New Visions Writers Showcase

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If you’re looking for something in northeast, PA to do this weekend, then you should come to the New Visions Writers Showcase. It’s taking place this Saturday at 7 p.m. at New Visions Studio and Gallery, 201 Vine Street in Scranton. Here is a list of featured readers and their bios:

Barb Taylor completed her first novel, Provide Square, as a graduate creative writing student at Wilkes University. The book is set in her hometown of Scranton, PA, during the early 1900s, at the height of coal mining, Vaudeville and evangelism. Barb recently completed a draft of the second novel in her planned historical fiction trilogy. In September, she will begin her 26th year as a high school English teacher in the Pocono Mountain School District.

 

Kait Burrier has been a member of poetry and theatre communities in Scranton, Pittsburgh, and regionally in France. Kait’s drama has recently been staged at the Jason Miller Playwrights Project Invitational, Dyonisia ’12, and performed at Scranton’s Bonfire at the Iron Furnaces. Kait’s poetry has most recently been featured in the Voices from the Attic anthology and an e-chapbook, #GOODLitSwerveAutumn, released by the lit mag NAP. She completed her M.F.A. at Wilkes University.

Erin DeLaney teaches writing and literature courses at Misericordia University and other local colleges. She has her M.A. in creative writing from Wilkes University and is currently working on her first chapbook.

Marie Kane is the author of the chapbook Survivors in the Garden, published in 2012 by Big Table Publishing. Her poetry has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and has appeared in various journals including, Wordgathering, The Schuylkill Valley Journal, Hot Metal Press, the Delaware Valley Poets Anthology, The Poet’s Touchstone, The Meadowland Review, and the Belleview Literary Review. For twenty-eight years, Kane taught high school English in the Central Bucks (PA) School District. She has received an award from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts and from The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for teaching high school poets. Her poetry has won prizes in various competitions, including the Poetry Society of New Hampshire, Inglis House, and the Robert Frasier Poetry Contest. She has been a featured reader at the New Jersey State Museum, James A. Michener Art Museum, the International House in Philadelphia, and at many universities, bookstores, and libraries. Currently, she enjoys being the final juror in two scholastic poetry contests: the regional Montgomery County (PA) competition, and the national Sarah Mook poetry contest. She is the 2006 Bucks County (PA) Poet Laureate and lives in Yardley, PA, with her husband, Stephen Millner, a photographer and mixed media artist.

A writing fellow at Elizabethtown College, Richard Fellinger won the 2011 Serena McDonald Kennedy Fiction Award for his short story collection, They Hover Over Us. His short fiction has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and won the 2008 Flash Fiction Contest at Red Cedar Review, and his stories have appeared in many other journals such as Potomac Review, Epiphany, Willow Review and PANK. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University, and he lives with his wife and son in Camp Hill, PA.

Like always, the event is free, though donations to the gallery will be accepted. This will be the last Writers Showcase for a while, at least until late March. There are a few reasons for that. I, along with Jason Lucarelli, the other co-host, have a lot going on in our lives right now that we need to take care of.  Furthermore, because we usually have a lot of published writers that come from other states or other parts of PA, we don’t want to schedule an event in the middle of winter. We’d rather do the next one in spring, when we can rely on safer traveling conditions.

 

And That’s a Wrap

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As a canvass director for the Obama re-election campaign in Kingston, I have plenty of wonderful memories from the campaign, and I’ve made a lot of new friends in my community. I hope these relationships last a long time, well beyond Election Day. I’ve worked on a few presidential campaigns in the past, but this one was especially important to me because it reminded me about the importance of community, activism, and how important politics is, especially at the local level, knocking on doors, getting to you know your neighbors and talking to them about the issues. We finished the night at Bart and Urby’s in Wilkes-Barre, with a few celebratory drinks, and I was especially moved by the folks crying at the bar once the president was declared the victor.

Besides the president’s victory, progressives scored several major victories last night.

The Senate will have its first openly gay senator, after Wisconsin elected Democrat Tammy Baldwin last night.

