tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831490294919005022024-03-13T18:09:27.794-07:00Director's Blog: MFA in Creative Nonfiction at BPUA conversation about the art and practice of writingLeanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-25474000508073062962020-09-02T07:45:00.025-07:002020-09-03T07:46:06.136-07:00Jennifer Baker: Publishing, Writing, and Representation<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EIhQgkqYMxo/X1D7Z2VpXoI/AAAAAAAACBI/sDS91UM8R9k2GLv7qdlxac2KOpxmsDXMgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2508/Jenn%2BBaker_enews.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1254" data-original-width="2508" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EIhQgkqYMxo/X1D7Z2VpXoI/AAAAAAAACBI/sDS91UM8R9k2GLv7qdlxac2KOpxmsDXMgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Jenn%2BBaker_enews.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />New MFA faculty member
Jennifer Baker is a Pushcart-Prize-nominated writer, contributor for the digital
publisher <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://electricliterature.com/">Electric Literature</a>, </i>founder of
the podcast, <a href="http://minoritiesinpublishing.tumblr.com/">Minorities in
Publishing</a>, and editor of the anthology <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Everyday
People: The Color of Life</i>. Baker has taught at conferences and in workshops;
this is her first faculty position. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">“<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I'm eager to engage with a concrete community over the course of the
semester,” she says. “I feel like the dynamics in a workshop can build a firm
sense of approach for not only participants, but for the ones leading
discussion and critique. Instructors learn so much from students in workshops
that it becomes a very reciprocal space for the exchange of ideas.”</span> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Baker is teaching the
course Creative Nonfiction Writing II: Art of the Essay. <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“</span><a href="https://longreads.com/author/jbakernyc/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Barely There</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">,” her
lauded piece published in <i>Longreads</i> last year, demonstrates mastery in bringing
the reader into an essay viscerally. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“My
focus was on hair more so than the body, even though hair is part of your body.
I knew I wanted to discuss hair in a different way, one that didn't focus on
the much-treaded discussion of the hair on my head,” she says. “And that's when
critique partners helped me see that the piece wasn't just about hair, but the
body and expectation, more so how societal expectations result in personal
preferences.” </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Her work as a writer and editor
makes her an empathetic instructor. “<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">If
I weren't a writer, I might not think so much about how writers react and
approach their writing because I'd be looking at things from one lens. When you
not only produce work, but edit work, and then also engage with people from the
idea to the final product you can really see and relate to how the writer's
mind works.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“My
editing style is on par with my writing style in that I ask many questions,
most primarily </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18.6667px;">‘</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">What is this about?’” Baker continues: “</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18.6667px;">‘</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">What's my aim here?
Who am I speaking to? What do I want to leave readers with at the end of this
piece?’” Digging deep for answers to those questions, she reminds writers that
there is no one way to tell a story or organize a narrative. “You can be experimental,
direct, linear, or epistolary,” she says. “I like to work out methodology as
well as reasoning in my work, and with those I work with in the instructional
space or publishing space.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Baker is committed to
shining a light on underrepresented voices in literature and publishing. <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“The industry has a lot of work to do, but Minorities
in Publishing really aims to showcase that we're here, and there's always going
to be space for us,” Baker says. “[My podcast] started out and continues to be
a place for people to learn and know that there are many, many people of
various backgrounds in the industry doing this work for various reasons. I
really didn't think I'd still be doing it six years and more than 100 episodes
later. It’s become part of my identity.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">There is clearly much
work still to be done. “<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I've seen
publishing focus on the moment rather than the long game. Have there been more
acquisitions of books by and about BIPOC?” Baker asks. “Sure. But what were
those numbers before, and how steadily will this continue?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">For the anthology, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Everyday People</i>, she says, “<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The biggest thing for me was to ensure I was
creating an anthology focusing on BIPOC authors and perspectives that was not
centering trauma that comes from being a specific identity. I wanted the full
swath of the human experience, as cliché as that may sound, which centered
BIPOC writers and allowed you to relate to them—no matter the micro and macro
issues they're going through in their life—and to see different approaches in
storytelling in style, voice, structure, and aims.” And she did, as discussed
in </span><a href="https://epiphanyzine.com/features/2018/8/20/a-conversation-with-jennifer-baker-on-curation-and-cultivating-hope"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">an interview for <i>epiphany</i></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In
Baker’s editing and in her own writing, she serves as an example to her future
students of how to go both wide and deep, paying keen attention to both the
self and the wider world—and our place in it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-5178928659043177132020-05-26T12:41:00.005-07:002020-05-27T07:50:32.314-07:00Curious about Yi Shun Lai<br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--Suhe283E94/Xs2Doj3h2MI/AAAAAAAAB60/K0YZfP1JTq0zWY14RuxqIKLh-lj5TNN2QCK4BGAsYHg/YiShunSitting.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1383" data-original-width="2500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--Suhe283E94/Xs2Doj3h2MI/AAAAAAAAB60/K0YZfP1JTq0zWY14RuxqIKLh-lj5TNN2QCK4BGAsYHg/s320/YiShunSitting.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Yi Shun Lai has taught writing workshops and
seminars since 2012 and in undergraduate classrooms from the time after her
debut novel, </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/28562611"><i><span>Not a
Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu</span></i><span>,</span></a></span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> was published in
2016. Yi Shun joined the Bay Path MFA program in the fall of 2019, and teaches the
course “<span>Writing Contemporary Women's
Stories,” in which she most enjoys “</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">watching students
learn about the many different forms that are available for them to pursue, and
then watching them put that into place.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">When it comes to
her own writing, Yi Shun admits she is curious about almost anything — except,
distinctly, earthworms. “I like people and I find them endlessly interesting.
That includes myself,” she says. “I'm always wondering why I, or someone else,
reacts certain ways. And then I get to thinking about people's origin stories —
what beliefs they may have, how they may have gotten this way or that way. I
find motivations to be ceaselessly interesting. I also like birds, food,
plants, rocks, animals, and insects.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">What she loves to
read is equally diverse. Lately, Yi Shun has been excited about Ramona
Ausubel’s magical realism; Mari Naomi’s graphic novel <i>Turning Japanese</i> (and graphic novels in general: “I find the way
they're constructed to be a thing to study and marvel over.”), the
psychological honesty of the heroes in Dick Francis’s books, and Abdi Nor
Iftin’s memoir <i>Call Me American</i>,
which she is delving into for the </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/Shelterboxbookclubint/"><span>ShelterBox Book Club. </span></a></span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">ShelterBox is an international disaster-relief
organization, for which </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Yi Shun <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Df8kHzDhgv0/Xs592TI8VDI/AAAAAAAAB7U/jhfqOC96EFEhbGDCVHz1J6POI5C3BX9IgCK4BGAsYHg/shelterbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Df8kHzDhgv0/Xs592TI8VDI/AAAAAAAAB7U/jhfqOC96EFEhbGDCVHz1J6POI5C3BX9IgCK4BGAsYHg/s320/shelterbox.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">started
fundraising in 2008 and volunteering as a response team member the year following.
“Each time I go out on deployment, I learn something new from the families
we're helping,” she says. “I think working for the agency appeals to the
forever-student in me, but I also think this is the thing I'd been looking for
and training for all my life—I just didn't know it.” She blogs about and writes
“tiny books” about her work with ShelterBox, including </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk02ZpkmV9Thb2BjCndtDqDcGATIsdQ:1590424875909&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=Your+Country+is+Beautiful:+Notes+from+an+Aid+Worker&client=firefox-b-1-e&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwilvZSuus_pAhVloHIEHTbdD8UQsAR6BAgBEAE&biw=1209&bih=616#imgrc=LRfugdc1cMBlYM"><i><span>Your
Country is Beautiful: Notes from an Aid Worker</span></i></a></span><i><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">.</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Yi Shun</span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> once edited
fiction for the <i>Los Angeles Review</i>
and was the founding nonfiction editor of the <i>Tahoma Literary Review</i>, introducing CNF into the magazine’s original
mix of fiction and poetry. After about three years there, she and some MFA
friends bought the magazine from its originators, also from her MFA program. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Yi Shun </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">will be leaving at the end of June, and is
proud of what she accomplished during her tenure.Her experience at <i>TLR </i>made her a better writer, and much
quicker to diagnose what might not be working with any given piece. “</span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And I have a much sharper sense of where I see
literary magazines falling in the schematic of the larger literary world,” she
says. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Yi Shun’s
recommendation to aspiring authors: “Be curious! And reach out to other writers
for support and guidance. My good friend reminded me when I was going through
the marketing for my debut novel that writing is a solitary endeavor, but
publishing is a team sport. This is very good advice.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">“At TLR, we published a number of first-time
writers and a number of undergraduates,” she says. “It's my hope that seeding
the idea that their work is worth something they can take to the bank will set
the tone for their careers and expectations of the way they value their
work.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Next for Yi Shun</span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> will be the
publication of her memoir focusing on her relationship to outdoors sports and
representation in the outdoors; it will be published by Homebound Publications
this August. Learn more about Yi Shun at </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://thegooddirt.org/" target="_blank"><span>thegooddirt.org</span></a></span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-3112679482377994642019-12-20T12:05:00.002-08:002019-12-20T12:05:58.405-08:00December Reflections<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cIGNazY_Qlc/Xf0nwdd6rCI/AAAAAAAABys/SEVWFPvz-GQ2Q9lQpTbJHSg1NoisV5CIwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Cozy%2Bfire%2Band%2Bbooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="612" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cIGNazY_Qlc/Xf0nwdd6rCI/AAAAAAAABys/SEVWFPvz-GQ2Q9lQpTbJHSg1NoisV5CIwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Cozy%2Bfire%2Band%2Bbooks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As we approach our holiday break, I find myself thinking again about the
role of literature during a time of gift-giving, feasting, and cheer. For some,
holidays are pure celebration, with stories and poems and songs that remind us
of delight, of loving and spiritual promise. For others, holidays are
complicated. Memories of past holidays rise up like ornamented ghosts, telling
stories of family conflict or loss. Literature has a role here, too, even
(maybe especially), the literature that unlocks the attic door and invites us
in. Those stories tell us we’re not alone. That sadness can be present along
with joy and that, in fact, sometimes the way to joy is through the darkness.
“Grab my hand,” the best books tell us. “Hold on and I’ll walk you through.”</span><span style="color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">We might need to reach out for a helping hand right now. As
we strive for peace and understanding—the greatest message of the holiday
season—in the midst of political upheaval, we find it in good books, in the
support of our writing community, in our own creative work, and in this
exciting news from the MFA: a new certificate program in </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D4e59837300104213711a54fae%26id%3D54fd8664c3%26e%3D5b642806d9&source=gmail&ust=1576956274343000&usg=AFQjCNEqZsFZdbkBDRVsW0tIzKQAAacPug" href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=54fd8664c3&e=5b642806d9" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: #007c89;">narrative medicine</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #202020;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">. Set to launch in January of 2021, the program will offer
four courses focusing on trauma writing, writing about illness and recovery,
and leading writing circles for those who need to tell their hard stories.
Healing is the focus along with craft and artistry, which is the best response
to the hurts we carry: making something beautiful out of human struggle. The courses
can be taken as part of the MFA or on their own; either way, they offer yet
another avenue of expression, another way to tell the stories that matter. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Speaking of stories that matter: what books are you most looking forward
to reading in 2020? We asked our faculty that question, and got these answers
(any of them on your list?): <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*<b>Mel Allen</b>: Every break I get the <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=3c01f628ea&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>Best American Essays 2019</i></a> and <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=47e9db78ab&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>The Best American Magazine Writing 2019</i></a>, and I see
which new pieces and writers I can introduce to students. For pure pleasure I
am reading Colson Whitehead's <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=4ed0be4c21&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>The Underground Railroad</i></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*Leanna James Blackwell</span></b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <i><a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=c7d0bf15a3&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank">Girl, Woman, Other</a><a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=bc48f6edd1&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"> </a></i>by Bernadine Evaristo, <i><a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=d8e78d06f2&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank">Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations</a> </i>by Mira
Jacob, <i><a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=5741ef8245&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank">All This Can be Yours</a> </i>by Jami Attenberg<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*Sari Botton</span></b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <i><a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=64da83a613&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank">The Yellow House</a> </i>by Sarah M. Broom and <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=c69bd0d7af&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing</i></a><i> </i>by<i> </i>Elissa
Altman. (And recently loved <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=983c0c9747&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag</i></a><i> </i>by Sigrid
Núñez and <i><a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=86d64e349c&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank">In the Dream House</a> </i>by Carmen Maria Machado)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*Adam Braver: </span></b><i><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=b3733efbe2&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank">So Much Longing in So Little Space: The Art of Edvard Munch</a> </span></i><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">by Karl Ove Knausgaard, <i><a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=d9253ce17d&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank">Grand Union</a></i> by Zadie Smith, <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=c5c68ce398&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>Last Witness: An Oral History of the Children of World War
II</i></a> by Svetlana Alexievich, <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=898c3d3418&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>Rusty Brown</i></a> by Chris Ware<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*Shahnaz Habib</span></b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=4e87e26505&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>River </i></a>by Esther Kinsky, translated by Iain
Galbraith<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*Susan Ito</span></b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=2c57464852&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous</i></a> by
Ocean Vuong and <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=639a7cd2b9&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>The Yellow House</i></a> by Sarah M. Broom<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*Karol Jackowski</span></b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=ea986321ce&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>The Testaments</i></a> by Margaret Atwood, <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=4a2f87edd8&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>Psychic Energy: Its Source and Its Transformation</i></a><i> </i>by Mary Esther
Harding, <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=41676326a0&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>A Christmas Memory</i></a> by Truman Capote<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*Lisa Romeo</span></b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=41e3e6d796&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>The Body: A Guide for Occupants</i></a><i> </i>by
Bill Bryson. I share a love of all things Bryson with one of my sons, and
the plan is for the two of us will read a chunk of it at the same time,
compare notes, laugh and learn something. Also, <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=80614468c5&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>Uncomfortably Numb: A Memoir</i></a> by former student
Meredith O’Brien. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*Suzanne Shea: </span></b><i><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=fb51c24c4d&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank">Uncomfortably Numb: A Memoir</a></span></i><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> by graduate Meredith O’Brien MFA
’17, <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=43320029c7&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>Rock On: Mining for Joy in the Deep River of Grief</i></a> by
Susan E. Casey, <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=a42a51cab8&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>Reimagining the Gospels</i></a> by graduate Melina
Rudman MFA ’19, <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=4455cc5e66&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>The Book Keeper: A Memoir of Race, Love, and Legacy</i></a> by
Julia McKenxie Munemo<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*Tommy Shea</span></b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=7a2264e975&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man’s Quest To Get Smaller
in a Growing America</i></a> by Tommy Tomilson, <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=1187e4f657&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>No Walls and the Recurring Dream: A Memoir</i></a> by Ani
DiFranco, <i><a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=0025c0f8e5&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank">One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder</a> </i>by Brian
Doyle, <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=4338818790&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves: One Family and Migration
in 21<sup>st</sup> Century</i></a> by Jason DeParle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*Kate Whouley</span></b><span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=94debd6caa&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><i>Everything Here is Beautiful</i></a> by Mira Lee
and <i><a href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=1c05932ab2&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank">Annelies</a> by </i>David Gillham<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gw3rqbiGo_E/Xf0onsjK7mI/AAAAAAAABy0/MSuv2_rz0n8_c62rUjSA3Bw67Wx2EsWywCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Yi%2BShun%2BLai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="825" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gw3rqbiGo_E/Xf0onsjK7mI/AAAAAAAABy0/MSuv2_rz0n8_c62rUjSA3Bw67Wx2EsWywCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Yi%2BShun%2BLai.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #202020; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Ask an MFA faculty member about books, and you’ll be in conversation for
a long, long time. Which reminds me: we have a new faculty member to welcome to
our MFA community. She is California writer and editor <b>Yi Shun Lai</b>, founding
nonfiction editor of the </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D4e59837300104213711a54fae%26id%3Dd7e47d8f90%26e%3D5b642806d9&source=gmail&ust=1576956274344000&usg=AFQjCNHfp19-lHVA3jEtUKtpVYCIxOoMHg" href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=d7e47d8f90&e=5b642806d9" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><em><span style="background: white; color: #007c89;">Tahoma Literary Revie</span></em><span style="background: white; color: #007c89;">w</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #202020;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">, where she now
edits fiction and is co-publisher. Her forthcoming memoir on her relationship
to outdoors sports and representation in the outdoors will be published in
August 2020 by Homebound Publications; her debut novel, </span><em style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D4e59837300104213711a54fae%26id%3D25e50daa3c%26e%3D5b642806d9&source=gmail&ust=1576956274344000&usg=AFQjCNFE_vLCDWhc16iszmUPqngHKNAq1g" href="https://baypath.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4e59837300104213711a54fae&id=25e50daa3c&e=5b642806d9" target="_blank"><span style="color: #007c89;">Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu</span></a>,</em><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> was a
semi-finalist for the Thurber Prize in American Humor. </span></span><span style="color: #202020;"><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Yi Shun's essays have appeared in </span><em style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The Hairpin, The Toast, Bustle</em><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">, and elsewhere.
She has an MFA from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts and has worked as
a writing coach, editor, and teacher for colleges, individuals, nonprofits, and
businesses. Yi Shun is also a volunteer for ShelterBox, an international
disaster-relief organization, about which she blogs and writes "tiny
books," including </span><em style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Your Country is Beautiful: Notes from an Aid Worker</em><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">. Find her on
Twitter @gooddirt and on the web at </span></span></span><span style="background: white;">thegooddirt.org.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="color: #202020;">Yi Shun will be teaching Writing
Contemporary Women’s Stories this spring, and we are excited to have her with
us<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But let’s
not jump to spring just yet. It’s December, snow is on the ground here in New
England, and we’re all looking forward to a beautiful winter holiday. <span style="color: #202020;">I wish for you, too, the warmest and happiest of
holidays, with time to think, dream, write, read (always), and enjoy the
company of people you love, including yourself. Be well, and we’ll see you in
the new year. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br />Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-3276870602259612612019-10-17T07:13:00.003-07:002019-10-17T10:14:04.050-07:00Meet Sari Botton<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ksdom8ngkFI/Xah36MTRdfI/AAAAAAAABuM/nzVf0XCRF1c8whAyZ_rwSPQ8bznXGw-1QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Sari%2BBotton%2Bpic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="825" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ksdom8ngkFI/Xah36MTRdfI/AAAAAAAABuM/nzVf0XCRF1c8whAyZ_rwSPQ8bznXGw-1QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Sari%2BBotton%2Bpic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I’d been aware of Sari Botton for
years through her published essays and interviews, her bestselling anthologies,
and her editing work at Longreads. When I learned that Sari was teaching a
class on anthology publication at Catapult, I signed up right away. I’d had an
idea for a literary anthology for a long time, and I couldn’t think of a better
person to give me tips about the process. Sari was everything I expected her to
be, and more—knowledgeable, thorough, wise, frank, funny, and insightful. When
the MFA needed a new Mentorship Lab instructor, Sari came immediately to mind.
