Summer Arts Festival 7/20/12

Daryl had us each bring in a photograph of ourselves as a child. We were then to write what we, as that child, would say to an adult. One of my photographs was pre-verbal, of both hands crammed into the icing of my first birthday cake, but I know perfectly well what I’d said shortly after the second. I didn’t want to get off of that pony!

Rob gave us an essay he had published in the Oct/Nov 2000 issue of The Writer’s Chronicle, “On Emotional Investment & the Objective Correlative.” He also recommended “Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg” by Richard Hugo.

He then gave us this exercise (in class):

Write a one-page description (approx 250 words) of one of the following:

Describe a landscape as seen by an old woman whose disgusting and detestable old husband has just died. Do not mention the husband or death.

Describe a lake as seen by a young man who has just committed murder. Do not mention the murder.

Describe a landscape as seen by a bird. Do not mention the bird.

Describe a building as seen by a man whose son has just been killed in a war. Do not mention the son, war, death, or the old man doing the seeing. Then describe the same building, inn the same weather, at the same time of day, as seen by a happy lover. Do not mention the love or the loved one.

Concentrate on selecting concrete, particular details and images that convey the particular emotion experienced by the character through whose eyes the reader sees the landscape.

Jeanne recommended essays on “How a Poem Happens,’ but when I googled that, the main thing I found was a blog. Jeanne, help! Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry, by Jane Hirshfield, was easier to find.

She then had us take our list from yesterday on “How to write a Paula Bohince Poem” and try to write one. She also handed out a list of suggestions for our planned afternoon trip to the Georgeson Botanical Garden.

Lunch bites had two readers from creative writing. Jeanne read several poems from her book, Gorrill’s Orchard. I read a scene from the middle book of the trilogy I’m working on.

I have to admit I did more photographing than writing at the gardens. But watch out for blog posts on some of the plants they’re growing!

Jarn’s Journal Year 3 Day 91

Storm Cloud is dead.

I am not sure how to react. Death among my people is so rare that all who know the deceased are shocked, stunned by something we do not expect.

These people see death as an enemy, yes, but as an enemy who will ultimately overcome everything alive. Everyone, they tell me, gets old and dies eventually, and Storm Cloud had lived for many years and had many daughters, daughters of daughters, and even their daughters, like Songbird. They grieve for her death, but they see it, not as a shocking surprise, but as the expected end of her life. Already they accept Rain Cloud as their leader and shaman.

I thought of offering to teleport her into the sun, as we honor our dead, but it was clear that they had their own plans. He daughters have been hidden in her shelter with her since she had died, and the men of the group, led by Rain Cloud, are digging a pit not far from the shore of the lake. A pit to roast an animal? But it didn’t look like that, somehow.

Could they be planning to cook and eat her body?

Summer Arts Festival 7/19/12

Today we started with Deryl’s handout on humor and a video clip on David Sedaris reading on Letterman’s snow.

The basic techniques in Deryl’s handout were:
Irony
Juxtaposition
Exaggeration
Understatement
Action
Word play and puns
Ignorance
Tweaking cliches
Misunderstandings
Satire and Parody
Truth
Visuals
Awkward situation
Strange settings
Absurdity.

He had us try to write a humorous piece in the 10 minutes or so we had left. I think he was the one who handed out “Waltzing the Cat” by Pam Houston, which we were to read for tomorrow.

Rob discussed the writer’s view of himself and gave us two handouts: “Borges and I” by Gorge Luis Borges and “Updike and I” by John Updyke. He also read us “Rob and I” from his own writing. Home Play? Here’s the handout.

Rob Davidson  FSAF Summer 2012

 Authorial Self-Reflection

As we have seen with Borges and Updike, writers have been known to use themselves—or their public personae—as material for literature.  Indeed, the idea of “textualizing” the author and/or the creative process presents a writer with a unique set of possibilities.  By textualizing the creative process and turning the lens of creative writing onto itself, we are invited to reconsider: how readers negotiate a creative text; the construction of authorship; and the reflexive nature of all creative expression. (And so much more!)

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENT: Write a 1-2 page character sketch in which you examine yourself as a creative writer, confront some issue of substance related to creative writing, and/or textualize the creative process.  Some questions to help get you started:

• Who is it that sits down to write?
• Why does that person write? (Be honest.)
• What style or manner of writing does that person create? Why?
• Does that person have any goals as a writer? Does she want to save the world? Destroy it? Or does she just want to create pretty objects to decorate book shelves? Perhaps none of the above?
• Has your writing ever offended anyone? Pleased anyone? If so, how did that make you feel?
• And so on…

Jeanne had us discuss “Snowy River Visions, by Paula Bohince in pairs, each pair coming up with ten things about the poem, which we were to organize as “How to write a Paula Bohince poem,” and email the list to her: bellestargang at gmail dot com. She also handed out “Thirteen ways of looking at a Blackbird”.” Jeanne, you didn’t put the author on that one.