Elizabeth Warren, who made her name known railing against Wall Street excess and lack of regulation, defeated Scott Brown last night for Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat. Look for her to run for president a few election cycles from now. The base LOVES her, and she has a populist message that should resonate with millions of Americans. If Hillary doesn’t run, it’s possible Warren could be the nation’s first female president.

The two men that became famous because of their absurd and sexist comments about rape, Todd Akin and Richard Murdoch, lost their Senate races to women.

Tea Party darlings Allen West and Joe Walsh  both lost their House seats to Democrats.

Gay marriage amendments were passed in Maine and Maryland.

African Americans and Latinos voted in record numbers.

More young people voted this year than in 2008, and that group broke heavily for the president, despite reports over the last few weeks that young people were less likely to vote, and if they did, less likely to support Obama. Here’s an article that breaks down the youth vote more.

After women lost a slew of races in 2010, they won several races last night. The Senate will now have 19 female senators, the most in U.S. history. Check out more info about the new female senators here here.

In Pennsylvania, Kathleen Kane, a native of West Scranton, won the race for attorney general, making her the first woman and Democrat to ever win that office in the state’s history.

I think, when we look back on 2012, this will be remembered as the year of the female voter and the female candidate. According to early reports this morning, Romney lost the female voter by about 19 points.

In regards to some specific women’s issues, it’s likely that the issue of Roe V. Wade and a woman’s right to choose will be settled because the president will likely appoint two Supreme Court Justices, at the very least, during his second term, ensuring Roe V. Wade is not overturned. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood will continue to be funded. It’s important to remember that legalized abortions are only about 2 percent of what Planned Parenthood actually does. For the most part, the organization offers health care screenings and medical care to uninsured and low-income women. So yes, it can be said that this was the year of women’s issues, of the GOP’s lurch to the far-right, trying to fight battles that were settled 10, 20, 30,  and even 40 years ago, and as a result, the Republican Party lost seats in Congress and lost the race for the White House.

Now Can We Discuss Climate Change?

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I hope everyone is safe and dry after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the East Coast. I’m still astounded at the damage it did, especially to New York City and the Jersey Shore. The pictures of the gutted boardwalk and destroyed rides are haunting and mesmerizing.  I hope everyone’s power returns as quickly as possible. It’s reassuring to see the president and governors of both political parties do their jobs to secure funding for the clean-up as soon as possible.

Because of Sandy’s destruction, I hope there is more conversation regarding climate change and greater action to address it. I remember a cover story  Newsweek ran a little over a year ago which stated because of climate change extreme weather is the new norm.  Yet, despite articles like Newsweek’s and countless research that has addressed climate change, the issue has been totally absent from the 2012 election. It wasn’t that way in 2008, however. Then candidate Barack Obama mentioned it several times in his 08 campaign, and even his opponent, John McCain, addressed it. Since then, when the Democrats had majorities in the House and Senate, they tried to pass a cap and trade bill that addressed the issue, but it was torpedoed by countless GOP filibusters. After that, there’s been little to no talk of the issue. The president, to his credit, has used stimulus money and tax credits to develop new, cleaner energy, but it’s not enough.

Now, however, there is an opening to bring back the issue, especially if the president is re-elected. Since the hurricane, reporters have started discussing the issue again. NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo and NJ Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, have also mentioned it when addressing the hurricane destruction. This should allow the Democrats to address the issue again and the GOP to move more to the middle and accept science, even though Mitt Romney denounced climate change during all of those primaries last year. Sandy has proved that this country needs to get serious about the issue and start preparing, before the next catastrophe.

Sandy also raises one other important issue, and that is the role of the federal government. Reporters have brought up the point that in 2011, during a primary debate, Romney said states should handle emergencies on their own and there is no need for FEMA, due to its cost. Yet, we’ve seen with Sandy, that in times of crisis, the federal government is needed. The states can not handle the costs and clean-up on their own.  Not only has Sandy rekindled the debate over climate change, but also the issue of the role of government. Both are serious issues worth discussion, especially with a major election only a few days away.