I was thrilled when she said “yes.” You will be, too, when you read this
interview with Sari, a self-described “late-blooming Gen X lady” who just happens
to have had an extraordinary life and career. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">You’ve
had a varied and interesting career journey, which you’ve been writing about in
your subscription e-newsletter, “Adventures in Journalism.” For those who are
unfamiliar with your background, can you tell us about some of the significant
milestones (or twists and turns) in your writing journey? <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I’m 54 and I honestly don’t feel
as if I’m as established or successful as I “should be” by my age. I’ve had a
very varied career in which I’ve sometimes felt right where I belonged, and
I’ve thrived, and other times felt very much in the wrong place, and I’ve
floundered. Sometimes that was a function of whether I had enough faith and
confidence in my own inner directives to follow them; sometimes it was a matter
of market forces and things like recessions killing lots of publications and
jobs, and there was also a little thing called sexism holding me back now and
then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The first creative nonfiction I
wrote was an essay for a school contest when I was in fourth grade about what
I’d do if I won $1 million. (I can’t remember what I said I’d do!) I won that
contest, and the same one the following year. The summer of 1986, when I was a
junior in college, I managed to get a paid internship on the arts desk at <i>Newsday</i>,
where I flourished writing arts features and profiles. But after college, I had
a hard time finding myself as a writer. An essay writing workshop I took at NYU
in 1992 got me going with creative nonfiction again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I started publishing personal
essays in magazines in the late 90s and early aughts, and knew that was where
my heart was. I published two Modern Love essays, one about reprogramming
myself away from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/fashion/08love.html">The Rules</a> and
another about becoming okay with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/style/modern-love-my-biological-clock-cant-tick-fast-enough.html">not
wanting children</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">My dad wasn’t happy with what I
wrote in the first Modern Love essay, and that began my obsession with trying
to figure out how to ethically write about the other people in your life. In
2010, I started a column on The Rumpus called Conversations With Writers Braver
Than Me, where I <a href="https://therumpus.net/?s=Conversations+with+writers+braver+than+me">interviewed
memoirists</a> about how they handled this. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In 2013, after hearing agents and
editors tell me no for eight years, I published my first of two NYC
anthologies, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Goodbye-All-That-Writers-Leaving/dp/1580054943">Goodbye
to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York</a></i>. The next year I
published its New York Times Bestselling follow up, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Never-Can-Say-Goodbye-Unshakable/dp/147678440X">Never
Can Say Goodbye: Writers On Their Unshakable Love For New York</a>.</i> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Those books
led Mark Armstrong, the founder of Longreads, to reach out to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">You’re an
editor for Longreads, which publishes a wide variety of longform essays and
features both established and emerging writers. You also created and edit “Fine
Lines” for Longreads, focusing on personal essays about aging in our culture.
And you’ve edited and published three literary anthologies. What do like most
about editing? What is your primary goal when editing an essay?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Editing an essay is like solving
a puzzle for me. I just love the form — love to read and write personal essays,
and to help make other writers’ essays sing. I lose myself in editing them
because it is such a passion. One of my primary goals, though, is to maintain
each writer’s intentions and voice. I try to not do anything unnecessary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">How does editing inform
your writing practice, and vice-versa?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I bring my experience as a writer
to editing. One of the things I’ve hated most as a writer is being edited by
people who are flexing their muscles unnecessarily to justify their jobs. With
that in mind, I try to do very spare editing. And I always invite writers to
push back against the suggestions I’ve made.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As a writer, editing has made me
sharper and more considerate of my editors. I remember in the past filing
pieces that were over word count, telling the editor, “I decided to let you
pick what stays and what goes!” I will never do that again!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Does your work as an
editor influence your teaching practice?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Being an editor, editing two to
three longform essays each week, makes me a better teacher because I am so
deeply immersed in what does and doesn’t work in the writing. I share this with
my students.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Your
writing has been featured in multiple major publications, and now you are
working on your memoir. What brought you to the point of wanting to write a
memoir?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I’ve been wanting to write a
memoir for a long time, but have felt conflicted about revealing things about
other people in my life, so I’ve been kind of…hiding? I’m tired of hiding. And
I think I have figured out how to do this with minimal blood spilled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Can you tell us what the
memoir is about? <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It’s about being a late-blooming
Gen X lady who has zig-zagged haphazardly through life while battling a case of
impostor syndrome, borne of trying to be who I thought people (mostly men)
wanted me to be instead of who I actually was. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">What is your writing
process like? What techniques or strategies work for you?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I don’t have as much time for my
own writing as I’d like. That said, sometimes I’ve written the most when I’ve
been the busiest. I try to make it easy for myself to just dive in when a
thought strikes me. To this end, I keep a running Word doc that functions as a
scratch pad. I also like to get in a room with other writers, and set a timer a
few times – for anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes at a clip — and babysit each
other as we race the clock and get a shitty draft down. I also got a lot out of
Jami Attenberg’s <a href="https://1000wordsofsummer.substack.com/">#1000WordsOfSummer</a>.
The first year she did that, in 2018, I rough-drafted a lot of the material for
my “Adventures in Journalism” newsletter.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">You’re an instructor at
Catapult and now teaching for the Bay Path MFA. What made you interested in
teaching for us? <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I was curious about your program,
because I knew my colleague Lisa Romeo teaches there. I had stumbled upon the
Bay Path table at Hippocamp a few years ago. When Leanna James Blackwell
reached out to me, I was thrilled to get the chance to teach here!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">What do you hope to give
your students? <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I hope to empower my students to
hone and follow their instincts; some tips and tools for overcoming the fears
and doubts that keep so many of us blocked; and skills for developing, fleshing
out, and then reigning in their writing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Is there any one thing you
love most about teaching? If so, what is it?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I love watching and helping
writers develop. I also love watching and helping them find their confidence,
because it has taken me so long.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">What inspires your work as
writer/teacher/editor? What interests you most?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When I was coming up, I had a
hard time finding mentors and teachers, and vowed that I would fill that void
for others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Who are some of your
favorite (or formative) authors? What do you love to read?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Some of my favorite creative
nonfiction authors are Leslie Jamison, Kiese Laymon, Lacy Johnson, Jesmyn Ward,
Anne Lamott, Sarah Miller, the late David Rakoff, Joan Didion, Maggie Nelson,
Chris Kraus…too many to name! I love reading essay collections and memoirs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-12713174111071814332019-05-29T12:34:00.001-07:002019-07-02T12:17:24.856-07:00Celebrations and New Beginnings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uEidgloCZn8/XO7eXsIxcOI/AAAAAAAABmQ/2T-Bq-ELdtM1erAi94mFcj9O-16GS1COQCEwYBhgL/s1600/MFA%2Bgrad%2Breading_2019_group%2Bshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uEidgloCZn8/XO7eXsIxcOI/AAAAAAAABmQ/2T-Bq-ELdtM1erAi94mFcj9O-16GS1COQCEwYBhgL/s320/MFA%2Bgrad%2Breading_2019_group%2Bshot.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Writers
to Watch<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I used to believe that good
writers should be able to describe anything and everything in language. There
are words for all experiences: the birth of a child, the loss of a parent, the
feeling of flying in a dream. But I know now that some experiences defy description,
and the mix of my emotions during our recent MFA graduate reading is one of
them. To say I was proud doesn’t come close. I know what it took for these
writers to finish their theses and graduate from the program. I know how hard
they worked on their writing, how many long nights and early mornings it took
to finish the cascade of weekly assignments, how many books and articles and
essays they read, to the point of needing new glasses (or maybe that’s just
me). Most important of all, I know how much of their lives they dared to reveal
in their work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Listening to our graduates read from
their honest and beautiful work, I found myself in the presence of what the
writer Mary Karr calls “the sacred creative” – a moment sanctified by art and
by truth. And that still doesn’t describe it. Fortunately, you don’t have to
wonder; you can experience it for yourself. We video recorded the event, which
you can watch <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KOBKKkENa_nK10tRvRdefk3jOyDytw_A/view?ts=5cf13551">here</a>. You can also browse our photo gallery <a href="https://www.baypath.edu/academics/graduate-programs/creative-nonfiction-mfa">here</a> (scroll to bottom). And please join
me in congratulating the MFA class of 2019: <b>Kate Anderson, Mary-Warren Bartlett, Karen
Bellavance-Grace, Freda Brackley, Christine Brooks, Andy Castillo, L’Tanya
Durante, Sarah Gallagher, Nicole Hamer, Jim Henry, Naomi Kooker, Jon Nichols, Melina
Rudman</b>, and <b>Maria Smith</b>. Hats off to
all!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">New
MFA faculty member</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5FJe4hNdOjg/XO7Z_T-whqI/AAAAAAAABlw/Ujd7_iwrxlkdQUbwa5J6oMn2wlkwZjOUACEwYBhgL/s1600/Jennifer%2BDeLeon_faculty%2Bpic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5FJe4hNdOjg/XO7Z_T-whqI/AAAAAAAABlw/Ujd7_iwrxlkdQUbwa5J6oMn2wlkwZjOUACEwYBhgL/s200/Jennifer%2BDeLeon_faculty%2Bpic.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We are very pleased to announce new
MFA faculty member <b>Jennifer DeLeon</b>, who joined us this May to teach a course
she developed for the program: “Reading and Writing about Identity, Race, and
Culture.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jennifer, the editor of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wise Latinas</i> (University of Nebraska
Press), was named the 2015-2016 Writer-in-Residence by the Associates of the
Boston Public Library and has published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ploughshares,
Ms., Brevity, Poets & Writers, The Southeast Review, Guernica, Best Women’s
Travel Writing</i>, and elsewhere. Her essay, “The White Space,” originally
selected as first place recipient of the Michael Steinberg Essay Prize and
published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fourth Genre</i>, was listed
as notable in<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Best American Essays</i>
2013, edited by Cheryl Strayed. She was also named a 2016-2017
Artist-in-Residence by the City of Boston.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Born in the Boston area to
Guatemalan parents, Jennifer earned a master’s in teaching from the University
of San Francisco’s Center for Teaching Excellence and Social Justice, and an
MFA in fiction from the University of Massachusetts–Boston. In addition to teaching
in the Bay Path MFA, Jennifer teaches English at Framingham State University
and creative writing at GrubStreet Independent Creative Writing Center. She
maintains an active freelance writing, editing, and consulting practice, and
travels the country speaking on issues of diversity, college access, and the
power of story. Jennifer has published author interviews in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Granta </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Agni</i>, and will be interviewed in our next MFA e-newsletter…stay
tuned!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"></span>Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-26938614068315222152019-03-27T08:15:00.005-07:002019-03-27T09:39:40.794-07:00New Season, New Writing<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Happy spring! The March equinox
brings the usual flood of think pieces and articles about the arrival of spring,
our biological clocks, and the curious relationship between weather and
writing. One theory posits that writers should refrain from celebrating spring.
Frigid, dark weather is good for us, maybe even necessary. Without it, we find
ourselves lazing in the sunshine when we should be writing, our books and laptops
and notebooks gathering dust on our desks. Would Karl Ove Knausgaard’s six-volume
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My Struggle</i> have been written if he
lived in Palm Springs? There would be no literature without seasonal misery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This
theory falls apart when you look at literature consistently produced in Los
Angeles and Miami, in Mumbai and Mexico City and Nairobi—and in our creative
nonfiction MFA this spring. It might be warmer outside, the sun beguiling, but
our students, grads, and faculty are hard at work on their writing, creating compelling
new essays and book reviews that are being published in magazines, newspapers, and
journals like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yankee</i> (“<a href="https://newengland.com/yankee-magazine/living/new-england-environment/big-night-frogs-salamanders/">Big
Night</a>” by Loree Burns ’20); <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Brevity</i>
(<a href="https://brevitymag.com/current-issue/main-street-revisited/?fbclid=IwAR0TylbR_xAL1TaqKt1bFbwHyOkIMjpq8-EGLKvf0wZYJT7KbRimO5SHfBk">Main
Street Revisited</a> by Amy Stonestrom ’18); <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cleaver</i> (“<a href="https://www.cleavermagazine.com/adios-to-my-parents-a-novel-by-hector-aguilar-camin-reviewed-by-kim-livingston/?fbclid=IwAR02mJx0ac4f6HQLe3vfLaDFg00NYbWWbOK-0yDQ0MPyffyW2rzM01tU7fU">Adios
to My Parents</a>” by Kim Livingston ’20); <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Forge</i> (“<a href="https://forgelitmag.com/2019/02/25/how-to-stay-silent-in-twelve-steps/?fbclid=IwAR275xDWX0esdmfyPoOPVmzUel1oLjAzLmWyCtADzxAMYak8G3OfPOHPeSY">How
to Stay Silent in Twelve Steps</a>” by Heidi Fettig Parton ’17); and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Daily Hampshire Gazette</i> (“<a href="https://www.gazettenet.com/NENPA-23600024?fbclid=IwAR0TUfrhBMDkhvdK_FyLDd8skJQMhibvXpQHU_q_mCmwxNbB-YU6ZptAFEg">Overworked
and Underpaid</a>” by Andy Castillo ’19, who placed first in health reporting
in the Better New England Newspaper Competition). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Kate
Anderson ’19 picked up a first place award from <a href="https://www.supportindieauthors.org/short-story-contest?fbclid=IwAR2coS5KIcfpLHQ3N-R02Qe2RppqHIeifcxIZ-gU7To_fNin7odTIBTuOBE">Mythic
March</a> short story contest; Kim MacQueen ’18 was noted as a writer to watch
in <a href="https://blog.usejournal.com/mighty-mighty-women-writers-you-should-be-reading-447a9f3439af?fbclid=IwAR3KyZyCZUVuzDoZbcEIhaVtHTGkNaW55XJ2qypHPNbZMDATg_6zox8_51k">Noteworth</a>y;
and L’Tanya Durante ’20 has joined the editorial team of <a href="http://lindenavelit.com/about/">Linden Avenue Literary Journal</a>. MFA
faculty member Sophfronia Scott recently appeared at Harvard Book Store in
celebration of a new anthology, <i><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/On-Being-40(ish)/Lindsey-Mead/9781501172120">On
Being 40(ish<span style="font-style: normal;">)</span></a></i>, in which her
essay, “I Don’t Have Time for This,” is featured; and Lisa Romeo, MFA faculty
and thesis director, recently published an excellent craft essay, “<a href="https://www.opencenter.org/yes-you-can-write-memoir-even-if-your-memory-isnt-so-great/?fbclid=IwAR0KAJM8TrrDw_hhnIurWbatD0bbJXbbyi3kdV402t4h-7Ub9cEMrzIpRsM">Yes,
You Can Write Memoir”</a> in <i>Open Center</i>.
Need any more convincing that spring is good for writers? Read graduate Anne
Pinkerton’s celebration of early signs of spring, “All Flowers Keep the Light,”
at her blog <a href="https://truescrawl.com/2018/05/02/all-flowers-keep-the-light/">TrueScrawl.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And
in the spirit of celebration, please join us for our MFA graduate reading on
Friday, May 17, at 3:00 p.m. in the Hatch Learning Center on our Longmeadow campus.
The event is open to all, and includes a post-reading reception. We also hope
you’ll join us for these upcoming events:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Sunday, April 14: Bay Path’s 18<sup>th</sup> <a href="https://www.baypath.edu/events-calendar/community-events/writers-day/">Writers’
Day</a>, featuring C. Flanagan Flynn, Shanaz Habib, and Jane Yolen <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Thursday, June 6: A reading and book signing at
the Booklink bookstore in downtown Northampton with MFA faculty Karol Jackowski
and former MFA instructor and Writers’ Day presenter T. Susan Chang <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">August 3 – 10: <a href="https://www.baypath.edu/academics/graduate-programs/creative-nonfiction-mfa/seminar-in-ireland/">Creative
Writing Field Seminar in Dingle, Ireland</a>, featuring Andre Dubus III, Mia
Gallagher, Ann Hood, Elizabeth Peavy, Suzanne Strempek Shea and Tommy Shea, and
yours truly. The seminar is open to all writers. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Finally,
there are spring releases to look forward to. On my list are <i><a href="https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781488095450_the-honey-bus-a-memoir-of-loss-courage-and-a-girl-saved-by-bees.html">The
Honey Bus: a Memoir of Loss, Courage, and a Girl Saved by Bees</a></i>, by San
Francisco <i>Chronicle</i> journalist Meredith
May; and <i><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/562880/women-talking-by-miriam-toews/9780735273962">Women
Talking</a></i> by Canadian writer Miriam Toews. What’s on your list? </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-83578506573564705932018-12-19T06:51:00.003-08:002018-12-19T10:01:25.576-08:00Holiday Wrap-up<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MqTB8t2UP6A/XBpav15ClZI/AAAAAAAABdY/gHJQayKz_OsTa58MJWT6YEADsVxJSR6fACLcBGAs/s1600/Cozy%2Bfire%2Band%2Bbooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="612" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MqTB8t2UP6A/XBpav15ClZI/AAAAAAAABdY/gHJQayKz_OsTa58MJWT6YEADsVxJSR6fACLcBGAs/s320/Cozy%2Bfire%2Band%2Bbooks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The fall semester is coming to a
close, the holidays are here, and 2018 will be a memory in less than two weeks.
MFA students have turned in their final essays, thesis chapters, and papers; faculty
have turned in their grades. For all these reasons, it’s time to celebrate, but
for writers, “celebrate” doesn’t necessarily mean hitting the party circuit or
dancing on rooftops (although dancing in the living room to Al Green is a favorite
pastime of mine—try it sometime). After sleeping for about three days straight,
the first thing that comes to mind for many of us is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">reading new books</i>. In front of a fire with a mug of spiced tea,
stretched out on the sofa, propped up in bed—this is the holiday dream of many
a writer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">With that vision dancing before us, we asked our faculty to tell us
which new books top their list of “can’t wait to read”—read on to find out, and
while you’re at it, think about your list. What books are you excited to read?
Write and tell us! (And if all you can imagine reading after so much hard work
this year is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Goodnight, Moon</i>, that’s
fine, too. It might help you sleep.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We also asked our MFA grads and
students to forget modesty for once and share a boast: publications, new jobs,
conferences and presentations. The list is long and impressive, and includes a
Pushcart nomination and a tenure-track college teaching job (see below for the
full list). Which brings us to the next point, about taking stock. Instead of
the typical new year’s resolutions, we recommend an end-of-year congratulations.
