Rhyme & Reason Open Mike Series (Berkeley, Calif.)

Rhyme & Reason Open Mike Series emerged out of the campus-community outreach projects mandated by University of California, Berkeley (UCB) Chancellor Berdahl and the Touch of the Poet. When Touch of the Poet left the UCB Art Museum, Joan Gatten spearheaded another poetry series, the Rhyme & Reason Open Mike Series. The informal steering committee included Randy Fingland, Tim Nuveen, Bob Beck, Mark States, Joan Gatten and later John Rowe and Dale Jensen. Rhyme & Reason met twice a month between Sept. 14, 1998 and Dec. 10, 2000. In 1999, Joan Gatten received the Chancellor's Community Service Award for campus-community outreach. A new sister series, Rhythm & Muse Open Mike Series, which included poets and musicians, was started when Rhyme & Reason ended.