Berkeley Farmers’ Markets
Student Movement Abecedarian—Celebrating Bay Area Student Activism
Published August 14, 2026 · Written by sachiko-omo-hanks
Gabriel Cortez, Ecology Center’s 2023–24 poet in residence, continues to spread the spoken word in our community. His recent poetry performance, Student Movement Abecedarian, recaptures the fierce spirit of student activism, including from the 1964–65 Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley. If you were there, it’s etched into your memory. If you weren’t, it’s still part of your DNA.
This month, students head back to campus, where from the Mario Salvo Steps at UC Berkeley to the Freedom Riders Monument at Tennessee State University, we are reminded of the vital contribution of student activists to justice and equity.
Please enjoy Gabriel’s poetry performance.
What is an abecedarian? Gabriel explains,
“An abecedarian is a poetic form where the first line begins with the first letter of the alphabet, ‘a,’ and each subsequent line begins with the next successive letter of the alphabet until you get to ‘z.’
“I like abecedarian as a form because it evokes early education, when we are first learning our ABCs. As equity, access to liberatory education, and the global solidarity progressed by our student movements continues to be litigated, defunded, and otherwise eroded by authoritarian regimes, it feels important to uplift examples like the Freedom Riders, the Free Speech Movement, and the Black Panthers as foundational and instructive to our ongoing fights today.
“They are a core part of our alphabet, and I believe powerful things grow out of that knowing. More than anything, I hope viewers feel inspired to get involved with local organizations fighting for liberation and, as the poem suggests, ‘hop in.’”
In the Fall of 2023, Gabriel (@gabrielmcortez), as Ecology Center’s poet in residence, led an intergenerational cohort of twenty Bay Area poets in a six-week writing workshop intensive. They created new original poems uplifting environmental justice, food sovereignty, land sovereignty, and local lineages of resistance.
From this fruitful gathering, select poems were toured throughout Berkeley schools, farmers’ markets, book fairs, and more. A handful of poems were turned into short films to be shared online. Please enjoy these poetry performances.
I Translate the Sea—Exploring Climate Change by Maya Zeff (@eco.poetry)
Downpour—Exploring Climate Change by Zara Jamshed (@zeejamz)
Coke Cola—Exploring the Systemic Root of Type 2 Diabetes by Erzsabet Gonzalez (@erzsa.g)
Cookout—Exploring Systemic Injustice by CieraJevae (@ms.missing_my_bed)
This project was funded by the California Arts Council (@calartscouncil) and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (@ybca).
For more on Gabriel’s work, visit www.gabrielmcortez.com.