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To yourself.</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Life often hurtles by with little chance to
stop and reflect about all the ways you’ve created something good in your life,
and in the lives of others. All the ways you’ve moved a little closer to your
dream. All the ways you’ve gotten smarter, wiser, more compassionate, more
confident. Before you find yourself waking up in 2019, take five minutes to
remember what you’ve done this year, and to give thanks to the person who made
it possible. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We’re excited about what’s ahead
next year: a new MFA cohort starting in January (welcome, new students!); a
fantastic lineup for our spring Writers’ Day; and a knockout faculty roster for
our annual summer seminar in Ireland, which is already filling up. And, above
all, more time to spend writing, reading, and talking about books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Happy New Year, all. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><b><i>Faculty Book Recommendations</i></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bc9cX8lnBZ8/XBp5wDiw6WI/AAAAAAAABdw/RN-nb28YN0sMZHI1lUtbmEPft7qTOOMJACLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BLibrary%2BBook%2Bby%2BSUsan%2BOrlean.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="271" data-original-width="186" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bc9cX8lnBZ8/XBp5wDiw6WI/AAAAAAAABdw/RN-nb28YN0sMZHI1lUtbmEPft7qTOOMJACLcBGAs/s200/The%2BLibrary%2BBook%2Bby%2BSUsan%2BOrlean.jpg" width="136" /></a></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Mel Allen</span></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <em>The Library
Book</em> by Susan Orlean and <em>The Good Good Pig</em> by Sy Montgomery<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Adam Braver</span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <i>The Friend</i> by Sigrid Nuñez (winner of the 2018 National Book Award)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Leanna James Blackwell</span></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <em>Milkman</em> by
Anna Burns (winner of the 2018 Man Booker Prize) and <em>The Library Book</em> by Susan
Orlean<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shahnaz Habib</span></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <em>The Wife's
Tale</em> by Aida Edemaria</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>Karol Jackowski</b>: <i>Becoming</i> by Michelle Obama and <i>In Pieces</i> by Sally Field</span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Anna Mantzaris</span></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">: <em>Kitchen
Yarns</em> by Ann Hood</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Lisa Romeo</span></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">: <em>The Strange
Case of Dr. Couney</em> by Dawn Raffel</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Sophfronia Scott</span></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <em>Crazy Brave</em> by
Joy Harjo<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0o-QbU97c58/XBp7WE2eGlI/AAAAAAAABeE/x5qHhl3dn4guXkY9Dp5777w_TOLDREbOgCLcBGAs/s1600/Crazy%2BBrave%2Bby%2BJoy%2BHarjo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="230" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0o-QbU97c58/XBp7WE2eGlI/AAAAAAAABeE/x5qHhl3dn4guXkY9Dp5777w_TOLDREbOgCLcBGAs/s200/Crazy%2BBrave%2Bby%2BJoy%2BHarjo.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Suzanne Strempek
Shea</span></strong><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <em>Gone So Long: A Novel</em> by
Andre Dubus III, <em>Kitchen Yarns</em> by
Ann Hood<em>, </em><em><span style="font-style: normal;">and
</span></em><em>Becoming</em> by
Michelle Obama </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tommy Shea</span></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: <em>In Extremis
– The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin</em><strong> </strong>by Lindsey Hilsum
and <em>The Art Spirit</em> by
Robert Henri<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">
<strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kate Whouley</span></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">: <em>Summer</em> by Karl Ove Knausgaard</span></span><br />
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<b style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></u></b>
<b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><i>MFA student and alum news</i></span></b><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">New jobs</span></i></b></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Andy Castillo</span></b><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> was hired as a full-time features writer at
the Daily Hampshire Gazette. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Jon Nichols</span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">
was hired </span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">as a
tenure-track professor of English at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar
Grove, IL, where he was introduced to a longtime faculty member, Kim Livingston,
who happens to be a fellow student in the Bay Path MFA (but whom Jon had never
met).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Anne Pinkerton</span></b><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> ’16 was hired as digital strategy director and
editor at Hampshire College. She beat out the other candidates not only on the strength
of her résumé, but on the quality of writing in her literary blog, <a href="https://truescrawl.com/">True Scrawl</a>, which began in Kate Whouley’s
publishing course. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Publications<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Karen Bellavance Grace </span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">has
been nominated for a 2018 Pushcart Prize for a personal essay she published in <i><a href="https://forgelitmag.com/2018/10/29/if/">Forge Literary Magazine</a></i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Christine Brooks</span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> published
and/or has forthcoming a total of 12 new essays and poems in a variety of
literary magazines and websites including <i><a href="https://cabinetofheed.com/2018/05/27/the-writer-christine-a-brooks/">The
Cabinet of Heed</a></i> (where Irish writer and Ireland seminar instructor Nuala
O’Connor recently published as well); <i><a href="https://riggwelterpress.wordpress.com/2018/12/01/issue-sixteen/">Riggwelter
Press</a></i>; <i><a href="https://parhelionliterary.com/christine-brooks/">Parhelion Magazine</a>,</i>
<i><a href="https://amethystmagazine.org/2018/10/05/the-monarch-a-poem-by-christine-a-brooks/">Amethyst
Review</a></i>; and <i><a href="https://storgy.com/2018/10/04/fiction-a-life-like-everybody-elses-by-christine-a-brooks/">StorgyMagazine</a>.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Sondra Kline</span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> published two new essays this year in the literary magazine <i><a href="http://www.sixhens.com/issues/12/the_cherry_red_motorcycle.php">Six Hens</a>
</i>and in <i><a href="https://brevitymag.com/current-issue/blood-and-whiskey/">Brevity: A
Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction</a></i>, the publication founded and
edited by creative nonfiction “guru” and Ireland seminar instructor Dinty W.
Moore. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Kim
Livingston</span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> published a
profile in <i><a href="http://www.carbonculturereview.com/creative-nonfiction/a-freezer-of-ones-own/">Carbon
Culture: The Intersection of Technology + Literature +Art<span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">.</span></a></i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Suellen Meyers </span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">published two new essays this year in <i><a href="https://www.themanifeststation.net/2018/02/18/have-a-rib/">The
Manifest-Station</a></i> and in <i><a href="http://rkvryquarterly.com/still-born-finding-madeline-by-suellen-meyers/">rkvry
Quarterly Literary Journal</a></i> in October.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Kara Noble </span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">’18<b> </b>was asked to join the editorial committee of <i>The Icelandic
Horse Quarterly</i> and to write profiles for each issue (most recently a
five-page spread about the nationwide breed evaluation program for Icelandic
horses in the U.S.). She has also become a regular profile writer for <i><a href="https://www.mahorse.com/">Massachusetts
Horse Magazine</a> </i>and a columnist for <i>Southwoods Magazine, </i>in addition to freelancing for<i> </i>the
Springfield <i><a href="https://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2018/11/bob_dylan_returning_to_springf.html">Republican</a></i> and <i><a href="https://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2018/11/bob_dylan_concert_reflects_met.html">MassLive</a>,
</i>where she wrote about Bob Dylan. (She
thanks former MFA faculty member Mieke Bomman for her profile writing chops!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Meredith O’Brien ‘17</span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">, following the publication of her
book, <i><a href="https://mereditheobrien.com/my-books/">Mr. Clark’s Big Band</a></i>,
has published in and is a contributing writer for <i><a href="https://themighty.com/2018/05/multiple-sclerosis-summertime-heat/">The
Mighty</a></i> and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s MS Connection
website, where she writes about health topics. She is also a book reviewer for <i><a href="https://www.forewordreviews.com/">Forward Reviews</a></i> and lecturer in
journalism at Northeastern University. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Heidi Parton</span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> ’17 published a craft essay in <a href="https://brevity.wordpress.com/2018/02/12/of-fonts-and-fate-and-marcels-letters/">Brevity
Blog</a> and a personal essay in <i><a href="https://therumpus.net/">The Rumpus</a></i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Amy Stonestrom </span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">published a personal<b> </b>essay in <i><a href="https://superstitionreview.asu.edu/issue22/nonfiction/amystonestrom">Superstition
Review</a></i>, a flash nonfiction piece in <i><a href="https://issuu.com/montanamouthful/docs/mmv1iss3i">Montana Mouthful</a></i>,
and another essay in <i>Jenny Magazine</i>
for its <a href="http://www.jennymag.org/fall-18-issue/persephone-and-demeter">Rock
‘n Roll Rebellion issue</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Conferences
and Residencies<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Anne Pinkerton </span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">’16<b> </b>recently
attended HippoCamp 2018, the conference hosted by <i><a href="https://www.hippocampusmagazine.com/">Hippocampus</a></i>
magazine, with MFA Director Leanna James Blackwell and former classmates and “forever
friends” Heidi Parton ’17 and Kim MacQueen ’18, where they enjoyed MFA faculty
member Lisa Romeo’s presentation on turning essays into a book. In addition, Anne
was recently awarded a January 2019 writing residency by <a href="http://www.strawdogwriters.org/">Straw Dog Writers Guild</a>, where she
will wrap up the finishing touches on her memoir manuscript, <i>Were You Close</i>?</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-75347472649404907532018-09-28T08:51:00.000-07:002018-09-28T08:51:11.128-07:00Seminar in Ireland 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VrRV2ch_yfo/W65NNZpLTiI/AAAAAAAABX4/iamNBaSgrkknn1wg6rALzaewPgfqH1OWgCLcBGAs/s1600/Dingle_2018_sky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VrRV2ch_yfo/W65NNZpLTiI/AAAAAAAABX4/iamNBaSgrkknn1wg6rALzaewPgfqH1OWgCLcBGAs/s320/Dingle_2018_sky.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Morning writing workshops. Literary
discussions over lunch. Afternoon writing time followed by tea and a talk.
Readings before breaking for dinner. Set that daily schedule against the
stunning seaside backdrop of Ireland’s acclaimed Dingle Peninsula. Populate it
with a gifted group of <a href="https://www.baypath.edu/academics/graduate-programs/creative-nonfiction-mfa/">Bay
Path MFA</a> students plus writers from the larger community, and a faculty
including bestselling writers and poets from both the U.S. and Ireland. Stand
back and revel in the resulting magic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p4JBNI7k3Jk/W65NY5t6bnI/AAAAAAAABX8/T5C6A2yMPF0eiDKWd-nqZ27NNOm3fBLMACLcBGAs/s1600/Dingle_2018_Dinty%252C%2BRenita%252C%2BKris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p4JBNI7k3Jk/W65NY5t6bnI/AAAAAAAABX8/T5C6A2yMPF0eiDKWd-nqZ27NNOm3fBLMACLcBGAs/s320/Dingle_2018_Dinty%252C%2BRenita%252C%2BKris.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In a nutshell, that’s the annual <a href="https://www.baypath.edu/academics/graduate-programs/creative-nonfiction-mfa/seminar-in-ireland/">Summer
Writing Seminar in Ireland</a> offered through Bay Path University’s MFA in Creative
Nonfiction. This year’s week, which ran July 28 to Aug. 4, was no exception.
Hailing from throughout the USA, our 21 participants studied with American
writers <a href="https://www.annhood.us/the-books">Ann Hood</a>, <a href="http://dintywmoore.com/">Dinty W. Moore</a>, <a href="https://www.baypath.edu/academics/faculty-directory/biography/suzanne-strempek-shea/">Suzanne
Strempek Shea</a>, and <a href="https://www.baypath.edu/academics/faculty-directory/biography/tom-shea/">Tommy
Shea</a>, and Irish writers and poets <a href="http://www.courant.com/entertainment/arts-theater/hc-ctpoets-for-march-20170318-story.html">Annie
and Ted Deppe</a>, <a href="https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/my-cultural-life-mia-gallagher-36713224.html">Mia
Gallagher</a>, and <a href="http://nualanichonchuir.com/">Nuala O’Connor</a>,
along with guest speaker and musician Tommy Joe Lynch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B12vgOyq67U/W65NhS4GqCI/AAAAAAAABYE/ezBT7DDxI2cWq27-1uTdIGCvqG0ye3z6wCLcBGAs/s1600/Dingle_2018_art%2Bgallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B12vgOyq67U/W65NhS4GqCI/AAAAAAAABYE/ezBT7DDxI2cWq27-1uTdIGCvqG0ye3z6wCLcBGAs/s320/Dingle_2018_art%2Bgallery.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Days prior to the launch of her critically
lauded latest novel, <i><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549986/becoming-belle-by-nuala-oconnor/9780735214408/">Becoming
Belle</a></i>, Nuala O’Connor traveled to County Kerry from Galway,
returning to teach for the second time and offering a keynote titled “The
Drowsy Swallow,” which focused on writing short fiction and nonfiction -
fitting for a week in which many tried their hands (and pens) at flash. Ann
Hood dissected the objective correlative, Ted Deppe reminded us that trouble is
an element necessary in any successful story, Dinty Moore was serious about
offering the keys to humor writing. Mia Gallagher sent us forth with wisdom on
sitting through the pain in writing. And Suzanne Strempek Shea and Tommy Shea
recreated their desk at home and talked about lessons learned from one another
over three decades of sharing the same workspace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
week has changed my life as a writer,” said 2018 grad Pamela Estes. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"My students were
some of the most open, bravest, loveliest people I’ve taught,” noted faculty
member Ann Hood. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And MFA student Naomi
Kooker had this final observation: "It’s hard to focus on one talk,
one reading when the week was rich with wisdom.”</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xs5Yj4qvS-k/W65NoOVI0fI/AAAAAAAABYI/Lcedi323oAkXKctYzJn0RxG8FHE0GBasQCLcBGAs/s1600/Dingle_2018_upper%2Bview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xs5Yj4qvS-k/W65NoOVI0fI/AAAAAAAABYI/Lcedi323oAkXKctYzJn0RxG8FHE0GBasQCLcBGAs/s320/Dingle_2018_upper%2Bview.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A reading by all participants in our
top-floor classroom at An Diseart Centre for Spirituality and Culture closed
another memorable week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We thank all who helped deliver those innumerable returns. And
we look forward to meeting up again in Dingle next summer. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Please join us for our fifth annual <a href="https://www.baypath.edu/academics/graduate-programs/creative-nonfiction-mfa/seminar-in-ireland/">Summer
Writing Seminar in Ireland</a>. Watch this space for specific dates, which will
fall somewhere between July 2017 and August 11, 2019. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-73138435313396312802018-06-07T08:05:00.000-07:002018-06-07T08:08:31.173-07:00Interview with the incomparable Tommy Shea<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QPBH5HZyxsk/WxlKTrdOOGI/AAAAAAAABTk/McqBTHtuiPUR6gu3v3jCTDnpHBrj_OG2gCLcBGAs/s1600/TOMMY%2BSHEA%2Bphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QPBH5HZyxsk/WxlKTrdOOGI/AAAAAAAABTk/McqBTHtuiPUR6gu3v3jCTDnpHBrj_OG2gCLcBGAs/s320/TOMMY%2BSHEA%2Bphoto.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Listen in on this
delightful conversation between Tommy Shea and Sandy Chmiel, in which Tommy,
who will be teaching the Creative Nonfiction Writing I course in the MFA,
shares his history as a writer, his memorable moments chasing stories, and his
ear for the extraordinary in the ordinary. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Can you tell us a little about your path to becoming a
writer?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
was outside a church when I decided to be become a writer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wait, that isn’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">quite</i> accurate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was outside church in Springfield,
MA selling newspapers. When I wasn’t selling them I was reading the sports
sections. We sold newspapers from New York City to Boston, so many city and
town names that if I read them aloud you’d swear I was reciting an Amtrak
route.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I had grown up wanting to be the first
American Pope – I had a name picked out and everything, Pope Patrick I – or
replace Mickey Mantle as the centerfielder of the New York Yankees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At 13, those plans were dashed against
the rocks of reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I liked girls and I wasn’t as good as
I wanted to be at baseball.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At a loss for what I was going to do
for the rest of my life, it dawned on me – between the 9:15 and the 10:30 mass
– I could become a sportswriter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The emphasis was on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sports</i> not so much writing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That would come later – when I discovered
the work of Pete Hamill. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wrote for the New York Post, a very
different newspaper back then. It had a female publisher and actually told the
truth about Senator Joe McCarthy, when few media outlets did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Pete Hamill wrote a daily general
interest column and he really mixed things up: writing about political
chicanery, of course; boys returning from Vietnam not quite the same as they
left; a poor neighborhood in its struggle to save the local firehouse; his
father; what it was like to grow up poor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The following week it was different
topics, but the same heart and soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There was something about his
sentences that made me want to write like him – or at least try.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m still trying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">How do you get people to trust
you with their stories?</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve never found it hard to have people trust
me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have to think why that is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My mother always thought I’d be a
priest because she thought I’d hear a good confession – and never repeat it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hmm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Maybe because I never thought I was
the story. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I want to think I’m a good, attentive
listener.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’m curious, I know that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I do believe people respond if you are
truly interested.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In my nearly 39 years as a newspaper
reporter, I was in loads of situations where it could be – I don’t know if
combative is the right word, but I’ve had my share of testy exchanges, scenes
spilling with tension – but people still talked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Even if all they said was “no
comment.’’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That could say a lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At the risk of repeating myself, I
think most people just want to be heard. If you care about them – with
thoughtful questions and real listening – I think they will trust you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That has been my experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%; margin-bottom: 8.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">You’ve written about everything from baseball to music to
the Catholic Church abuse scandal. Is there a story that touched your heart
more than any others?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
have been lucky– and I know it – to get to have covered the variety of stories
I’ve covered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Newspapering allowed me this life. I
wouldn’t have met my wife Suzanne if I weren’t a reporter. (We met when I was
covering high school hockey…)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But of all the stories, I guess the
one that sticks out was one that involved the ongoing coverage of the murder of
12-year-old altar boy Danny Croteau.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The only suspect in the murder was a
Catholic priest. He was arrested 20 years after the murder for molesting two
brothers named John and Paul (after the then Pope.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I started covering the story in the
fall of 1991. So this might have been sometime in 1992, there was a new fact in
the story – maybe another charge against Richard Lavigne - and I didn’t get the
phone call confirming whatever it was until late. It could have been closing in
on 10 p.m. Deadline was 11.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I needed a reaction from the Croteau
family. Called the house, no answer. Called one of their sons. He didn’t want
to comment and I asked a question out of desperation: “Do you know where your
parents are?’’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He said they were at BINGO.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>St. Catherine of Siena is an
inconvenient ride from downtown Springfield, not far as the crow flies, but too
much stop-and-go with all the lights if you are in a hurry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I got to the parish hall it was packed.