Celebrating Halloween

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Every October, I try to make the most of Halloween because it’s my favorite holiday. This weekend, I plan to purchase pumpkin ale and watch some horror movies on NetFlix that I have yet to see, including Lovely Molly and Insidious, both of which are contemporary films that have gotten positive reviews. If you are looking for horror movies to watch on Netflix, there are several to choose from. If you want something classic, Netflix offers a slew of Vincent Price films, including The Masque of Red Death, House on Haunted Hill, and others. They also have some of the universal monster horror movies, including The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Out of all the horror options on Netflix, I recommend Masters of Horror, a series that features 45-minute films by several well-known horror directors, including John Carpenter, Joe Dante, Dario Argento, Tobe Hopper, and others. Both seasons are available for streaming. Check out “Cigarette Burns,” “Jennifer,” and “Imprint.” Those  were my favorite in the series.

If you want to watch something from the 1970s/1980s (the best era in American horror cinema, in my opinion), check out AMC’s 24-hour horror movie marathon that runs from now until Halloween. They’ll be playing The Exorcist, Friday the 13th, and a lot of the Halloween movies, as well as reruns of The Walking Dead, with a new episode to debut Sunday night.

If you want something spooky to read, check out this column in  Electric City. I mentioned in the column “cemetary Nights V” by Stephen Dobyns as a good read for this time of year, but I also recommend Charles Simic and Mark Strand as some other poets to check out. They have plenty of work with unsettling, eerie, deep images.

As we await for the Frankstorm to hit the East Coast, there’s plenty of movies to watch and books to read to celebrate Halloween.

Poety and Youth

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Last weekend, I did a reading and Q and A at the Vintage Theater with other local published authors (thank you to everyone who came out!). One of the questions we were asked is how we got started. Just about everyone on stage stated that we started writing in high school, due to a writing class we had with a supportive teacher.

I had a wonderful teacher in 9th and 12th grades, Mrs. James, who pushed me to continue writing poetry and crafting articles for the newspaper. When I arrived at West Chester University, I had two phenomenal creative writing workshops with Kate Northrop, who constantly challenged and pushed the students, making our critiques of each other’s work stronger. Even more importantly, she recommended to us different poets to read based on our style. I’m still grateful to her for lending me books by Mark Strand and Charles Simic when I was trying to write imagistic lines.

I mention all of this because young writers need encouragement and support. I never would have become a poet without that. One of the teachers at the Tunkhannock Area School District is trying to provide such support to her students and bring more poetry into her classroom. High school English teacher Katie Watkins Wisnosky has launched what she dubs “Breaking Ground Poetry SLAM” for her students at Tunkhannock. This Saturday, from 6-9, they will read at the Vintage Theater in Scranton. Before they take the stage, Lauren Zuniga, a nationally touring SLAM poet, will perform a 30-minute set. Zuniga is currently ranked in the top 5 female slams poets from the 2012 Women of the World Poetry Slam. She is the founder of Oklahoma Young Writers and the 2012 Activist-in-Residence at the University of Oklahoma.

For more information on this event and Wisnosky’s efforts to bring more poetry and creativity to her classroom, check out this article from The Scranton Times.

Lit. Unraveled

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If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, check out the event Lit Unraveled, taking place this Friday at 7 p.m. at the new Vintage Theater, 326 Spruce Street in Scranton. The event will feature readings by Dawn Leas, Rich Howells, Jason Lucarelli, Amye Archer, and I. It will include a great mix of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Following the reading, there will be a Q and A session with the writers. The cost for this event is $3, and all of the money is going to the Vintage Theater, so they can continue to have art and cultural events that benefit the community. Lit Unraveled will also give you the chance to check out the Vintage’s new space and cafe, which includes several used books for sale.

For more info about this event, check out the article that appeared in The Weekender.

 

A Recap of Billy Collins at King’s College

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King’s College hosted former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins in a packed auditorium Monday night. Throughout his reading and the brief Q and A/lecture session that followed, I regretted leaving my notebook and a pen at home. He offered the usual humor associated with his readings and work, but also several nuggets of wisdom, especially for writers, teachers, and students.