The noon Lunch Bites included a large group of accordion players playing together, some with button boxes and some with keyboards, which is apparently rather unusual. As I understand it, the button boxes are designed like a harmonca: they give different notes depending on whether the bellows are being compressed or expanded. Something new I learned at Festival!

It was also a day for readings. Rob read “Walter: Six Meditations” which combined six short pieces with slides, at lunch bites. Later, in the afternoon session of creative writing, all three of our instructors read from their own writing. Makes me nervous about reading from my own work at lunch bites tomorrow!

Summer Arts Festival 7/18/12

It’s only three days into the festival, and already I am getting confused as to which handout goes with which day. Please correct me if I give the wrong assignments.

Daryl discussed introduction by mapping, using mapping, with Eaven Boland’s Object Lessons as an example. His assignment:

Rob handed out a character essence sheet used by actors, and suggested we fill it out for a character in our fiction writing. The one I scanned was the one I filled out, but you should get the idea. We also discussed “Three Soldiers” by Bruce Holland Rogers.

Jeanne suggested we read “The Time” by Naomi Shihal-Nye, “Loading the Boar” by David Lee and “Let Evening Come” by Jane Kenyoon. The last she identified as a specific type of list poem, a litany poem. This is a series of petitions. She had us write a first draft of a litany poem in class, with “Let” starting each sentence. Our Home Play was to revise this draft into stanzas of three lines each, with particular attention to the way the words sound.

Lunch Bites was the children’s day, which is always fun.

In the afternoon we had a guest instructor, Nicole Stellon O’Donnell, who just published her first book of poetry, Steam Laundry. These are persona poems, based on the letters of an early resident of Fairbanks. She spoke about persona poems, and and handed out some pages from Bite Every Sorrow, by Barbara Ras, as examples of persona poems in the voices of animals and inanimate objects. She then had us each write a persona poem using a persona which was not a person. (I used a computer.)

Quotes From Owlknight, by Lackey and Dixon

These are the quotes tweeted during the last week from @sueannbowling. The first six  quotes are from Owlknight, by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon.

“Of all the things in the world, I think patience is the hardest.” Darian, recognizing that he must be patient if he is to find out what happened to his parents.

“They may drive me crazy, but they’re my parents.” Keisha’s reasoning as she observes Darian’s obsession with finding his parents.

“It was one thing to take pleasure in the defeat of an enemy, but gloating over it made you no better than he.” Shin’a’in saying, thought of by Darian as he hears of the end of the Blood Bear clan.

“Competition keeps the breed strong.” Tyrsell the dyheli stag, when a problem comes up at Council.

“Anyone who understands bribery can’t be that much of a barbarian.” Val’s comment when Chief Vorden suggests that the “gift” of wedding shawls might be considered a bribe.

“No one wants to look bad in front of the important stranger.” Darian’s thoughts on why the Council matters were resolved so quickly – they are also preparing for the arrival of a herald-mage.

“If you don’t feel confident about trying, I sure don’t.” Bowling, Tourist Trap. Timi, when Roi is reluctant to try to dig memories out of his mind.

Summer Arts Festival 7/17

This guy was in the museum (which was a very different place then) when I arrived in Fairbanks 49 years ago.

Today we started out with Daryl and a lyric essay, “Joyas Voladoras” by Brian Doyle. The essay on its surface contrasted hummingbirds and whales, but it was really about hearts. Our Home Play was to write an lyric essay on a pair of opposites. All we really had time for in class was to select our opposites.

Rob had us read and discuss “Mother” by Grace Paley. as a contrast to the piece about a father he head us yesterday. Home Play is to draft the fist page of a reflective narrative, baying attention to structure and the repetitive elements. He urged us to trust the reader to fill in the gaps. He suggested the iceberg reference in Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon. He also suggested, very strongly, that we look at Robert Paul Lamb, Art Matters.

Jeanne gave out several catalog poems, two of which we discussed in class. “Note Slipped Under a Door” by Charles Simic was discussed as an example of place, while “Jubilate Agno” by David Lee as a tribute to Christopher Smart, was a humorous piece about the sow Blacula (after Dracula.)

We were also given a number of “jumpstarts” for our trip to the museum, which took up most of the afternoon. I mostly took ideas and pictures. I may put one of the pictures up on the post this evening, but right now I’m taking advantage of the WiFi at the local Mac store and have no way of getting the pictures from the camera to the computer. So I’m heading to Wolf Run for supper (thus frying my diabetic diet, as I have my mouth set for beef Wellington) after which I’ll go to hear our instructors at the Writers Guild meeting.

Update: as of almost 10:30 at night I have been to the Alaska Writers meeting and uploaded one of my museum photos. The regular Wednesday quote context blog is scheduled for tomorrow morning, but I will put up another SAF post tomorrow evening.