I started looking for Mr. and Mrs. Croteau. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was pointed in every direction:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He’s over there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She’s over here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The clock was ticking. It had to be at
least 10:30. People were leaving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Finally, someone said look in the
church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The lights were so dim it was almost
dark, but the sacristy was lit, and in the shadow of Jesus on the cross there
was Carl Croteau, Danny’s father – kneeling at the altar, head bowed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No one knew he was there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It certainly wasn’t a show for me.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Whatever I asked, he answered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I rushed back to the paper, not quite
blowing red lights, more like easing through them, pressing the gas harder than
I usually do when the coast is clear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The story, I don’t remember the story
or any of the details, just that I made the deadline. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But I’ll never forget standing in the
back in the twilight of that church, wondering what the deniers, liars and
character assassins, priests, lawyers, spokespeople, the faithful flock, would
think if they saw this: the father of a dead altar boy, humbled before his God,
praying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It wasn’t for faith. Carl Croteau
still had that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Remarkably.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was a witness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s what all writers are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">You have been a part of the
MFA’s Summer Seminar in Ireland since it began. What makes the Dingle
experience so memorable?</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">DINGLE. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It
is a place where confidence is built.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And inspiration comes from people whose
last names you might not even know (yet.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Work gets done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And you take it home with you. Where
more work is done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The town is very pretty. The food is
great – even at gas stations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people are friendly and helpful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I think it is a place well worth the
jet lag.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%; margin-bottom: 8.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This fall you’ll be teaching Creative Nonfiction I in the
MFA program. What about this class are you most looking forward to?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
easiest question!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I can’t wait to read the work and talk
about it until we are all hoarse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I know I can offer a tip or two. And
present many examples of great creative nonfiction that we will dissect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Powerful topics know no boundaries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%; margin-bottom: 8.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">You are a big music enthusiast. What are you currently
listening to?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">AH,
Sandy, thanks for asking about music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What I’ve been listening to:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sam
Baker: Mercy. He’s like this cross between folk singers John Prine and Townes
Van Zandt. His voice isn’t probably for everybody – I love it, but I came to
music through the Bob Dylan door. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sam,
who has some back-story, writes with the spareness of an Edward Hopper painting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Terry Gross of NPR’s Fresh Air did an
interview with Sam a few years ago. Listen in…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><a href="file://baypath.edu/Home/Faculty/ljblackwell/Downloads/%20https:/www.npr.org/2018/01/26/580781202/sam-baker-finding-grace-in-the-wake-of-destruction"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>https://www.npr.org/2018/01/26/580781202/sam-baker-finding-grace-in-the-wake-of-destruction</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-50791460629051258852018-06-07T07:20:00.001-07:002018-06-07T07:40:28.214-07:00Congratulations, 2018 MFA graduates!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2xn61ERZ_3E/WxlC2xOLFcI/AAAAAAAABS8/DEjxlhP_d2AtwFvqqUJn8IT4gyoc6LkBACLcBGAs/s1600/MFA%2Bgrad%2Breading%2B2018%2Bfaculty%2Bstudents%2Bposed%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2xn61ERZ_3E/WxlC2xOLFcI/AAAAAAAABS8/DEjxlhP_d2AtwFvqqUJn8IT4gyoc6LkBACLcBGAs/s320/MFA%2Bgrad%2Breading%2B2018%2Bfaculty%2Bstudents%2Bposed%2B2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Summertime, and the living is easy—especially
if you just finished a graduate program after completing 13 writing courses and
a 100-page thesis. I’m hoping the members of our 2018 MFA graduating class are
taking a deep breath before going on to the next great thing: finishing their
books, publishing essays, teaching creative writing, editing for magazines,
founding a literary center…the possibilities are as varied as they are. In the
meantime, I’m still savoring the experience of hearing our writers read from
their finished work at the MFA graduate reading and celebration, held in Hatch
Library on May 11. The topics ranged from clandestine horse riding to adventure
mountain climbing, from working as a harried school photographer to working in
a hair-raising chimp research facility, from decorating a wildly inappropriate
cake in a Catholic school contest to running a 26-mile marathon in the wake of
a tragedy…and more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XwchBKdkno0/WxlDH877nXI/AAAAAAAABTE/mL_EmXd25AEsjkFuTMfi_ABrcK_-bF1hQCLcBGAs/s1600/MFA%2Bgrad%2Breading%2B2018%2BAmy%2Bvideo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XwchBKdkno0/WxlDH877nXI/AAAAAAAABTE/mL_EmXd25AEsjkFuTMfi_ABrcK_-bF1hQCLcBGAs/s320/MFA%2Bgrad%2Breading%2B2018%2BAmy%2Bvideo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">All proving that one can write
about anything under the sun and moon and make it interesting—if the writing is
good. It was more than good. It was exhilarating, powerful, moving. And in the end, it silenced the room, as graduating student Amy
Consolati read from her most recent work about battling cancer via a video she
had recorded from her hospital bed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Amy’s fierce, unexpectedly funny,
and truthful reading that day reminded each of us in the room why we do what we
do. Why we write. Why we teach. Why we tell stories. Writing helps us not only
describe the world but grapple with it. It helps us navigate the shocks and
upheavals of daily life. It helps us connect to one another when so much of contemporary society contrives to keep us isolated and alone, in our cars, in cubicles, in front of our screens. As long as we
have literature, we are never alone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eI2i2BOMGGg/WxlDlyFoiSI/AAAAAAAABTM/rvnfMWChLdQBg_NvYMgrSsFSh5hbFt2NgCLcBGAs/s1600/MFA%2Bgrad%2Breading%2B2018%2BKara%2BAndres%2BPam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eI2i2BOMGGg/WxlDlyFoiSI/AAAAAAAABTM/rvnfMWChLdQBg_NvYMgrSsFSh5hbFt2NgCLcBGAs/s320/MFA%2Bgrad%2Breading%2B2018%2BKara%2BAndres%2BPam.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Thank you, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Amy Consolati, Pam Estes, Carolyn Free, Andrés Moral, Kim MacQueen,
Kara Noble, </b>and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Andrea Prettyman</b>,
for showing us why writing matters—and pointing the way to the writers who will
come after you. And deep thanks to the extraordinary MFA faculty who traveled
many miles to give each student a personal introduction: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mel Allen, Adam Braver, Lisa Romeo, Suzanne Strempek Shea, Tommy Shea</b>,
and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Kate Whouley</b>. See the photo
gallery for pictures of the reading and the celebration: we toasted, passed
around slices of lemon cake, and shared more stories before heading over to the
graduate Strawberries and Champagne celebration. A fitting end to a day of joy.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-63369520517834161362018-04-04T07:27:00.001-07:002018-04-04T07:44:38.516-07:00Interview with travel writer Anna Mantzaris, newest MFA faculty member<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZaY_ZTumig/WsTfPWPCBuI/AAAAAAAABOc/0RBsAtgdhk4P6ZavVIA_JtTNt6ciS6W4ACEwYBhgL/s1600/Anna%2BMantzaris_pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="825" height="179" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZaY_ZTumig/WsTfPWPCBuI/AAAAAAAABOc/0RBsAtgdhk4P6ZavVIA_JtTNt6ciS6W4ACEwYBhgL/s320/Anna%2BMantzaris_pic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">We are delighted to welcome </span><a href="https://www.baypath.edu/academics/faculty-directory/biography/anna-mantzaris/" style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Anna
Mantzaris</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> to our MFA community as a </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">faculty member teaching travel writing.
In this intimate interview Anna, a California-based travel writer, talks about
the genesis of her writing career, why travel is good for writers, and what she
learned staying with a community of monks at a shukobo (temple) in Koyasan in
the mountains of Japan. </span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Can
you tell us a little about your path to becoming a writer and how you got
started in travel writing?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Probably, like many writers, I
don’t know exactly when it started. I have boxes of writing dating back to
elementary school (I haven’t been able to throw them away). I wrote a lot of
weird, awful poems, short stories, letters, cartoons, plays, lists—everything
as a kid. In college and graduate school, I studied and wrote primarily short
stories. After graduating, I worked in book, newspaper, and magazine publishing
and wrote and edited nonfiction. I think my first travel writing assignment
came from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Time Out</i>. I went to Book
Expo America in Los Angeles to network and walked away with a couple of
assignments. I started contributing to guidebooks and writing articles, and
then wrote some travel books and got into a lot of food and travel writing at
that point. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">How
can travel be beneficial to writers of any genre?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I love this question. When I was
an MFA student, one of my professors talked about how she had her husband drive
her up and down Highway 1 in California when she felt blocked. That was a way
she could start writing again. I’ve never been able to write in a car but
changing my location and moving around has always inspired me. I often make
lists of observations when I am on the road. When I was in Cuba the sounds were
so incredible. I stood outside where we were staying for about an hour and
wrote down everything I heard (music, dogs barking, cars starting up) and found
myself with pages of notes to put to use. I think being out of your normal routine
and comfort zone can jump-start new ideas. Taking away set parameters has
always helped me feel creative. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For revision and edits, I do like
being at home and on a schedule but when I am starting something new or feeling
stuck, I like to be in an unfamiliar place. I also like to write in notebooks
as opposed to on my computer when I travel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then I type everything up at night and do more writing from there. This
semester we’ve talked a lot about how travel affects our writing and how taking
away the safety net of home and routine can bring us to new places on the page.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Where
have you traveled, and is there a place in particular that you found especially
inspiring?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I feel very fortunate to have
traveled around much of the United States. There isn’t a road trip I won’t
take. Some of my favorite journeys have been closest to my home in San
Francisco—towns like Petaluma, Bodega Bay, and Bolinas. I lived in Europe and
spent time traveling the continent, including my family’s home country of
Greece. Some of my favorite cities are Budapest, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Havana
but I will go anywhere—small towns, suburbs, big cities.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cAa2aBlIhVQ/WsTgqnmE9wI/AAAAAAAABOs/2f2QJbsS4G00ymqnffQjsFwrFUhHqZ0rwCEwYBhgL/s1600/Koyosan%2BTemple_pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cAa2aBlIhVQ/WsTgqnmE9wI/AAAAAAAABOs/2f2QJbsS4G00ymqnffQjsFwrFUhHqZ0rwCEwYBhgL/s200/Koyosan%2BTemple_pic.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">One of my favorite trips was a solo journey I took to
Koyasan in the mountains of Japan years ago. I took a tram to the top and stayed
at a shukobo with Buddhist monks. The area is the home to Shingon school of
Buddhism and home to dozens and dozens of temples that open their doors to
overnight visitors. I think I stayed for about a week but it felt like a
lifetime—in a good way. I roamed the Okunoin Cemetery and was humbled attending
services with the monks. Because I was alone, they brought my meals—homemade
tofu and beautifully prepared vegetables—to my room. It was truly magical to be
in such a sacred place and feel so welcomed. It’s a trip I think about often.</span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What,
in addition to writing and traveling, are your passions?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I am totally obsessed with our
dog, a sweet little smooth fox terrier named Stella. Taking her to the park and
on walks is a great way to break up my day working from home. She’s like a
little clown and I can never get enough time with her. I also do a lot of
writing with her on my lap.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Is
there anything else you would like to share with us?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I’m really excited to be a part
of the Bay Path community. I have family in East Longmeadow and have always
been familiar with the university and area. The students are incredible—hard
working, kind, and inspiring. It’s great to see the amount of time and effort
and they put into critiquing one another’s writing and the support they offer.
There’s some really terrific writing happening. I am so thankful for the
welcome and support I’ve received from the MFA program and everyone on staff at
Bay Path. Since writing is so solitary it feels good to be part of such a
thriving and creative community where so many good things are happening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-2698783930413458642018-03-29T11:07:00.001-07:002018-03-29T11:24:41.392-07:00Publishing a personal essay<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">One of the pleasures of having one’s creative
nonfiction work published is the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">sense of direct communication with a reader. A
personal essay, in particular, allows for an intimacy between writer and
reader, a bond between two individuals unknown to each other but connected by
the magnetic force not just of language, but of secrets shared. The writer is,
in essence, saying “I have something personal to tell you.” There is an implied
trust on the part of the writer and a willingness on the part of the reader to
be a witness to an unrepeatable moment in time, to another’s private sorrow or
joy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">I was reminded of this when my
most recent essay, “Hooked Up,” was published recently. Readers wrote to share
their own experiences with the topic, creating a connection I hadn’t expected
and an opportunity for a little more light, a little more understanding about
an issue so many people have struggled with.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">This, for me, is the best part of belonging to the tribe of writers and
readers.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">When I write and publish, when
I read what others have published, I get closer to the world and remember, each
time, why I value literature as much I value my next breath.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Sharing stories is the way we know one
another, and know ourselves. This one, although laced with comedy, was hard to
write. I’m glad I did.</span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wdMtD8i1_kA/Wr0q80qa1rI/AAAAAAAABN4/HdQ65EqWYdoTadbDrjIhtZwb9jDQSS9uACLcBGAs/s1600/Hooked%2BUp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1151" data-original-width="863" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wdMtD8i1_kA/Wr0q80qa1rI/AAAAAAAABN4/HdQ65EqWYdoTadbDrjIhtZwb9jDQSS9uACLcBGAs/s320/Hooked%2BUp.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Hooked
Up<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Nine p.m., the appointed hour.
The person who opens the door is a surprise. I’d pictured someone in her
sixties, calm and professional, with a tidy bun and a crisp white uniform, a
clipboard in her hand and a name tag that says “Marion” or “Florence.” Someone
who knows what she’s doing. Someone with steady hands and a soft voice. But it
isn’t Marion who greets me, or anyone remotely like her. I consider backing
out, but it’s too late for that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://fullgrownpeople.com/2018/03/22/hooked-up/">More</a>…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-89838014348090953272018-01-31T07:51:00.000-08:002018-01-31T08:11:13.392-08:00 February literary feast: Four MFA instructors talk about their new books<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">One of the great pleasures of working
with the writers on my faculty is knowing when their new work is about to be
published and getting to read it right away. This academic year, </span><a href="https://sophfronia.com/publications/"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Sophfronia
Scott</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> came out with two new
books: </span><a href="https://sophfronia.com/publication-items/this-child-of-faith/"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This
Child of Faith</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">, a
spiritual memoir co-written with her son, Tain, in the wake of the Sandy Hook
tragedy, and an essay collection, </span><a href="https://sophfronia.com/publication-items/loves-long-line/"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Love’s
Long Line</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">. All this output comes only a year after the
publication of her 2017 novel set during the Harlem Renaissance, </span><a href="https://sophfronia.com/publication-items/unforgivable-love/"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Unforgivable
Love</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">.</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">
Writer and MFA thesis director </span><a href="https://adambraver.com/"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Adam Braver</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">, who edits the Broken Silence Series
for the University of New Orleans Press (a book series that tells the firsthand
accounts of political dissidents), published his ninth book, </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Disappeared-Adam-Braver/dp/1944853340/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1506453796&sr=8-2&keywords=Adam+braver"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Disappeared</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">, a novel about two strangers searching for loved ones in the aftermath
of terror attacks. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Prolific essayist, editor, and MFA
thesis director </span><a href="http://www.lisaromeo.net/" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Lisa Romeo</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">’s new memoir, </span><a href="http://www.lisaromeo.net/starting-with-goodbye/" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Starting with Goodbye: A Daughter’s
Memoir of Love after Loss</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">,
is forthcoming this spring; and </span><a href="https://www.baypath.edu/academics/faculty-directory/biography/t-susan-chang/" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">T. Susan Chang</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> has a new book on the way next fall. A
departure from literary food writing, which she writes and teaches in the MFA, Chang’s
new book explores the world of spiritual divination and mystery through the
ancient art of tarot. Her 20-year interest in divination began during her
undergraduate studies in Classics at Harvard, continued through her years as a
literary studies editor, and strongly informs her current work writing about
all five senses.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">All of these faculty books explore
subjects that go to the core of the human experience. They are united by themes
of loss, death, violence, and grief, and also by healing, friendship, love, wisdom,
hope, and spirit. They ask hard questions and find unexpected insights. And they showcase the power of language to
help us understand not only the world we live in, but ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We asked the four writers to tell us
something about the genesis of their new books, their process while writing,
and what they hope to communicate to the reader. Read on for a rare look inside
their writing studios (and find out more about upcoming appearances):<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Adam Braver<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The main inspirations for beginning the book came from my own
feelings of fear, and how they interacted with our larger culture of fear. Once
the characters and voice started taking shape, I also began to see that the
book’s questions, at least for me, were: 1) is it possible to not let fear be
driven by what we can’t see? 2) what stakes do some people have in promoting
such fear? and 3) how do we cope with or grieve for what suddenly is missing
from our lives? In terms of the question of what I hope a reader will take from
<i>The Disappeared</i>—my main hope, as with all the books I’ve written, is
that the reader feels an experience that connects her to other human beings;
and that by the end she is compelled to consider her own set of unique
questions that the book might (hopefully) inspire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sophfronia Scott</span></b></div>
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<b><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UzPG-TzhZBc/WnHl2e7fmTI/AAAAAAAABK0/sAfr6DNT5NEfiQx2EN137-UyCpF_u4R8gCLcBGAs/s1600/Sophfronia%2BScott%2BLove%2527s%2BLong%2BLine%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UzPG-TzhZBc/WnHl2e7fmTI/AAAAAAAABK0/sAfr6DNT5NEfiQx2EN137-UyCpF_u4R8gCLcBGAs/s320/Sophfronia%2BScott%2BLove%2527s%2BLong%2BLine%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="213" /></a></b></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Love’s Long Line </span></i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">is a collection of essays ruminating on faith, motherhood, race,
and the search for meaningful connection in an increasingly disconnected world.
I guess you could say I cover a lot of ground, from what my son taught me about
grief after the shootings at his school, Sandy Hook Elementary, to how a walk
with Lena Horne became a remembrance of love for my father; to the unexpected
heartache of being a substitute school bus driver, to understanding my
spiritual journey and why my soul must dance like <i>Saturday Night
Fever</i>’s Tony Manero.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The book is inspired by
Annie Dillard’s observation in <i>Holy the Firm </i>that we all “reel
out love’s long line alone . . . like a live wire loosed in space to
longing and grief everlasting.” As I assembled the collection I felt as though
I could see her observations at work, and that I was saying something, maybe
even responding to her thoughts, about love and faith in everyday life. I’m
hoping readers will be able to see themselves in my reflections, just as how I
saw myself in Dillard’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> I never expected to write this book so
it holds a very particular sweetness for me. When I entered my MFA program I
was studying only fiction. At a friend’s suggestion I dove into the very
different waters of creative nonfiction and began writing what eventually
became <i>Love’s Long Line. </i>Its existence still feels like a nice
surprise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PrZNWvduHb0/WnHlVMGkYNI/AAAAAAAABKs/2dwsAdOlECo7PNI1CWeVfl6cn_d-zLpdgCLcBGAs/s1600/Lisa%2BRomeo%2BStarting%2Bwith%2BGoodbye%2Bbook%2Bcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="194" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PrZNWvduHb0/WnHlVMGkYNI/AAAAAAAABKs/2dwsAdOlECo7PNI1CWeVfl6cn_d-zLpdgCLcBGAs/s1600/Lisa%2BRomeo%2BStarting%2Bwith%2BGoodbye%2Bbook%2Bcover.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Lisa
Romeo<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This book began as essays
that each addressed some part of the story of the first few years after my
father’s death. As each was published, I’d think of new slices of the story I
hadn’t yet told, and I’d write a new essay—a long narrative piece, or a prose
poem, or bit of flash nonfiction. There was always this sense of the well not
yet being dry, that if I kept digging, there was yet another layer. That’s part
of what I love about creative nonfiction, the idea of excavating more meaning
from a particular experience or life journey. What inspires me is
discovering <i>what else</i> might be lurking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Starting with Goodbye</span></i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> is about what can happen in a relationship after a parent
has passed—and what keeps that person alive to the surviving adult child. I’d
love it if readers come away with an optimism about some positives that can
occur during grief, and curiosity about that process, rather than fear. I
wanted to show that it’s perfectly natural to converse with a deceased loved
one, to continue to feel they are part of one’s life, and to talk about
departed parents without feeling odd about that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Sometimes I learned
things that weren’t easy to face, like how much I took his time and financial
support for granted earlier in life. But I also learned how much he had
positively influenced my life, far beyond what I thought when he was alive. I
always imagined us at odds, but after he was gone, I realized we were more alike
than anyone else in our family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In the process of writing
the book, I learned about transforming essays into a more traditional linear
book-length narrative. I’m such an essayist at heart, that this was at first
terrifying to me, but in the end, seemed to be exactly what I needed to try,
struggle with, and eventually (hopefully) figure out at this point in my
writing life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">T. Susan
Chang</span></b></div>
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<b><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EBSjRwl2KPU/WnHjtrr4s7I/AAAAAAAABKg/pyPnAQniRHkaBc0Cl2kGMFgkuWi2U0HCwCLcBGAs/s1600/Tarot%2BCorrespondences%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="576" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EBSjRwl2KPU/WnHjtrr4s7I/AAAAAAAABKg/pyPnAQniRHkaBc0Cl2kGMFgkuWi2U0HCwCLcBGAs/s320/Tarot%2BCorrespondences%2B2.jpg" width="255" /></a></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">"Correspondences"
are the secret ingredients of every spell, and indeed, every magical practice.