I especially liked some his writing tips. He said a poem should “Begin in Kansas and end in Oz,” and he dislikes poems that suddenly begin in Oz without any explanation of how the poet suddenly arrived there. His advice reminded me of Frost’s quote that a poem should “begin in delight and end in wisdom.”  Collins further explained his writing process and said that he sometimes doesn’t know where a poem will go, but he’ll continue writing and see where it leads. Sometimes this takes 20 minutes, or sometimes it takes 4 hours, he said, but when it’s done, he has an experience to share with a reader.

He also offered some suggestions as to teaching poetry. Instead of immediately dissecting a poem’s rhythm or trying to unlock its theme, he suggested that teachers ask students how a poem got to its eventual conclusion, how did the poet get us to the last line. In a way, posing that type of question causes students to look more closely at the techniques used to make the language or imagery fresh and interesting.

As for the reading portion of the event, Collins read poems from most of his nine collections, as well as a few new poems. He read some of his most famous works, such as “Questions About Angels” and “NightClub,’ as well as an assortment of other work, frequently cracking jokes before or after he started a poem. Love him or hate him, Billy Collins has had a long, incredibly successful career by injecting humor into his work, using colloquial language, and making his work accessible.

Billy Collins at King’s College

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I’ve had notice of this for a few weeks now, but I forgot to post this news on my blog. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins will be at King’s College tomorrow (Oct. 15) for a reading. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be held at the William G. McGowan School of Business, located at the corner of W. Union and N. River Streets. The best news is that this event is free and open to the public.

Collins is the receipent of numerous awards and author of several collections of poetry, including Sailing Around the Room, Picnic Lightening, and many others.

National Book Award Finalists Announced

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The finalists for the National Book Award were announced today. The list for poetry is a decent mix of well-known names, including Alan Shapiro, and some lesser known names.

Here is the full list for poetry:

David Ferry, Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations(University of Chicago Press)

Cynthia Huntington, Heavenly Bodies (Southern Illinois University Press)

Tim Seibles, Fast Animal (Etruscan Press)

Alan Shapiro, Night of the Republic (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Susan Wheeler, Meme (University of Iowa Press)

For the most part, most of the books on the list come from large indie presses, but there is one smaller press mentioned ,Etruscan Press, which is run through the Graduate Creative Writing program of Wilkes University, where I received my M.F.A. I got to do some work with Etruscan during my last semester, including having the opportunity to make study guides for some of the books. It’s a well-run press with a small, dedicated staff, so kudos to them, and I hope Tim Seibles’ book wins. What’s especially impressive is that this is Etruscan’s third National Book Award nomination. Works by H.L. Hix and William Heyen were nominated in the past.

A full list of the finalists in every genre can be read here.

Don’t Panic, People!

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A lot of my liberal friends have been moaning and groaning over the last few days after President Obama’s lackluster debate performance last week. However, I’ve been telling them not to worry, at least not yet. In the last few decades, incumbant presidents have more times than not lost the first debate. Ronald Reagan had a poor performance against Walter Mondale in 1984. George Bush Sr. lost the first debate to Clinton. George Bush Jr. lost the first round to John Kerry in 2004. All of those candidates, other than Bush Sr., went on to win re-election.

Furthermore, the president was never a good debtor. He lost several of the debates to Hillary Clinton in 2008, and he lost the first debate to John McCain after securing the Democratic nomination. He is better at giving speeches, especially when he hasn’t debated in four years and his opponent went through a long, drawn-out primary season with a record number of debates.

Sure, Mitt Romney got a bit of a bounce from the first debate. However, President Obama is still ahead in the electoral count, and that’s what matters most.  Just about every electoral map has Obama ahead. Here is a sampling of the Huff Post’s map and The New York Times map, as two examples.

It was probably likely the race was going to tighten after the debate anyways. The president enjoyed a post-convention bounce and was pulling ahead. Romney is enjoying a slight post-debate bounce, but bounces fade after a week or two.

Meanwhile, if you want to get involved in the election, for either candidate, the offices always need help. I continually tell my friends that instead of posting political rants on Facebook, they should do phonebanking, canvassing, or voter registration.