Fairbanks Summer Arts Continued

I’m off for the second day of the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. Between the museum and the Writers Group this evening it’s going to be a busy day. I’ll try to get a post on content up this afternoon, but here are a couple of scans I didn’t get up yesterday:

First is the overall Festival schedule, if you live in interior Alaska and want to attend any of the performances:Click to enlarge to make it more readable.

Next is a sample Lunch Bites program:

Sorry I can’t get today’s program, but they’re finalized at the last minute. I know I’ve volunteered for a reading on Friday July 20. Again for local residents, the University is allowing free parking during Lunch Bites, though good luck on finding a space.

Finally, our instructor’s take on how creative non-fiction can be broken down.

Summer Arts Festival 7/16

I’m lazy.

I also have homeplay to do, so rather than retype the things that were handed out today in the first day of the creative writing class, I’m going to scan them. If the type is too small to read, click on the image and you’ll get a larger version.

Homeplay? Well, this is a class were the rule has always been, your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is….  So this year it was officially renamed homeplay.

The schedule was handed out, and I’ll put it here for reference.

Rob Davidson

Rob Davidson started us out by reading the story “Reunion,” by John Cheever. We discussed the story, and he assigned as homeplay that we experiment with 1^st person reflective narrative. Via Email: Reading: John Cheever’s short story “Reunion”

Home Play: Write a 1-2 page first-person reflective narrative with some attention to structure & repetition.

Jeanne Clark

Jeanne Clark discussed lists in literature and daily life, ranging from Homer’s catalogue to the humble shopping list. She had us read a couple of catalogue poems, and as homeplay assigned us to start a catalogue poem. (I know what I’m going to use.) Via email after I finished this: Readings: list “poem” by Kato Indians from Technicians of the Sacred, ed. Jerome Rothenberg; list/excerpts from The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch; “Next to Me,” poem by Jeanne E. Clark

Home Play: write a draft of a list/catalogue poem, stacking & arranging images & details.

Daryl Farmer

Daryl Farmer, who’ll be teaching nonfiction, discussed the line between fiction and non-fiction, as well as the art of revision. He said that non-fiction writing (and to a large extent fiction) is a blend of memory, observation and internalzation, and that the line between fiction and non-fiction can be blurry. The one thing we must not do is break whatever contract with the reader we have made. He handed out a sheet on forms of nonfiction prose (we decided my popular science writing falls under nature) and a packet (of which I scanned only the index page) on revision. I’ll put those up later, on a less scan-heavy post. His homeplay assignment was written out, so I’ll put in a scan of it. I also have this via email: Readings: untitled excerpt from Winding Roads by Joy Harjo; excerpts from Boys of My Youth by Joanne Beard

Home Play: read “In the Current” by Joanne Beard; write in response to the memory prompts on the handout by Joanne Beard.

Revision Session.  Afternoon.

Readings: Daryl’s handout; Rob’s revision essay in Psychology Today <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/one-true-thing/201203/author-robert-davidson-trusting-your-artistic-sixth-sense&gt;.

I’m looking forward to the museum tomorrow, but it’s going to be a busy day – our faculty will be speaking at the Alaska Writers Guild meeting tomorrow, so I’ll try to post from the campus before the meeting.

North Pole Weather 7/16/12

The sun rose this morning at 3:58, and will set at 11:53 this evening, for 19 hours 56 minutes of daylight. It’s only the second day this summer that the sun actually set before midnight. We’re losing about 6 ½ minutes a day, now, but it’s still civil twilight all night.

Last week was lovely weather, in the 70’s but dry—I had to water. It did rain a little last night, but only a fraction of an inch. The delphiniums are starting to bloom, and the first flowers are opening on the Maltese cross. I swear the delphiniums get taller every year; I get a crick in my neck trying to photograph them.

Tomatoes are now available at the Farmers Market. I don’t bother with those in the supermarket—they might as well be cardboard. But the local ones are vine-ripened and complement the lettuce from my garden. Cabbage, radishes, cucumbers, zucchini and onions are also in the market now, and greens of all kinds have been available for a couple of weeks. Rhubarb has been present from the start, and strawberries are also appearing. (I don’t buy them because I have a hard time keeping up with my own.) Wild berries should be available soon.

I’m off to the first day of Summer Arts Festival this morning, so that’s it until this evening. I just hope I can find a place to park. There’s a lot of construction on campus this summer, and it’s taken out almost all of the handicapped parking slots.

Six Sentence Sunday

Here’s another snippet from War’s End, following directly from the one last week. If you want to get caught up, the index above has links to all the six Sunday snippets.

Ginger’s voice, this time.  “Kelty, did you hang on to the medical kit?  I have my reader.  Audi, see if you can find those diapers–we’ll need everything we had with us.  Is Michelle all right?”

“Michelle’s fine,” Coralie shouted.

Good – that’s Coralie, Bounce, Kelty, Audi and Ginger accounted for. But what about Madame Irela? And the alien? And can she locate the others?

New to Six Sentence Sunday? It’s a group of six sentence snippets from works published and unpublished. Click on the logo to find other snippets.