(Eye of newt? Toe of frog? Those are correspondences!) And they are hidden in
tarot cards as well, just waiting to be recognized. Although these
ingredients—astrology, the elements, the numbers, the Kabbalah, the animals,
gemstones and fragrances—and their uses have been passed on hand to hand for
centuries, I felt it was time for a book that not only collected all that
information in one place but taught readers how to use it in connection with
their cards. In sharing <i>Tarot Correspondences: Ancient Secrets for
Everyday Readers</i> with the world, my hope is to offer up the correspondences
as fuel for readers' own imaginations, to provide substance and body to their
own intuitive instincts, and to enrich the practice of divination and the
magical current we've all inherited.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For me personally, writing the book was
a milestone in a 20-year-long personal journey working with the cards. Like many readers, I've worked in private and
in secret for a long time. But at a
certain point, I had too much to say and too much to share to keep it to myself
any longer. Probably the best reason to
write a book is because you can't not do it for another day—which, I finally
realized, is the point I'd reached with my thoughts and writings about tarot.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Upcoming
appearances and events<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Sophfronia
Scott</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> will be speaking at
our spring Bay Path Writers’ Day on Sunday, April 15, and at other </span><a href="https://sophfronia.com/upcoming-events"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">events</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Lisa
Romeo</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">will be
speaking at our spring Bay Path Writers’ Day on Sunday, April 15, and at other </span><a href="http://www.lisaromeo.net/events1/"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">events</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">.</span><b><span style="background: white; color: #500050; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Adam
Braver </span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">has wrapped up his book
tour but updates on his other appearances can found here: </span><a href="https://adambraver.com/events"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">https://adambraver.com/events</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Stay tuned for<i> T. Susan Chang’s </i>fall 2018 appearances…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-42556139320948014512017-12-13T09:03:00.002-08:002017-12-13T09:06:04.982-08:00Literary Wish List!<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%;">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xJjM4BqLeUc/WjFd5ZI_40I/AAAAAAAABIo/Ax0RcAgc5WU3EPaiqgE1y5P-jAD5AxFLACLcBGAs/s1600/ex-libris%2Bgame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xJjM4BqLeUc/WjFd5ZI_40I/AAAAAAAABIo/Ax0RcAgc5WU3EPaiqgE1y5P-jAD5AxFLACLcBGAs/s320/ex-libris%2Bgame.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Do you
have a literary wish list for the holidays?</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> If you’re a writer, you
do. You might be dreaming of a stack of
new books, a beautiful new journal, a fancy pen, a literary map of Ireland
poster, or my current favorite from the British Library, "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ex-Libris-first-lines-Oxford/dp/B003FW2DKA">Ex
Libris: The Game of First Lines and Last Words</a>." (This is a good
one for playing with bibliophile friends on a winter night in front of a
blazing fire.) Or maybe all you really want is a bar of "Lady Macbeth's
Guest Soap." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We surveyed MFA faculty and students about their lists (both to
give and receive); read on and enjoy:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Moleskine notebooks and Varsity Pilot fountain pens (in
purple). <i>Oriana Fallaci: The Journalist, the Agitator, the Legend</i>, by Cristina
DeStefano and Marina Harss. And probably several more. I'm still
thinking. – <i>Nicole Hamer<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">These days, my favorite gift to give is an annual subscription
to </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://account.thesunmagazine.org/SUN/?p=sun&f=paid" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration-line: none;">The Sun</span></i></a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">, a completely ad-free magazine
that publishes excellent fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. I support
everything <i>The Sun</i> stands for and I
feel especially happy to support a magazine that pays its writers decently. Of
course, any literary journal of your choice would make a good gift. And since
literary journals often take chances on unknown writers, they are very
inspiring for writers. For that writer friend who has everything she needs
and spends too much time on social media: an annual subscription to </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://freedom.to/why" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration-line: none;">Freedom</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">, an app that blocks the Internet
from your computer and other devices.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> - </span><i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shahnaz Habib<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">My family and I are devotees of the delicious Icelandic
tradition of </span><i><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #47475a; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; padding: 0in;"><a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FJ%25C3%25B3lab%25C3%25B3kafl%25C3%25B3%25C3%25B0&t=Nzk5ZjE5ODk1YTNkMmI1ZmZkYmVkZTA3MjMxNzU4Y2UyYjBkZGEwMSx1aFVKTnhBaA%3D%3D&b=t%3Aczchq16mv-sSR6ECe0NCAA&m=1" target="_blank"><span style="color: #169ec8; text-decoration-line: none;">jólabókaflóð</span></a>—</span></i><span style="border: 1pt none; color: #47475a; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; padding: 0in;">tra</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">nslated literally, the Christmas Book Flood. On Christmas Eve in
Iceland, it is customary for friends and family to exchange books and then to
spend the rest of the night together at home reading. Here's a <a href="http://www.icelandwritersretreat.com/christmas-book-flood-beloved-icelandic-tradition/">story</a>
about it if you are interested. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">If you'd like to partake, here are some
books worth giving or receiving: the detective novel <i>Jar City </i>by
Arnaldur Indridason. It's wonderfully creepy with many uniquely Icelandic
perspectives on the fine art of committing and solving murders. A less gruesome
option would be <i>The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings</i> by
Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski. If you love J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and
the rest of their Oxford cohort, this group biography will be your favorite
gift. If you can find it (you might need to hit used book stores or </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://abebooks.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration-line: none;">abebooks.com</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">), check out <i>The
Thirteen Clocks</i> by James Thurber. It is not a new book but it is a
delightful read, one part parable, one part poem, one part fairy story,
decidedly Thurber. - <i>Kara Noble</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">One of my favorite gift books is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Poems-Stanley-Kunitz/dp/0393322947">The
Collected Poems of Stanley Kunitz</a>. The poems are so human and timeless, and
I read them often. For all the dog lovers, my favorite is My Dog Tulip by J.R.
Ackerley, poignant but unsentimental and just an all-around treat. (My dog is
named after it.) Unsurprisingly, (and Google be damned) I love atlases. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-World-Oxford/dp/0190634286/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513008581&sr=1-11&keywords=atlas">Here</a>
is a hefty one that's bound for armchair and serious travelers alike. Lastly,
and not a literary choice but I've bought this book for many people and it
makes everyone happy—Paper Blossoms, a book of pop-up bouquets. I first saw a
copy at the Gardner Museum gift shop and was completely charmed. - <i>Susie Seligson</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">I highly recommend the great feeling of helping to change
some lives, by helping to purchase a permanent home for my neighbor, the draft
horse sanctuary Blue Star Equiculture in Bondsville, Mass. Since its founding
eight years ago, Blue Star has rented a farm down the street from me and now
needs to move. But any new home won't happen without the help of all who care
about horses and their ages-old human connection. The <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/blue-stars-forever-farm">page</a> has some great
shots of the hoped-for new farm home in New Salem, Mass., along with an easy
way to make a donation small or large by <span class="aqj">Dec. 18</span>.
If anyone can spare even a buck for the herd by that deadline, I urge them to
please do so. Big thanks to anyone who can help Blue Star, which I wrote about
in <i><a href="file://baypath.edu/Home/Faculty/ljblackwell/Downloads/%E2%80%A2%09https:/newengland.com/yankee-mag%E2%80%A6/living/the-promised-land/">Yankee</a>
</i>magazine last year. – <i>Suzanne Strempek Shea<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Subscription to <i>The Sun</i>
and the <i>New Yorker</i>, journals, Mary
Oliver’s <i>Devotions</i>, printer
cartridges/paper, French roast coffee beans, wool socks, flannel sheets (I
write in bed), Maker’s Mark (alters consciousness nicely), new laptop, votive
candles (always lit while writing). - <i>Karol Jackowski <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As for me, all my
writerly wants at the moment are intangible wishes -- more time, the ability to
get up earlier in the mornings (!), that every important literary influencer
will tout my upcoming book...that sort of thing. But that's not helpful, I
know. Here is a <a href="https://writerscircleworkshops.wordpress.com/2017/12/05/twcs-fourth-annual-gifts-for-writers-compilation/">link</a>
to a round up on the blog of the organization I teach with locally - some cool
things on there. Personally, I'd love the Wipebook, and the Nite Note Notebook
mentioned/linked in the post. – <i>Lisa Romeo<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">During the holidays, I love to gift books I love—and I’m
especially pleased when I have books from my writer-friends to give away! This
year, I’m wrapping up Kay Campbell’s debut novel, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kay-hardy-campbell/caravan-brides/"><i><span style="color: #0563c1;">A Caravan of Brides</span></i></a>. It’s rich in history, and delivers a beautiful, timeless—add
also timely—message about women helping women—a perfect girlfriend gift! And if
you have a baseball lover on your list, I recommend Tommy Shea’s <a href="http://www.belmontbooks.com/book/9781613218310"><i><span style="color: #0563c1;">Dingers</span></i></a>. That
was a huge hit last year with my local sports fan! Some of my favorite
book-related swag comes from <a href="http://www.litographs.com/"><span style="color: #0563c1;">Litographs</span></a>. Through
a proprietary process, they print the actual text of books, poems, and stories
(including your own, if you want a custom order) to create a graphic image on
tees, scarfs, totes and posters. Yes, words—up to 90,000 of them—creating
a picture. It’s one of the coolest things ever, for a literary geek like
me. And on my list? Well, those nearest and dearest to me know better
than to buy me a book. Just hand over the gift card for my one of my
beloved indie bookstores. (Supporting an indie in person or online is so much
more soul-satisfying than shopping at that big-A-place. Plus, you’ll be upping
your writer-angel points.) This year, I’d like to shop for myself at the
recently opened <a href="http://www.belmontbooks.com/"><span style="color: #0563c1;">Belmont Books</span></a>,
please! – <i>Kate Whouley</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-58270914567482724262017-12-13T07:47:00.000-08:002017-12-13T08:13:20.723-08:00December greetings <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Greetings! Here in New England, the
cold and snow have arrived, just in time for the holidays. (To this native
Californian, gaudily decorated palm trees with chili pepper lights evoke the
holidays much more than snow.) With or without snow, what else puts you in a holiday
mood? For me, it’s books. Holiday roundups of best books of the year, new
releases, and the anticipation of hours spent engrossed in a book in front of a
fire, a cup of good coffee by my side and a notebook nearby to jot down
thoughts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Two books in particular should be on your list, both
by MFA faculty members: Sophfronia Scott’s <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062655653/unforgivable-love">Unforgivable
Love</a>, an ingenious re-telling of the 18th-century French classic Les
Liaisons Dangereuses, set during the Harlem Renaissance; and Adam Braver’s <a href="http://outpost19.com/TheDisappeared/">The Disappeared</a>, a work of
fiction informed by recent history and a deeply thoughtful response to what we
do in the face of inexplicable acts of mass violence. Both works showcase the
exceptional talent and range of our MFA faculty. And both shed light on the
essentials of being human that remain constant despite social and political
eras, including our own: love, connection, trust, compassion. These are not
“holiday” values. But it’s a good time to be reminded. And a good time to
reflect on what we have together as a community, both in our MFA and in the
larger literary communities we belong to.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Speaking of literary communities,
we are pleased to welcome a new member to our MFA faculty: travel writer Susan
Seligson, whose revealing interview with Sandy Chmiel can be found <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783149029491900502#editor/target=post;postID=3088983257190033435;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=1;src=postname">here</a>.
After I read it, I took a moment to reflect on the places I’d been that have
changed me, altered the direction of my life, taken root in my heart. I think
of the beautiful holiday traditions in these countries—Mexico, Israel, Germany,
Ireland, Lebanon, Spain—and how our religious and cultural differences are something
to celebrate, not fear. The more we travel, via plane or via good book by an international
writer, the better we understand the range and depth of our shared humanity. Across
the world, we all hope for peace this season. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Wishing you a peaceful holiday season
with plenty of great books to read (and chili pepper lights, just because) and
see you in the new year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-67855775704518513362017-09-20T07:58:00.001-07:002017-09-20T08:05:20.084-07:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Greetings! The fall semester is
underway and MFA classes are in full swing. This semester, I’m running the
“Learning to Teach” course with students in their final year, many of whom will
go on to lead their own creative classes and workshops. One of the big
questions we’re exploring is what, exactly, makes a good creative writing
teacher. Expert editing advice? Creative inspiration? Personal support? I’ll be
addressing that question, among others, when I give a public talk in early
October for the Bay Path community as part of the annual “Got a Minute?”
lecture series. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Named in honor of late professor
Dick Briotta, whose eponymous signature phrase became legendary (the “minute”
usually became an hour or so), the lectures celebrate the intellectual
diversity and range of Bay Path faculty. The title of my talk? “Why Creative
Writing Makes You a Better Person.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Yes, I’m putting it right out
there. The art of creative writing, when practiced properly, not only leads to
better prose but also to heightened empathy, compassion, and awareness on the
part of the writer. This is not just my own conviction; <a href="https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/i-know-how-youre-feeling-i-read-chekhov/?_r=2">scientific
studies</a> prove it. Stay tuned – the lecture will be taped and made available
as a podcast. Next time, when a well-meaning relative at a holiday party wants
to know why on earth you’re writing a memoir instead of, say, a TV pilot about
zombies on spring break (all respect to zombies), you’ll have your answer
ready. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In addition to the podcast, I’ll
be hosting a lunchtime webinar interview with MFA faculty member and Ireland
seminar co-leader Tommy Shea on Tuesday October 3, from noon – 1 p.m. Free and
open to the public, “<a href="http://www.baypath.edu/events-calendar/details/hot-topics-in-creative-nonfiction--bringing-real-people-to-life-on-the-page/2017-10-03/">Hot
Topics in Creative Nonfiction: How to Make Real People Real on the Page,</a>”
will draw on Tommy’s 35+ year career as a reporter and columnist for
Springfield newspapers and as a book author researching the real people behind
baseball legends. Tommy will be taking your questions during the last 20
minutes; bring yours and <a href="http://www.baypath.edu/events-calendar/details/hot-topics-in-creative-nonfiction--bringing-real-people-to-life-on-the-page/2017-10-03/">join
us</a>! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I’m also looking forward to our
16<sup>th</sup> <a href="http://www.baypath.edu/events-calendar/community-events/writers-day/">Writers’
Day</a> on October 15. A lively afternoon of talks, panels, and interactive workshops,
this Writers’ Day features memoirist Patricia Reis in a talk about mining the
personal in nonfiction; poet and performer Charles Coe, who will share tips on
reading in public; and writers Elizabeth Searle, Ellen Meeropol, and MFA grad
Meredith O’Brien ’17, discussing how they drew from current events to write
their most recent books. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And please join me in welcoming
the newest addition to our MFA faculty, prolific author <a href="http://www.baypath.edu/academics/faculty-directory/biography/sophfronia-scott/">Sophfronia
Scott</a>, whose work and teaching was featured in our August 23 blog post. Read
more about Sophfronia <a href="http://mfacreativenonfictionbaypath.blogspot.com/2017/08/welcoming-new-mfa-faculty-member.html">here</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Speaking of reading, what’s on
your fall book list? I’ve been dazzled by Roxane Gay’s <i>Hunger</i>, Sherman <i>Alexie’s You
Don’t Have to Say You Love Me</i>, and Paul Lisicky’s <i>The Narrow Door.</i> Next up: <i>The
Mother of All Questions</i>, an essay collection coming in October by the
brilliant Rebecca Solnit. Let me know what’s in your book queue! Drop me a line
at <a href="mailto:ljblackwell@baypath.edu">ljblackwell@baypath.edu</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-54436034278242622202017-06-21T10:25:00.002-07:002017-06-22T11:02:03.962-07:00MFA faculty: Summer Reading <br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Summertime, and the reading is
easy....or challenging, thrilling, shake-you-up-and-set-you-down someplace new.
In today's blog, MFA faculty talk about what they're reading this
summer—everything from classic nonfiction works to memoirs to groundbreaking novels
by new writers. Whether you're traveling to a distant country or down the block
to your local, air-conditioned library, you'll find the world opening up in the
pages of these books.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mel Allen
- Creative Nonfiction Form and Theory I</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <i>and</i> <i>II<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am in the midst of writing a
major feature for <i>Yankee </i>on the
Making of the Vietnam War. It’s about Ken Burns’ new 18-hour epic to be aired
this September. I have read all Vietnam all the time the past month. In
particular Tim O’Brien’s <i>The Things They
Carried,</i> <i>If I Die in a Combat Zone</i>,
and <i>Going after Cacciato</i>— as well as
personal memoirs from unknown soldiers and even one by a mother who lost her
son. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Leanna
James Blackwell, MFA Director - Mentorship Lab, Field Seminar in Ireland<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-79JqfAHCyi8/WUqwBvpn0nI/AAAAAAAAA9s/8f2q2sAZXRQTvm5MdhiUIaOAwPhTfsvVwCLcBGAs/s1600/Lincoln%2Bin%2Bthe%2BBardo_book%2Bcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="470" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-79JqfAHCyi8/WUqwBvpn0nI/AAAAAAAAA9s/8f2q2sAZXRQTvm5MdhiUIaOAwPhTfsvVwCLcBGAs/s200/Lincoln%2Bin%2Bthe%2BBardo_book%2Bcover.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I just completed <i>Lincoln in the Bardo</i> by George Saunders,
a richly imagined, stunning meditation on grief, told in the voices of souls
who live in the cemetery where Lincoln’s young son, Willie, was buried. In a
completely different vein, I’m midway through <i>Norse Mythology</i>, a retelling of Norse legends by Neil Gaiman, author
of <i>American Gods</i>. I often turn to
mythology and folklore for inspiration –my most recent play, <i>Grimm Women</i>, is a feminist retelling of
three classic fairy tales and I’m currently working on an essay collection inspired
by Greek myths. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Next on my list are two new
memoirs I can’t wait to read: <i>You Don’t
Have to Say You Love Me</i>, about growing up on a Spokane Indian reservation
by the brilliant poet, novelist, and short-story writer Sherman Alexie; and Roxane
Gay’s newest book, <i>Hunger</i>, which
explores the dangerous territory of weight, female bodies, and the way the body
responds to trauma. Last on my list is a
book I re-read every summer, Virginia Woolf’s <i>To the Lighthouse</i>. Woolf’s work has served as a lighthouse to me
during my entire writing career, and each time I revisit her books I discover
something fresh, startling, and unexpected. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mieke
Bomann - Getting Inside Lives: Writing the Personal Profile <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have three books open now. <i>Fearless Heart: How the Courage to be
Compassionate can Transform our Lives</i>, by Thupten Jinpa. The author is the
longtime English translator for the Dalai Lama, and a former Buddhist monk
himself. Clearly written, moving and practical, Jinpa outlines how compassion
is the "best-kept secret of happiness." Re-reading <i>The Endurance</i>, by Caroline Alexander, a
terrific take on Shackleton's legendary Antarctic expedition. The writing is
great, the photos fantastic, and the journey unmatched in its magnitude of spirit,
courage, and mind-boggling fortitude. Plus, the frozen setting brings coolness
to a hot day! Finally, <i>The News: A User's Manual</i>, by Alain de
Botton. As a news junkie—and who isn't, in these days of presidential
disaster-a-minute bulletins?—I'm curious to see what this British "pop
philosopher" has to say about our media habits, and to gain further
insights into the extraordinary impact the 24/7 news cycle has on our hearts
and minds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Adam
Braver - Thesis I and II</span></i></div>
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<i><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KHaTvh20UuY/WUqw738kR2I/AAAAAAAAA90/5x0mMHtHTEoe4aEJTIYL311PiYPbI1eeACEwYBhgL/s1600/Somebody%2Bwith%2Blittle%2Bhammer_book%2Bcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="304" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KHaTvh20UuY/WUqw738kR2I/AAAAAAAAA90/5x0mMHtHTEoe4aEJTIYL311PiYPbI1eeACEwYBhgL/s200/Somebody%2Bwith%2Blittle%2Bhammer_book%2Bcover.jpg" width="135" /></a></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Currently, three books in the
nightstand rotation, two of which are Norwegian novels: <i>The Unseen</i> by Roy Jacobson (shortlisted for Man Booker Award, which
was a draw), and another called <i>The
Beatles</i> by Lars Saabye Christensen (a book that came highly recommended by
a Norwegian friend). I very much like to read contemporary literature from
other countries because I find them to be less constrained, in that they trust
the intellect of the reader, and can take chances with form, convention, and
the exploration of ideas and consciousness. The third book is a nonfiction
essay collection: <i>Somebody with a Little Hammer</i> by Mary Gaitskill. I greatly admire
her fiction and thinking, and look forward to seeing it in the personal essay
form. </span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Susie
Chang - Eat, Drink, Get Paid<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I'm not reading much fiction these
days but picked up <i>The Alchemist</i> by
Paolo Coelho on my husband's recommendation, mostly for pleasure. It turned out
to be not only a good read but also very relevant to the kind of research on
spiritual journeys I'm doing right now.
