier, and was the
subject of a multi-media outdoor art show of painting and sculpture in Prescott’s
McCormick Art District in 2009 and two short videos.
Political
Career
Weisser’s
career as a political activist began in 1979 when local farm workers in
Raymondville launched an onion strike. Weisser’s moment of conversion was
caught on film and later included in Hart Perry’s 2003 documentary, Valley of Tears, on the history
of the racial tensions in Raymondville. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymondville,_Texas).
After moving to Springfield, Weisser became a volunteer and later the manager
of the local activist food co-op, King Harvest Food Co-op, which also became a
recycling center under Weisser’s management. In addition to his ongoing recycling
efforts, Weisser was also an outspoken critic on racial and military issues,
organizing and participating in protests in both Illinois and Arizona. In 2007,
Weisser joined a national anti-war protest in Washington DC where he began his
continuing association with the international women’s peace organization, Code
Pink. (He would later be the musical entertainment for AZ appearances of Code
Pink leaders Cindy Sheehan and Medea Benjamin.)
In
2008, Weisser coverage of the Dennis Kucinich led House Judiciary Committee
hearings on possible impeachment of George W Bush drew national attention and
his articles on immigration, LGBT Rights and the Tea Party were widely
reposted. In Arizona, Weisser has also been involved with anti SB-1070 protests
and the LGBT movement. Though a straight male, he serves as the Mohave County
Regional Adviser on LGBT issues for the state Democratic Party. In October of
2011, Weisser became the leader and “disorganizer” of the Kingman Occupy
movement and was elected to represent Arizona at the 99% Delegation’s
Continental Congress 2.0 held in Philadelphia on the 4th of July at Independence Hall. Weisser
read part of the public proclamation and chaired the committee on Immigration. http://www.the99declaration.org/
2012 Election
After working
to advance Democratic causes in the 2000 election, Weisser began volunteering
with the Democratic Party in 2004. In 2010, he served as the field coordinator
for his wife, Beth’s, campaign for state senate for AZ 3rd legislative district, running against
incumbent Ron Gould. That year he also began working as an elected PC and state
party delegate. Following the January 2012 announcement of new Congressional
districts, Weisser launched a campaign for the newly formed 4th district when no traditional candidates
emerged. Weisser’s populist grassroots campaign has not focused on raising money,
but on confronting Republican leadership. His slogan, “Tell the Right They’re
Wrong!”, handmade approach to campaigning, hard-edged progressive rhetoric and
high energy public political appearances, which often incorporate both poetry
and music, have excited supporters and infuriated his opposition around the
district. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDp1ZvXarBM
Currently
Weisser is in a contested primary. His opponent is Johnnie Robinson from
Florence, AZ. The primary election is Tuesday, August 28, 2012.
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