I’m also reading <i>Tarot and the
Magus</i> by Paul Hughes Barlow, just one of the two or three dozen Tarot books
I'm constantly dipping in and out of right now in the course of writing a book,
<i>Tarot Correspondences,</i> for Llewellyn
Publications. In this case I'm
specifically looking for some advanced techniques to incorporate both into my
divination practice and into my own book.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Anthony D'Aries - Mentorship Lab, Professional Track in Teaching</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I'm reading a memoir by Leah Carroll called </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Down City: </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 18.6667px;"><i>Daughter's Story of Love, Memory, and Murder. </i>Set in Rhode Island, it's about the writer's mother,</span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"> a photographer who was murdered by two drug dealers with Mafia connections when Leah was four years old. The book is not only about that traumatic event but also the mystery of her parents' lives, told through interviews, photos, and police records. It's a wonderful memoir. </span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Aine
Greaney - Health and Wellness Writing, Mentorship Lab<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I just picked up a wonderful
memoir, <i>Once We Were Sisters</i>, by
Sheila Kohler. It's by a South-African-born author who, following the death of
her 39-year-old sister, flies back to her native country to grieve and come to
terms with their shared lives and strange childhood. I chose this because the
writing is so beautiful, I love transatlantic books and am always fascinated by
family relationships and how family history overlaps with a country's history. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shahnaz
Habib - Creative Nonfiction Form and Theory I and II<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This month, I have been reading
the Qur'an with my daughter. We are in the middle of Ramadan, a sacred month
for Muslims. It's the month in which the Qur'an was first revealed to the
Prophet. As a reader and writer, I love remembering that the first revealed
word of the Qur'an was "Read!" So every day, Sophy and I read a few
Qur'an verses in Arabic, then we read their English translation. I love sitting
on the prayer mat with my daughter on my lap, reading in two languages. Reading
with a six-year-old means stopping to wonder about words, defining concepts I
have taken for granted, parsing the difference between literal and metaphoric.
The questions she asks are compelling me to think through my own understanding
of belief, God's powers, human purpose. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ramadan has been particularly
hard this year in North America in these long summer days. I have been humbled
and challenged by the daily 16-hour fasting regimen. For inspiration, I have
been reading about fasting. I just finished the gorgeous, lyrical <i>Fasting for Ramadan</i> by Kazim Ali, in
which he writes about fasting and writing and doing yoga. I have also been
dipping into <i>Ramadan: Motivating
Believers to Action</i>, an anthology that collects theological and
philosophical writings on Ramadan from the 12th century to our own times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But there comes a time of the day
when my hunger is too distracting for lofty reading. So I have also been
cutting the fat with some detective fiction. Right now I am working my way
through Susan Hill's Inspector Serailler mysteries. I will admit that I linger
a bit too much over the descriptions of police officers discussing the latest
murder over pie and peas in a pub. Pie and peas. Mmmm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am also prepping for a Study
Abroad program I will be leading in India later this summer, so I am rereading
some Indian writers I want my students to read. I was awed by <i>Ghachar Ghochar</i>, a novel in translation,
in which the author Vivek Shanbagh captures a changing city by focusing on the
domestic tensions within one family. I will soon turn to R. K. Narayan who
created a fictional small town, Malgudi, the likes of which are fast
disappearing in India, and peopled them with characters, each of whose lives he
explored through individual books in the Malgudi series.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Karol
Jackowski - Women’s Spiritual Writing, Nature Writing<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Years ago I started reserving
summer as a time to re-read books that changed my life. I scan my bookshelves waiting for a book to
pick me. This summer Jung's <i>Active
Imagination</i> was my first pick. How
did it change my life? In 2001 I
finished writing—with a six week deadline—a heart-wrenching book called <i>The Silence We Keep</i>, a nun's view of the
pedophile priest scandal. Feeling like
I'd never write another word, I picked up <i>Active
Imagination</i> in which Jung speaks in depth about how to keep the writing
soul alive. He writes about what to do when you finish writing a book before
beginning another one. "Do the opposite of what your craft is,” he said, and
used the example of a writer beginning to paint. Doing the opposite of our craft awakens
creative visions in the soul untouched by the mindfulness of writing. Or as Gertrude Stein reveals..."It takes
a heap of doing nothing to write a good book." The mindlessness and
playfulness of painting has now become the soulmate to writing life. Thank you,
Carl Jung.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Lisa
Romeo - Thesis I and II<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For part of my spring and summer
reading, I decided to catch up with books by some fellow graduates of the MFA
program I attended. It's a wildly divergent group of books. I'm currently
reading two: <i>The Butcher's Daughter</i>
by Florence Grende, a memoir of growing up the child of Holocaust survivors; and
<i>A Kinship of Clover</i> by Ellen
Meeropol, an unusual novel about plants, eco-terrorism, family, and…(well, I'll
find out). And next up are: <i>Writing Hard
Stories</i> by Melanie Brooks, in which she interviews writers who tackled
difficult memoirs; <i>The Language of Men</i>
by fellow MFA instructor Anthony D'Aries, a father-son story of love, travel,
discovery; and <i>In the Context of Love</i>
by Linda K. Sienkiewicz, a novel of family secrets and the always challenging
path of love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Suzanne
Strempek Shea - Writer-in-Residence, Field Seminar in Ireland <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m reading <i>Ma Speaks Up: And a First-Generation Daughter Talks Back</i>, by
Marianne Leone. Leone’s first book, <i>Jesse:
A Mother’s Story</i>, is a heart-grabbing tribute to the life of her late son,
and the story of how she and husband Chris Cooper became activists for others
who, like their Jesse did, struggle with physical and/or mental challenges. In
this new book, Leone brings us to the story (both the real one and the fable
she delivered over the years) of her mother’s immigration from Italy, and to
Marianne’s own journey across the sometimes swirling seas of being that
larger-than-life woman’s daughter. Often poignant, and just as often hilarious,
the writing shines with spirit and love. Second on the list is the brilliant <i>Sting Like a Bee: Muhammad Ali vs. the
United States of America, 1966-1971</i>, by Leigh Montville. I read anything by
this perennially best-selling writer, who spoke on interviewing at one of our
earlier Writers’ Days. Montville’s prose, research, approach, and his basic
ideas (as this look at a very tumultuous time in the life of Ali and this
country illustrates) fascinate and inform. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m also reading <i>Puppy Bible: The Ultimate Week-by-Week Guide
to Raising Your Puppy</i>, by Claire Arrowsmith and Alison Smith. It’s been ten
years since I’ve raised a puppy, and this is a solid paw to hold as my husband
and I begin anew. I’m happy about the guidance and checklists that start with
the decision to adopt a pup, and then go through preparing the home and family
and bringing the little one home. The week-by-week setup that brings us to six
months has been most helpful. The sections on dog psychology, behavior issues,
training and more also have been read more than a few times. I don’t agree with
everything (please spay/neuter your critters, don’t waste time pondering) but
find this a generally solid resource.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tommy
Shea - Field Seminar in Ireland</span></i></div>
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<i><o:p></o:p></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Summer reading! <i>What it Used to be Like: A Portrait of My
Marriage to Raymond Carver</i> by Maryann Burk Carver. I’m a reporter, always
looking for the other side of the story. I first read Raymond Carver’s short
stories in Esquire in the early ‘80s. Then I started buying his books, <i>Cathedral</i> the first. The sentences and
paragraphs were short, terse. What wasn’t being said hung there like cigarette
smoke, silent, ever present. The characters within seemed straight out of the
Bruce Springsteen albums, “Darkness on the Edge of Town’’ and “Nebraska.” Hardscrabble,
paycheck-to-paycheck lives. The baby is on the way. The rent is overdue. The phone
rings and no one picks it up. The drink is always being poured and drunk too
fast. The cup hits the table, signaling “I’m done, hit me with another.” The
author always said he drew his stories from his life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Raymond Carver, who had toiled as
a soda jerk, janitor, and farm worker, the guy who graduated Chico State
College with a B-minus average, became a literary star. He was reviewed as an
“American Chekov,’’ the “most important American short story writer of the
second half of the 20th century.’’ He divorced his first wife, married a famous
poet, quit drinking, had a lung removed, kept writing. He was dead at 50.
Cancer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Carver’s first wife, Maryann, was
a footnote in too many obituaries. She had met him when she was 14, working as
a waitress at the Spudnut restaurant in Union Gap, Washington. When they
married in 1957, she had just graduated high school, two months short of her
17th birthday and pregnant. Carver was 19. Before Maryann was 18, she was
pregnant again. She quit school to support her husband’s writing habit and her
daughter and son, working as an encyclopedia saleswoman, a waitress, restaurant
hostess, before finishing her schooling and teaching English. Maryann had her
book published in 2006. I’m only reading it now. So far it is a love story I
don’t think will end. But I know different. I think.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kate
Whouley - Mentorship Lab, Health and Wellness Writing, Professional Track in
Publishing<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Right now, I am reading <i>Woe is I</i> by Patricia O'Connell, as I am
working to develop a foundational refresher course for incoming students. For
pleasure, I’m reading <i>The Rebels of
Ireland</i> by Edward Rutherfurd. I read his novel <i>Paris</i> earlier this spring, and fell in love with his contemporary
approach to historical fiction. (And after you finish one of his sweeping
epics, you have a new doorstop!)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And, of course, my summer reading always includes the good writing in <i>The New Yorker, Yankee Magazine</i>, and, yes, <i>Vogue</i>. </span></div>
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Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-13139103007085411212017-04-19T08:35:00.002-07:002017-06-21T08:04:26.959-07:00Interview with Mieke Bomann<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In today’s blog <a href="http://www.baypath.edu/academics/faculty-directory/biography/mieke-bomann/">Mieke
Bomann</a>, journalist and MFA instructor in profile writing, talks about the
role of journalism in civic life, the pleasure of discovering the “meat” of
individual lives, and the surprising connection between poetry and narrative
nonfiction. Read on to learn how she became a journalist – and what’s next in
her writing life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Can you
tell us about your background and your path to becoming a writer?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While I have always written or
edited for a living, I have never called myself a writer; mostly, I identify as
a journalist. I owe a lot of my motivation and writing skills to great teachers
and good editors, an early aversion to authority, and the satisfaction I take
in discovering the meat of a person’s work life or lifelong obsession, and then
sharing that bit with equally curious readers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When thinking about a profession
after college, I was drawn to both the freedom and privileges that journalism
offers. I could make a living by asking interesting people questions about almost
anything and, if I did it right, go back to my desk with the ingredients for a
story worth reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I worked for a couple of
newspapers as a city hall and business reporter, and then spent about twenty
years going back and forth between freelance writing and editing, and fulltime work
for college publications. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What do
you see as the role of journalism in today’s society?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s a book in that question,
but one short answer is that responsible journalism is one of the best tools citizens
in a free country have to check the tendency of people in power to seek additional
power. <i>The Washington Post</i> puts it
even more succinctly on its front page these days: “Democracy dies in darkness.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What do
you enjoy most about teaching?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am most energized by truly
motivated students who use the advantage of their affiliation with Bay Path to
dig into unknown territory, and write about people who they might otherwise not
have a chance to get to know. I am amazed and humbled by the challenging
subjects many students choose to write about. I also love watching students
make use of the expertise of their academic cohort to expand their worldview and
deepen their stories. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you
have any advice for new writers?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Consider taking a class in poetry
writing. No matter the length of your stories, your prose will likely benefit from
the intense understanding of the music in language that poets bring to their
craft. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The journalist in me recommends that
you write up your notes from an interview as soon as possible because your
memory, handwriting, and recording technology are never as reliable as you
think. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Finally, taking the time to
review the appropriate stylebook and pesky rules of grammar and punctuation
will make the journey through your prose much less bumpy for your
editor/instructor, who may then reward you with untold riches. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What are
you currently at work on?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hKwzzbwGNIo/WPeDnZ5BWpI/AAAAAAAAA5w/DEU4kO8c3BQN3clslD74fF_AVeRNatY5gCEw/s1600/william-cullen-bryant-homesteadjpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hKwzzbwGNIo/WPeDnZ5BWpI/AAAAAAAAA5w/DEU4kO8c3BQN3clslD74fF_AVeRNatY5gCEw/s320/william-cullen-bryant-homesteadjpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am helping to research and write
a script for a visitor’s tour of an historic house, owned in the mid-nineteenth
century by <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/william-cullen-bryant">William
Cullen Bryant</a>, a poet and long-time editor of what is now the <i>New York Post</i>. I am also doing some research on humor writing
and satire, and thinking about revitalizing my long-neglected gardening blog,
which was never particularly funny but really ought to have been. </span></div>
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Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-56218098301646195132017-02-15T11:30:00.001-08:002017-02-15T11:59:13.711-08:00Interview with Shahnaz Habib<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y8OUgKCCHPI/WKSrK9juplI/AAAAAAAAA1w/a5JGxdqSBT4IoajZldXOec9Uu9rsX3uIgCLcB/s1600/Shahnaz_pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y8OUgKCCHPI/WKSrK9juplI/AAAAAAAAA1w/a5JGxdqSBT4IoajZldXOec9Uu9rsX3uIgCLcB/s320/Shahnaz_pic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In today’s blog, we are
delighted to feature an interview with Kerala-born, Brooklyn-based writer and
MFA instructor <a href="http://www.baypath.edu/academics/faculty-directory/biography/shahnaz-habib/">Shahnaz
Habib</a>. In this interview, Shahnaz talks about the practice of “walking and
writing”; about the definition of home and what it means to be a writer who
comes not just from one place, but from many; and about the elusive quality of “balance”
in a writer’s life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In your
interview with the physician and writer Abraham Verghese, you asked: “Can you
begin by telling us a bit about all the different places that are a part of
you?” As a writer born and educated in India and now living and writing in New
York, how would you answer this same question?
How have these different environments informed your writing? What are
the advantages of having more than one language and culture on which to draw
for your creative work?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So much of my best writing
comes from confusion, and the confusions and contradictions of belonging to
more than one place have been a very profitable source of inspiration for me. I
grew up in Kochi, a small town in southern India. I moved to Delhi and then New
York for grad school, and fell in love with both those big cities, very
different from each other. I also lived for several months in Turkey, and
Istanbul, to me, is simply the best place on earth. All these places have
shaped my writing – I feel perennially an outsider, someone looking in through
a window, someone making sense of all these glimpsed lives. I have become both
obsessed with place and reconciled to the idea of not having one home. Language
is my home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Something else that happens
when you have left pieces of your heart in different places as I have done in
Kochi, Delhi, New York, Istanbul, is that it is impossible to be indifferent to
the world outside. An earthquake or a bombing somewhere in the world does not
seem to be something that happens far away to another place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You
have written fiction, essays, and poetry. Can you tell us about your writing
practice? Do you move back and forth between these forms or do you tend to
concentrate on one at time?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t write much poetry
anymore, so it’s mostly between essays and short fiction. I do feel that
fiction takes more time to grow inside me, and I have learned not to rush it.
When a story is ready to be written, it’s always such a pleasure to be
completely immersed in its fictional world. Just in terms of proportions, I
write more nonfiction than fiction. But when I do write fiction, it feels like
a deeper dive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You
have talked about the relationship between walking and writing: is this a
regular practice for you? Do you “walk and write” daily?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I go through phases. Sometimes
walking is a big part of my life. Part of the year, I work full-time at a very
intense job, and it’s such a pleasure to escape during my lunch break and take
long city walks. But when I am working from home, I often fall prey to the
temptation of working in bed. In pajamas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the morning I sometimes drop
my daughter off at her school bus. And then when I turn homewards, there is
always a tug of war. Should I just keep walking? I mean, here I am, all dressed
and presentable enough for the world. Sometimes, the walker wins. Sometimes the
cocooner wins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you
have a dedicated space in which to write? <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You mean other than the bed?
No.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What
are you working on now?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Essays. I am very slowly
putting together a collection of essays on not traveling. I am also reading
some books as research for a novel I want to write.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At Bay
Path, you teach two semesters of Creative Nonfiction Writing: Form and Theory.
What do you most enjoy about teaching? What creative possibilities does the
online format offer you as a teacher?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am amazed by the stories my
students are telling about their lives. I think Bay Path’s program, by virtue
of being online, reaches students who have extremely intense and full lives,
students who don’t have the luxury of taking two years out of their lives for a
typical offline MFA program. Some of them are primary caregivers, some of them
have jobs they can’t afford to leave. And those busy brave lives get reflected
in the essays they are writing and the perspectives they are writing from.
That’s an honor, to be able to read and respond to such important stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I also think the online format
and the facelessness it fosters can be a blessing. It gives students the
courage to be vulnerable, to tell stories that perhaps wouldn’t come out in a
more face-to-face setting. Also vice versa, when students read each other’s
work in class, they are responding to the words, not to the personalities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
addition to teaching and writing, you are also an editor and a parent. How do you find balance in your life?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have been thinking about this
a lot, especially in the context of the long resistance that is ahead of us in
the next four years. How will I find the time to make a living, parent,
protest, and write? It takes so much time just to unscramble and understand the
political nightmare that we are living through. Balance, at least for me, is a
myth. Something in your life will always be wanting attention and not getting
it. Right now, since it’s the beginning of the semester, I have been focused
mostly on making sure that my students are supported. The writing has taken a
back seat. But there’s an ebb and flow to these different roles, and soon I’ll
turn to my writing, feeling refreshed by my engagement with my students, and
reinvigorated by all the wonderful mobilizing that is happening in our
communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To learn more about Shahnaz and
her work, please visit her <a href="http://shahnazhabib.com/category/portfolio/">website.</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-67178173427003969332016-10-12T10:44:00.004-07:002016-10-12T11:05:19.223-07:00Interview with MFA faculty member Karol Jackowski<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">On today’s blog,</span><a href="http://www.baypath.edu/academics/faculty-directory/biography/karol-jackowski/" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> Karol Jackowski</a><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">, who teaches our
MFA courses “Women’s Spiritual Writing through the Ages” and “Nature Writing,” talks
with interviewer Sandy Chmiel about writing, spirituality, and the development
of a writing voice informed by the deepest part of the self. These words are
soul nourishment themselves; give yourself time to savor them.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Do
you prefer to be called Sister Karol or Karol?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Karol. “Sister” designates my marital status, like
Mrs., Mr., and Ms. Call me Karol and see me as your sister.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How
have your spiritual beliefs informed your writing?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I found the spiritual exercises that formed me as a
sister—meditation, contemplation, ritual, leisure, “lectio divina” (spiritual
reading)—are the same soulful exercises that form us as writers. In <i>meditation</i> we learn to listen to the
“angel in our soul,” our writing voice. In <i>contemplation</i>
we listen to the voice in nature and the voice in experience, learning to see
more clearly. <i>Ritual</i> becomes a
powerful way to maintain a connection with the unseen and unspoken, to open the
door for the writing voice to speak. <i>Leisure
</i>as a spiritual exercise points to the importance of play in the development
of a spiritual life and a writing life. According to Gertrude Stein, “<i>It
takes a heap of doing nothing to write a good book." </i>And
especially for writers, all reading is <i>“lectio
divina</i>,” spiritual reading—soul food, exercising the mind and feeding the
soul simultaneously. Reading and writing become soulmates. The more we read, the clearer our writing
voice becomes. While I was not aware of it at the time, I can see clearly now
how the more of a nun I became, the more of a writer I became. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You
have taught “Women’s Spiritual Writing through the Ages” and are now teaching
“Nature Writing and Narrative Poetry.” What similarities do you find in these
two topics? <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the first course, “Women’s Spiritual Writing
through the Ages,” the focus is on the spiritual exercises of meditation, spiritual
reading—reading reflectively and meditatively—and ritual. Listening to the
writing voices of women through the ages serves the purpose of clarifying our
voice, hearing more clearly, writing more artfully. The course in “Nature
Writing” focuses on the spiritual exercises of contemplation and leisure, on
listening to the voice of nature and seeing in nature the story of our life. The
first course focuses on how to listen as a writer. The second course focuses on
how to see as a writer. Both focus on exercising the writing voice in soulful
ways. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How
does your spiritual practice carry over into your interactions with your
students?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In addition to being their teacher, I am their
sister. Because readings and assignments in these courses engage students in
profoundly personal ways, responses to one another become ‘spiritual direction”
for all of us. A strong sense of community develops as students’ comments serve
to support, strengthen, and enjoy thoroughly each other’s work. In that way, students
also teach the class. The soulful subject matter lends itself to creating a
working environment online where I find enormous respect for one another, and
the kind of “community” feeling I experience in the sisterhood. Concerns are
shared, insights revealed, support offered always…sisterhood at its best. Not
only am I their teacher, I am also their sister.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What
do you most love about the writing process?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For me, the writing process is nothing short of
divine intervention. The inner voice is a holy spirit and words become our
“magic wand,” the medium for our soul’s message. The writing life keeps my
spiritual life alive and well—that’s what I love most about it. I write at the
beginning and end of every day, oftentimes more. I live a solitary life in
which my writing voice thrives. The spiritual life and the writing life are my
soul sisters, giving me a life I love most. There is nothing I love more than
days and nights of writing, days and nights of divine intervention.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What
else would you like to share with us?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How grateful I am for the opportunity to work with
gifted writers whom I watch grow by leaps and bounds. Seeing the writing voice
become clearer and stronger week after week is pure joy for a teacher. Thank
you for the pleasure of their company.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-27877228693455285862016-08-17T11:28:00.002-07:002016-08-17T11:30:05.303-07:00Interview with Adam Braver<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FD_l7bseRbI/V7Sr0PWDgJI/AAAAAAAAAu8/TjNKSSudOvo8GpJZLswJiLhAF8FFP2ulQCLcB/s1600/adam%2Bbraver.fw.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FD_l7bseRbI/V7Sr0PWDgJI/AAAAAAAAAu8/TjNKSSudOvo8GpJZLswJiLhAF8FFP2ulQCLcB/s320/adam%2Bbraver.fw.png" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today on the Director’s Blog we feature
a remarkable interview with prolific writer and MFA faculty member <a href="http://www.baypath.edu/academics/faculty-directory/biography/adam-braver/">Adam Braver</a>,
who teaches Thesis I and II in the program.
Here, Adam talks about his literary activism, the links between literature
and intellectual and moral freedom, and his own writing and editing practice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How
do you define “literary citizenship,” and why do you think it is important? How
has it informed your writing and teaching?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is a term that is being used in many contexts.
For me, it means remembering that you are a part of a community of
artist-writers, and as members of that group we have a responsibility to
support one another—especially those around the world who battle censorship,
threat to life, and worse in order to be able to make their art and/or express
themselves. Because of the process of writing and making art, there is a
tendency for writers to become self-involved, and a temptation to see writing
solely as a business venture or as a path to recognition. Of course, that is
part of the business of being in the arts, although it should not be the reason
to be in the arts—that should be about the drive to make art. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">So imagine you
live in a society where the State tells you can’t make art, or at least </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">that</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> kind of art? Imagine you are sent
to jail because a censor believes the metaphor in your poem insults the
country’s leadership. Or imagine that your family is constantly harassed
because you offer a historical narrative that runs counter to the narrative the
current government is promoting. Where I am going with this is that for our art
I believe we have to find a method to support ways to get that art out all over
the world. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">There are numerous things one can do to help support that: read
works of people in translation, follow NGOs such as Scholars at Risk, PEN, Amnesty,
etc., and sign their petitions regarding writers and intellectuals who are
being persecuted, and encourage others to do so. That’s a good start, to my
thinking. I don’t know how it informs my writing, per se, other than it reminds
me how lucky I am at all times to have the freedom to make art, and that with
that luxury I never should take it lightly; it reminds me to work hard, to
parse every word, every sentence, every everything—all because I am free to do
that, and to take it lightly is to disregard my fellow writers around the world
who are being persecuted for doing as much. On a more practical level, I also
have been editing a series for the University of New Orleans Press that tells
firsthand accounts of some writers/thinkers who have been persecuted for their
writings. And in the classroom, I try to encourage and suggest works in
translation (even if they are not necessarily from threatened countries, just
to remind student-writers that the art form they are aspiring to become part of
is part of a worldwide community, and that they should be involved in that
conversation, if nothing else than to learn and see how others with different
worldviews are approaching their art.) And with students, it is something I can
talk about, as I am doing here, encouraging them to find their own ways to
create literary citizenship, and as artist-writers to think of themselves as
being part of a community beyond one that solely is about monetizing and
self-aggrandizement. It’s a big responsibility. One that should never, never be
forgotten.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Can
you tell us about your path to becoming a writer?</span></i></div>
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<i><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CwkE8fAkMlM/V7Ss1ObIl-I/AAAAAAAAAvA/iuAacTQF3Kc6MuAAzZJRYI_FeYE1fPXQgCLcB/s1600/Adam%2BBraver_pic%2Bof%2Bbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CwkE8fAkMlM/V7Ss1ObIl-I/AAAAAAAAAvA/iuAacTQF3Kc6MuAAzZJRYI_FeYE1fPXQgCLcB/s1600/Adam%2BBraver_pic%2Bof%2Bbook.jpg" /></a></i></div>
<i><o:p></o:p></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I grew up an only child, and spent a lot of time
with my imagination, which, because I loved language, began to manifest itself
through the written word. I also was a voracious reader (I don’t know a single
writer who wasn’t/isn’t), and eventually that both inspired and intimidated me
about writing. I mean, who could even imagine doing what I was reading in these
moving and meaningful and artful books? I got a little more serious about the
study of it in my mid-twenties, eventually going into an MFA program. A couple
of stories were published in literary journals, which then were seen by an
agent, eventually leading to my first book. It sounds brief, as I write this,
but it was many, many years of day in and day out writing and rewriting and
revising. It was years of thinking that nothing would ever come of it—only
driven by some small successes and, most importantly and foremost, my love of
making art with language. I still feel as though I am always learning and
studying my form. I still get excited and inspired to try techniques I see in a
book. I’m still willing to fail. And I’m still willing to spend years on
something, if it means getting it right. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nature,
art, music, history are just some of the things that inspire and influence
writers. What inspires you?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What most inspires me is trying to understand and
engage in the nature of human consciousness. What are those things that make us
human? What does it mean to be alive in a certain moment of time, or a certain
moment of one’s life? What are the chasms between public personas and private
thoughts? What are the moral conflicts between self-interest and the greater
good? What are the conflicts between being driven both by hubris and fear?
Those kinds of questions that only can be got at through exploring human
consciousness. It’s what I like to read, and it’s what I like to explore in my
art. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I think too many young writers (and I don’t mean age here) are driven
purely by the plot or events of their narrative. They think that the story or
the narrative of the life experience is the only or most important part of
their pieces. I see that all as a vehicle to exploring what it means to be
human. So, to that end, I have drawn from history, from my own experiences,
from stories I’ve heard, etc. But never once has my objective been to use my
narrative as a way to retell history or a personal experience—it always has
been an in that allows me to explore some level of humanity that I hope extends
beyond me or the people/characters in the narrative.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What
do you most enjoy about teaching Thesis I and II?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.gjdgxs"></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Last year, I most
enjoyed watching the narratives become shaped and fully realized. Most of the
students came into the year with their stories fairly set, and an idea or
notion of how they would tell them. Quite often, once the work began, that
planning only got them so far, despite all their focus and dedication. It was
quite moving to watch the narratives become more artful, in terms of structure,
but also in terms of allowing in more of the moral and emotional complexities
that allowed for a reader to become a participant in the narrative, as opposed
to having someone tell you <i>her</i> story
(see above question). Also, I very much enjoyed the one-to-one engagement,
seeing students willing to take risks, fail and succeed, work ridiculously
hard, and ultimately allow me a front row seat to watch their theses blossom.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What
are you currently at work on?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am finishing editing a book for the University of
New Orleans series. It tells the stories of three Syrian scholars who were
persecuted and exiled for their intellectual ideas, writings, and/or art. I am
also at work on a new book—but not quite ready to talk about that yet. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-72314439441811020842016-07-18T07:34:00.007-07:002016-07-18T08:11:49.212-07:00Interview with MFA instructor and thesis advisor Lisa Romeo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-20PKr7hFCng/V4znCj-42TI/AAAAAAAAAso/8qViSWOkDg47hJJuS2zCGDwhRNCueOH1wCLcB/s1600/Lisa%2B%2BRomeo%2Bpic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-20PKr7hFCng/V4znCj-42TI/AAAAAAAAAso/8qViSWOkDg47hJJuS2zCGDwhRNCueOH1wCLcB/s200/Lisa%2B%2BRomeo%2Bpic.jpg" width="146" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">We
hope you enjoy this wide-ranging interview with MFA faculty and thesis advisor
Lisa Romeo. Here, Sandy Chmiel speaks with Lisa about her perspective on
teaching; her experience entering graduate school as a mature student, and how
it helps her work with adult students in the MFA; and her ideas about the
ever-elusive concept of “balance.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">How
does your work as a creative nonfiction writer inform your daily life? Do you
consciously think in terms of paying attention to details, that you might one
day write about this experience or event?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">I do feel aware, on a daily basis, of a driving
need (desire? habit?) to notice details. I’m not sure if that's all about being
a CNF writer, or a vestige of early journalism training and experiences. I do
often find myself composing sentences in my head that could conceivably work to
tell the story of what's unfolding in the moment. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">Sometimes I even write them down. Funny
thing is, only a handful make it into anything I write </span><i style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">soon after.</i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;"> Often, events or feelings seem "write-worthy"
in the moment, but then later, don't reveal enough of a deeper or larger story.
Other times, something I've ignored comes back to me later and insists I write
about it. It's hard to predict. I am also aware of not observing so much that
it keeps me from </span><i style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">having</i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;"> the
experience! Still, I keep that tiny notebook in my purse (and in the car,
laundry room, etc.). I've found years-old notes that have inspired entire
pieces. So you never know.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">Not
too long ago, you were a student in an MFA program. Does your perspective as a
returning student create a common bond with your students? With your MFA fresh
in your mind, what lessons that you learned do you try to bring to your
students?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">I completed my own MFA in 2008;
sometimes that feels like a lifetime ago, but more often it still feels fresh
enough that I can draw upon my own experiences to counsel students. I was 46
when I started my MFA, so I can also understand the concerns of our students
who are tackling this program a bit later in life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">Always,
I want to advise every student to savor every moment, to dive in deep to every
opportunity the program puts in their path, because any MFA in any form is
always over too soon. I also try to impart that the degree is not the (entire) point;
the opportunity to have total immersion in writing craft, to eat/sleep/talk
writing for a few years, the chance to build a literary community—those are the
real treasures of the program. Maybe the most important thing I want to
say—which grew directly out of my own MFA experience—is to try new things as a
writer, in a way to "forget" what you planned to do and write, and
experiment with something outside of your craft comfort zone, something a
little intimidating, different. And to not resist that. That's where the real
growth is. If you come into an MFA program thinking, "I'm going to write
and finish X," and do <i>only</i> that,
you've squandered an opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">Is
there one experience that stands out from your MFA days?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">Developing the ability, as a writer, to
figure out how to keep going in the face of life events. During my first
semester, my father died and my first assigned faculty mentor sort of
disappeared. Over the next two years, my husband's small business lost its
anchor client, my mother had several heart attacks, and I had a health scare. It
felt like everything in my life was saying <i>NO,
you can't finish this program</i>. But I got great advice and support from
faculty and classmates, and worked out not only how to meet the deadlines, but
how to continue to grow as an artist. I decided the only way forward was to say
YES to every MFA challenge, opportunity, and optional activity; I taped a big
YES sign over my desk. I still have that ratty old piece of paper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">As
a writing teacher, what do you most enjoy about working with MFA students?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">Their commitment. Many have waited a long
time to pursue their writing goals, and all have had to make mental and
temporal room in already full lives to dedicate the time to this program. When
I get email or text questions from students over the weekend, or at 2:00 a.m.
on a weeknight, or on a holiday, not only do I NOT mind, I appreciate and
understand that they are carving out and protecting their writing time and
life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">What
is your favorite piece of advice for writers who are now seeking publication,
whether for an essay or a book?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">First: cultivate persistence and
resiliency far beyond what you imagine is needed. They are your best assets
(assuming the work is sparkling, too). Next: know what publication means to you
as a writer. Why do you want to be published? Why now? Why this particular
piece of work? What do you hope will come out of it? Do you want/need lines for
a CV? Is it about personal satisfaction?
A paycheck? To prove something? Often we expect publication—of any sort,
whether in a journal, major magazine, in an anthology, or a single-authored
book—to transform us in some way, to radically alter our daily writing lives, to
confirm and legitimize us as writers. But we all still need to get up the next
morning and face the page. So understand that getting published is great for a
lot of reasons, but it isn't everything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">You
are a writer, teacher, wife, mother, editor, and writing coach. Are you able to
find balance in your life, and if so, how?</span></i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">I don't think I have ever sought
"balance," whatever that means! I just do what is in front of me to
do, what I've decided I want to do and need to do. Sometimes that means 150
percent in one area of life, and far less in other areas. That's okay, it all
evens out over time. And you know, it's not a terrible thing for children or a
spouse to learn they are not the throbbing center of your universe every day!
On a practical level, time is more malleable when you don't bother with things
you just don't personally care about—for me that's a sparkling clean house and binge-watching
the hottest shows. Oh, and yoga. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">What
are you currently at work on?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">On the advice of publishers, agents, and
beta readers I respect, I spent the last year revising a memoir-in-essays
manuscript, transforming it into a linear narrative, so that's being submitted
around. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, I'm always working on some longish essays
and memoir/narrative nonfiction, as well as a bunch of flash pieces, and I always
have several short personal essays going, meant for commercial publications and
websites (that pay).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt;">Is
there anything else you would like to share?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">For
MFA students (or any writers): from the beginning, double everything. Double the
time you think it will take to go from crappy first draft to somewhat decent
second draft. The time you'll need to do research, fact-checking, and other non-writing
essentials. The amount of reading you must do to be a better writer. The time
it will take to go from decent second draft to third to fourth…to polished
final draft. And – this might be the most important of all: double the time you
spend thinking and not moving your fingers on the keyboard, especially during
revision. Thinking is underrated. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">To
learn more about Lisa, please visit her blog at <a href="http://lisaromeo.blogspot.com/">http://lisaromeo.blogspot.com/</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-72811634544317420882016-06-15T12:35:00.000-07:002016-06-15T12:35:58.444-07:00Interview with Irish writer and MFA instructor Aine Greaney<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Uc-M9D8hq24/V2GsizngwYI/AAAAAAAAArM/IVmImcz5-8k1RGxNRPcgl2UFER5gZP31wCKgB/s1600/Aine%2Bphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Uc-M9D8hq24/V2GsizngwYI/AAAAAAAAArM/IVmImcz5-8k1RGxNRPcgl2UFER5gZP31wCKgB/s320/Aine%2Bphoto.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Today on the MFA Director’s Blog we are delighted to feature
an interview with Irish memoirist, novelist, and MFA instructor Áine Greaney. Here, Áine
talks with Sandy Chmiel about balancing multiple identities, teaching a summer
course in health and wellness writing, and the origins of her passionate love
for storytelling. She also shares her
four top tips for writers – one of which just may surprise you. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">You’ve mentioned that
you keep a personal journal. How is
putting pen to paper in a journal beneficial to you?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I never know what I’m going to write until I write it, so
journaling opens up the creative possibilities for me. Journaling also has a
great therapeutic benefit in that it lets me put some order on my thoughts and
feelings. In times of crisis, when I cannot write anything else, it’s been my
solace and way of coping. As a writer, journaling also helps me to stay honest
with myself. There really is no pretension, no fooling the blank page.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Can you tell us about
your Health and Wellness Writing course?
Why is this topic so important to you?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’m very drawn to this topic for a number of reasons. First,
I’ve always liked biology and have been fascinated by the interplay between our
bodies and our minds and, indeed, our individual and collective histories. Second, I see illness and recovery (or not)
as its own perfect narrative. Sometimes there’s a happy ending to the illness
tale; sometimes there isn’t. Finally, I
think I came to study and love this field (narrative medicine) because I hate
how we in the 21st century have come to devalue the beauty and benefit of
narrative. We like bullet points. We love sound bites. We ask people to “bottom-line
it for me,” when these approaches can tell us little or nothing about another
person’s life or feelings or condition. In some cultures, this approach is also
downright insulting. Happily, healthcare
is beginning to re-learn the value of story and to cross-train practitioners in
the sciences and humanities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Ireland is steeped in
great storytelling traditions. How did growing up there inform your writing
sensibilities?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I grew up with two live-in grandparents, both of whom were
powerful storytellers—as was my father. All three of them loved to tell tales
from their own young days, so the 1930s and ’40s and ’50s were constantly
playing out as a sort of background music to our own young lives. I think this
is why I love to write about the past and why I love to question and examine
and argue with memory. It’s also why I struggle with creating a snappy, forward-moving
narrative or plot. I find it hard to
ignore what happened off-stage, in the “before.” Maybe this is an immigrant thing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-135YGGktio0/V2GtxoybPyI/AAAAAAAAArc/fXt0fygZcl8POx-2zoYvcfYWmHXC7HVhgCLcB/s1600/cover_dance_lessons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-135YGGktio0/V2GtxoybPyI/AAAAAAAAArc/fXt0fygZcl8POx-2zoYvcfYWmHXC7HVhgCLcB/s320/cover_dance_lessons.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>In addition to your
writing and teaching, you have a day job in communications. (In fact, you wrote
an advice book on the topic, </i>Writer with a Day Job<i>.) How do you find balance between these three identities, as well as in
your personal life?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Excuse me while I chuckle here. Oh, you’re asking about
balancing identities, not actual time. O.K., I can deal with that one! Almost everything about our day jobs
requires us to keep the “circus animals all on show” (to paraphrase Yeats
here). By contrast, the writing life is
all about the personal and the introspective. So I meditate a few times per week. I also
walk a lot—a key way to feel happier and better and reclaim the real self. I
also write first thing in the morning—before all that other daytime “stuff”
crowds my brain. All these said, I feel lucky to have a day job that I like and
enjoy. There is a great pleasure in
having a set of projects to manage and getting those projects advanced or
accomplished by the end of the week. There's a business aspect to creative
writing, so I’m grateful for the project management and marketing skills I have
developed at work. Plus, nobody at work sends me editorial rejection letters!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">What advice would you
offer to emerging writers?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have four main pieces of advice:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">1. It takes
courage to write. So you better have some or go get some. Push yourself to do
one daring thing each week, to write beyond your comfort zone and your fears.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">2. If you’re
serious about being a writer, let it take priority in your life. Or at least
place it among the top three things that matter. You will never advance your
career if you keep letting other things or people eclipse it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">3. Write what you
can. If you can only manage 400 words before work, then that’s what you
do. The 12-hour writing marathon is
great if you can manage it. But most of us can’t. So write what you can—even if
it’s just to doodle some ideas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">4. Run away from
your life. I go on writers’ retreats a
few times per year, and it never fails to jumpstart my love affair with the
written word and gives me that courage I need. Away from distractions, I also
get a lot done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">What are you currently
at work on?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I just became a naturalized U.S. citizen (last week), so I
was busy studying presidents and the number of constitutional amendments. On a related note, I have an immigrant memoir
doing the publishing rounds. I tag it as an “immigration memoir” but more important
to me, it’s a feminist narrative (it has a health and recovery component, too).
So I’m keeping my fingers crossed on that one. Also, I have a number of
personal essays in the works—each of them at a different stage of drafting or
completion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Is there anything else
you’d like to share?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think it’s important for us writers to practice good
literary citizenship. The irascible, bad-boy or -girl writer is a cliché at
best. At worst, it’s directly antithetical to what art and the act of creating
are supposed to be all about. Conduct your writing career with kindness,
decency, and professionalism and never compromise these standards for the sake
of a byline or a paycheck.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For more about Áine,
please enjoy this intimate <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEuOWtzbxgM&feature=youtu.be">video interview</a> with her, in which she talks about
her philosophy of teaching and her belief in supportive mentors. You can also check out her <a href="http://www.ainegreaney.com/">website</a> for updates about upcoming publications and activities. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-71955187505700876052016-04-28T08:34:00.002-07:002016-08-17T11:31:24.915-07:00Interview with Yankee Magazine editor Mel Allen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SFVKs6It4Ic/VyItTULFNwI/AAAAAAAAAo0/_0CkWLmKheMTT1wM4sSIZjwj5Xt8X3STwCLcB/s1600/Mel%2BAllen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SFVKs6It4Ic/VyItTULFNwI/AAAAAAAAAo0/_0CkWLmKheMTT1wM4sSIZjwj5Xt8X3STwCLcB/s1600/Mel%2BAllen.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">On today’s blog, we are delighted to feature an
interview with MFA faculty member and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/business/media/at-80-yankee-magazine-is-thriving-as-an-avatar-of-new-england.html?_r=0">YankeeMagazine </a>editor <a href="http://www.baypath.edu/academics/faculty-directory/biography/mel-allen/">Mel Allen</a>. Here, Mel
talks with Sandy Chmiel about his teaching philosophy; his 35-plus years
editing, writing, and assigning stories; and his habit of cultivating promising
new writers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">Can
you tell us about the perspective you bring to teaching creative
nonfiction? <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">I may bring a somewhat different perspective to my
classes because while I have written many narrative features, my primary job
here at <i>Yankee</i> is working with writers
on their own stories, so I try to bring that perspective to the Bay Path
experience. I love talking about their work and also sending them the work
of wonderful writers, and I’d say I lean more to the practical application than
the theoretical. I want to give them the best possible chance of
publishing their work if and when they are ready to.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> When
I give feedback on their work I will usually say something like, “Well, if this
had come to me at <i>Yankee</i> this is what
I’d say…” and so I am evaluating on a curve of professional writing. I think
that is helpful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">Is
there a particular work of creative nonfiction you recommend to your students,
and, if so, what makes it particularly effective?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">The foundation of all my courses has been that a
student’s lifetime mentors will be reading the best writers, whether it be
creative nonfiction, fiction, poets, dramatists. That’s where all writers from
students to professionals go to be repeatedly nourished and inspired. I am a
judge in the <a href="http://www.magazine.org/asme/national-magazine-awards">National Magazine Awards </a>and for many years an anthology titled <i>The Best Magazine Stories of the Year</i>
comes from the winners in essays, profiles, feature writing, reporting
etc. I always look to the book to find
contemporary works to show students. At the same time I know my debt to the
writers who made creative narratives part of the literary world long before we
even had a word for the genre: Joseph Mitchell, Lillian Ross, James Baldwin, John
Hersey, W.C. Heinz, Truman Capote, Richard Wright, Jane Kramer, John McPhee, Maya
Angelou, etc. I try to send links to their works throughout the course just to
keep the fires burning and to show how we are all part of the continuum. Most
importantly I find that students have been great sources for embedding links to
writers who inspire them. Just this past week, several students showed me works
of writers whose names I did not know, but whose work I will certainly include
in classes yet to be taught.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">Many
online classes have students log in on their own time and post written
responses to assignments. You and a few other MFA instructors use a weekly
Google Hangout, which allows you to see and hear all of your students at the
same time. How has this worked for you?
For your students? <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">I look forward to Hangouts. It connects me to the
people behind the words I see in discussions. Most importantly I believe it
creates a writing community, not that much different from a weekly writing group
held in rotating houses. We have a set time, we have an agenda, and we see each
other and become real to each other. I
did not know how this would work before starting here, I had always taught in a
classroom setting or a work shop setting, but now I cannot imagine not doing
it. I think the students have enjoyed
the Hangouts. I keep them to an hour and fifteen minutes—an hour and a half tops.
The connection makes all the difference to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">In
interviews and in your personal essays, you have spoken of the power of your
own curiosity and how it informs you as a writer. Tell us more about that. Why
do you consider curiosity one of the most important attributes for a writer?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">It all begins with curiosity. Think of the small
child crawling around in the backyard picking up grass, poking in the dirt,
looking at the sky, trying to figure out the world through taste and sound and
touch. The writer keeps that sensibility and makes sense of his/her life, or
the lives of others by wondering why did this happen and not that. Why am I
this person with this set of experiences and beliefs and not someone else? If
you don’t have curiosity I cannot imagine the next step—crafting an essay or
short story, or memoir, or whatever it is that will urge you to the desk to
figure things out. I am sure that curiosity will be at the top or near the top
of every writer’s list of why they chose this work. There are a lot of
mysteries about our lives. The writer
tries to figure them out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">You
are known for cultivating writing talent and providing opportunities for
publication when you can. Tell us more
about how you have opened doors for new writers. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">I am probably more proud of the writers I have
brought to <i>Yankee</i> than I am of my own
work. I have a shelf of books where writers have acknowledged my help and that
means the world to me. I know how hard the work is, I know how important it is
to see your work in print and finding readers. I can often tell from the first
few paragraphs of a query or a letter that accompanies a submission if the
writer has the voice and gift of storytelling and if she is serious about the
work. Especially when I see new writers
go from a <i>Yankee</i> feature to books. Like
most things in life, success breeds confidence and the ripples keep going. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 107%;">You
have been with </span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 107%;">Yankee Magazine<i> for over three decades. What is
one of the biggest challenges you have faced as an editor?<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">My first story for <i>Yankee</i> was published in 1977 so I’m looking at four decades now.
The biggest challenge is simple: time. I came to <i>Yankee</i> basically as a staff writer and ideas person. I could go
pretty much anywhere to follow a story and create new sections for the magazine. My title was senior editor, but my daily life
was to come up with stories. What could be more fun? Now as the editor, my time
is divided into many slots: reading manuscripts, meetings about digital
initiatives, meetings about staffing, meetings about budget, working with an
art director on covers and layouts, working with interns…..and yes, preparing
Bay Path classes. The days I once spent
on narratives are now precious few. As I write this I am working on one right
now, but the only time I have for it is weekends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">Is
there anything else you would like to share?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">Teaching creative nonfiction keeps me grounded in
what matters most. I am working with students who love writing and are about to
discover how far they can go with their work. I am working with students who
are pursuing this MFA even as they juggle work and life responsibilities. They
inspire me to keep reading the best writers, to follow writers they know and I
do not. And to remember why I started in this work long ago. It was always
about telling the stories. Always the stories. And the emotions they can stir.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 107%;">Mel
Allen has been a finalist twice in the City and Regional Magazine Awards for
Best Column, judged by the University of Missouri as well as several dozen
magazine editors. Here are links to three of his columns as well as a
long form profile</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 107%;">. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/firefarm" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/firefarm</span></a> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/antique-collector" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/antique-collector</span></a> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/poore-family-farm" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/poore-family-farm</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783149029491900502.post-45031538227798171432016-04-13T09:55:00.000-07:002016-04-14T08:17:14.881-07:00A morning with Suzanne Strempek Shea<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Today we are delighted to share an in-depth profile of
<a href="http://www.baypath.edu/academics/faculty-directory/biography/suzanne-strempek-shea/">Suzanne Strempek Shea</a>, Bay Path Writer-in-Residence and workshop leader of our
<a href="http://www.baypath.edu/academics/graduate-programs/creative-nonfiction-mfa/seminar-in-ireland/">MFA summer creative writing seminar in Ireland</a>. This beautifully written portrait
was created by graduating MFA student Susan Abello as an assignment in her "Special Topics in Creative Nonfiction" course, following an inspiring course in "Writing the Personal Profile" with <a href="http://www.baypath.edu/academics/faculty-directory/biography/mieke-bomann/">Mieke Bomann</a>.
We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Suzanne<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">by Susan Abello (MFA ’16)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If
I wrote a novel, Suzanne Strempek Shea would make an ideal heroine. She’s got
that enviable hair, thick long waves of silver with a streak of white that
falls along her slender face. I can see her in the cover illustration, maybe
standing on one of the craggy green cliffs of the Blasket Islands, staring out
over the raging sea, with that hair whipping around her shoulders. She might be
wearing a flowing red skirt that the wind has drawn tight against her long thin
frame. It would be a challenge to feature a complex character like her, a writer
of novels and nonfiction, a woman who beats breast cancer and then writes a
memoir about that experience. A woman who also travels to a small village in
Africa, to write about a clinic there. A character whose passions drive her to
fight for causes that she learns about because she lives her life intensely
attuned and connected to the humanity around her, with an ear to the ground and
her heart in her hand. A character who tirelessly gives of herself in the way
she knows best, by informing the world about what’s important. A character who
has reporting in her bones and storytelling in her soul. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Suzanne
isn’t a fictional character, though. She’s flesh and blood and waiting for me
this morning at Blue Star Equiculture, a draft horse sanctuary that is another
one of her passions. It’s just down the street from her home in the town where
she was born and raised, Palmer, Mass. I find her behind the stables with a
pitchfork in one hand and an axe in the other. She wears a red knit Peruvian
cap. It has white fur trim and ear-flaps from which pompoms dangle and bounce
on the collar of her black bomber jacket, the jacket she likes because it was
her father’s, and because it’s warm. Gloveless, she uses the axe to break the
ice on the surface of the water in one of the large tin tubs where the draft
horses come to drink. “I’ve chipped it away once and it’s already frozen
again,” she says with a smile. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Suzanne
is a volunteer at the farm. You can find her here in any kind of weather. She’s
always wanted a horse of her own; her husband Tommy (another award winning
writer) even gave her one, once upon a time, but she lost it. Yes, that’s
right, Suzanne’s horse ran away, never to be seen again. “My friends won’t even
let me watch their purses after that,” she says. But here at the farm she can
still get her horse-fix, and also fulfill that unstoppable urge she has to
bring attention to a good cause. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">She
introduces me to a few of her friends, Mario and Ponch and Foxy. They are
big-boned, much larger than the average riding horse. Their chests and
hindquarters are thickly muscled. Many of them have beautiful cuffs of
feathering fur that cascades over their giant hooves, hooves that are as big or
bigger than dinner plates. When these horses move, the earth moves. I feel it
up through my gut and I can’t help but feel a sort of awe for them, and for
Suzanne too, because she handles them with such ease. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After
she feeds the giants, she and the farm’s only two employees bring them out to
the big ring where they will have space to run and play. Suzanne walks
comfortably among them like a mother with her own children. She pats them,
coaxes them, pushes them along, laughing when they stubbornly disobey. It’s
frosty this morning, somewhere near zero degrees in what we call an arctic
blast here in New England. The sky is gray and the air crisp and dry, the smell
of hay and manure a bit less pungent because my nose is frozen. The horses
don’t seem to mind the cold. I wonder if they know they have been saved by this
place, by people like Suzanne. They file into the big ring and once the gate is
closed behind the last straggler, Suzanne puts away her tools and we head off
to her house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">She
lives with Tommy of course, in a white Cape nestled atop a snowy hill. We drive
up a winding drive that I can only imagine might be lined with day-lilies and
foxglove when the season is right, but now is banked by walls of white. Ice
crunches under our tires. Inside, I am greeted by wagging tails and nudging
noses. Bisquick, a nine-year-old English setter and Tiny, affectionately known
as Ten-buck Tiny from the Palmer Pound, who is a sixteen-year-old beagle mixed
with dachshund, sniff my horsey smelling pant legs and have ruled me friend,
not foe. Suzanne guides me through rooms with walls painted in colors that
should be given names like Harvest Moon, Morning Glow and Spring Meadow, the
colors of our New England life that one must focus on in times like these, in
times when the mercury dips below comfortable and into intense. But it is warm
inside Suzanne’s house. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In
the dining room we sit at a wooden table covered with an orange wool tablecloth
that Suzanne tells me was her mother’s. “She used this when I was a kid,”
Suzanne tells me, as she pours hot tea into fat ceramic mugs and brings a
basket of soft snowflake rolls in from the kitchen. There is hummus, Irish
cheese, plump red grapes and my favorite, thick-sliced sweet-potato chips, to
snack on as we warm ourselves by clasping our hands around our mugs, the sweet
smelling tea thawing our frozen noses. Bisquick puts his soft face on my leg.
He is meringue like wisps of white fur with specs of brown, he is soft and
gentle and he looks at me with the sweet eyes of a well-loved boy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We
move to the living room where the honey-colored wood floors and the gray marble
fireplace contrast nicely with the graphic print of blue and gold and red and
green of the fabric on the sofa. The art is mostly originals collected over the
years, some things purchased and some given to them by artist friends. Among
the treasured pieces that fit into the “painted by a friend” category is a
portrait of Tommy on his mother’s front porch, he’s just a boy and he’s wearing
his Our Lady of Hope baseball uniform. A small oil painting made by Suzanne’s
mother, depicting a sitting woman reading a book, is set upon the windowsill
and leans on the cold glass pane. I suspect that Suzanne, the beautiful writer
and reader of books, must have been her mother’s muse for that piece, if not as
a model then certainly for the reverence of reading that the painting emotes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We
sit at the desk that Suzanne and Tommy share. Two great writers and there I am.
I am overwhelmed. The desk itself is as unpretentious as its owners, a card
table actually, adorned with a lively tablecloth of red paisley swirls over a
green background. I can imagine them there, gray heads bowed over laptops in
the sun filled room, the music of Bob Dylan or The Saw Doctors playing in the
background as they type. Suzanne speaks with a soft voice, asking many
questions even though I have come to do the asking. She wonders about my kids,
my writing, how I met my husband. Her curiosity is boundless. I see now her
reporter skills at work, her natural instinct to do the asking, honed from
years at the desk of the <i>Springfield Republican</i> and made sharper as she
delved into the writing of books. She is full of stories, and humor and pain
and love, and I am listening. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I
loved working at the paper,” she said. “It’s like Tommy said, it’s a public
service for which you can get paid. You’re really going out into the world and
telling people what’s going on.” Suzanne’s hands dance as she speaks, a band of
gold circles her slender ring finger, and although her hands are hard working
they are graceful, elegant. “Someone
might want to know about <i>this</i> thing…or <i>that </i>could be helpful to
someone…like the farm. I thought, no one knows about this. I’ll write about
this. It’s fascinating!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Much
more than fascinating, Suzanne’s topics, the things that get her attention, are
also things that she comes to care deeply about. From an article about Blue
Star Equiculture that can be seen in this fall’s issue of <i>Yankee</i> <i>Magazine,</i>
to another soon to be published essay for <i>Down East Magazine</i> about her
once-upon-a-time college-town of Portland (where she attended Portland School
of Art to study photography), Suzanne informs her readers about what they might
not know, and perhaps what they <i>should</i> know, about what’s in their own
backyard. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes
though, she goes way beyond the backyard and in those cases her essays have
grown into longer works, into books, like her latest, in which Suzanne takes
her readers to the lakeside village of Cape Maclear, in Malawi, Africa. With a
title like <i>This is Paradise: An Irish mother’s grief, an African village’s
plight and the medical clinic that brought fresh hope to them both</i>, you
know you’re in for a moving story and Suzanne doesn’t let us down. Somehow
along the way, her words draw us into her circle of concern, into the sad and
yet powerfully inspirational tale of a woman who starts a medical clinic in
Cape Maclear, to honor the memory of her son who died there. It’s a book about
healing on many levels, a mother’s healing, a village’s healing (quite
literally) and a greater societal healing of sorts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Speaking
of societal healing, Suzanne recently published another book, <i>Sundays in
America: A Yearlong Road Trip in Search of the Christian Faith</i>, in which
she takes her reader on a tour of Christian places of worship throughout the
country. Raised Catholic, Suzanne tells me that she was disillusioned with the
church when the scandal of the pedophile priests and the cover up of their
guilt came to light in the late 1980s. She found herself distanced from the
church that she had believed in as a child. Her husband, Tommy, wrote
extensively and compassionately for the <i>Springfield Republican</i> about one
of the victims of abuse (and murder in this case) and through it all, Suzanne’s
once strong connection with the church had been shaken. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Another
factor in Suzanne’s shift away from the church was her need for privacy when
facing her battle with breast cancer. Perhaps it’s that New England stoicism,
that private, uncomplaining and rugged spirit that living in this environment
breeds, but Suzanne began to seek the solace of God only when the church itself
was empty and she could be alone with her prayers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It
wasn’t until 2005, Suzanne writes in <i>Sundays in America</i>, when she found
herself fascinated by what she saw as she watched the televised funeral
procession of Pope John Paul II in April of that year. What caught her eye, and
her heart, was the devotion on the faces of the people as they mourned for the
Pope that they had loved so dearly. She found herself longing to understand
that kind of devotion, that sense of belonging and so she wrote, “ I got the
idea that I might want to go on a pilgrimage of sorts, tour a few other houses
of worship, finally find out just what goes on in those churches I grew up
forbidden to enter, and understand what makes for devotion to a religious
community. Rather than sit quietly by myself in an empty church, I would, for a
day, be part of a congregation once again.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">All
it took to set the book in motion was for Tommy to say, “Write about it!” and
off she went, across America. No doubt he said the same as she traveled to
Ireland and Africa in pursuit of a story. Tommy and Suzanne, not only share the
same desk, they share many of the same passions and they give each other the
space they need to be the best they can be as far as writing goes, as far as
pouring themselves into their causes, as far as giving one hundred and ten
percent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A
few years ago, when I first met Suzanne, I heard that her husband who had
worked as a reporter for Springfield newspapers for the past 42 years had
decided to take a job with <i>The National</i>, an English language newspaper
in Abu Dhabi. With her support and encouragement, Tommy went off to work as
Editor of the Foreign Desk in that foreign country on the other side of the
world. Perhaps that was a dream of his, and Suzanne most likely said, “Go for
it,” just as he had said to her so many times before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">From
what I can witness of the two of them together, not just here in their living
room, but everywhere they go, they are a couple who have been blessed with
careers that they enjoy and they weave their lives with threads of work, and
friendships, and music, and travel and of course, the worthy causes that they
pursue with all of their hearts, because they can, because they do it together
and appear to sacrifice nothing of their relationship in the process. Yes, they
are workaholics, but they seem to be very happy with the condition. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Suzanne
might have thought she was destined to be a photographer back when she was a
sophomore in high school. She might have never envisioned her life as a
successful writer of books and essays that would appear in major magazines. She
could not have known when she sat at her typewriter to compose a letter to the <i>Springfield
Republican</i>, (complaining that they were not sending a reporter to cover the
Palmer Panthers hockey games) that she was setting the wheels in motion as far
as her writing career, and that the letter would lead her to Tom Shea, her
Tommy, sports reporter for the <i>Republican</i>, and three years Suzanne’s
senior. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">They
became friends of course, and long before they would each come to excel in
their writing lives, that one letter that started out as a complaint tied them
together for life. “If that was the only thing I ever wrote then I’d be O.K.”
says Suzanne. “You know, I’d say, ‘I’m a success’!” and who could argue with
that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Leanna James Blackwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07327048174205456746noreply@blogger.com0