April’s Chicken and Salsa – MFA Mambo!

Hello my fellow writers,

You’ve all probably (hopefully) heard about the Artist Salon (MFA Mixer/Mambo) I’ve been shooting out emails about. I’m trying to connect the MFA students at UNM (studio art, writing, theater and dance, etc) so we can meet each other and possibly collaborate. I am holding the 1st gathering on Sat. April 4th. So, this month’s Chicken and Salsa gathering will be the MFA Mixer!

I hope you all come…especially those of you I have only met in passing with a quick hello or have only had a class or two with. I really am fascinated by all of you and every day I am again reminded about the type of writer I want to be one day – I get that from listening to your readings, comments in class, and witnessing your enthusiasm.

When: Sat, April 4th
Where: my apartment (email me (tanaya.winder@gmail.com) for the address!)
Time: 8pm til ? (husbands, gfs, bfs, signif. others, are welcome to come along)
What to bring: something to share, either food or drink, and your fabulous self!

I look forward to hearing from you.

Many Blessings,
Tanaya Winder

UNM Poets and Writers Series Presents: Irving Weinman

Irving Weinman will be reading Monday, March 30 at 7:00 pm in the Student Union Building – Luminaria Room

Irving Weinman was born in Boston and educated there and in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dublin, Ireland, and Cambridge, England. He has spent much time attempting to overcome the benefits of this education by working on boats in the West Indies, playing jazz piano in various dives and continents, and finally, and in this order, by writing poetry, short stories and novels. His four published novels are character thrillers filled with action large and small. He has also written reviews for major US and British publications and taught fiction and led workshops in English and American universities. He has been Chair of the Poets’ Workshop at the British Poetry Society, and he is the founder and Executive Director of the Key West Writers’ Workshop.

UNM Poets and Writers Series Presents: Blas Falconer

Blas Falconer will be reading Tuesday, March 31 at 7:30 pm in the Student Union Building – Luminaria Room

Blas Falconer is the author of A Question of Gravity and Light (University of Arizona Press) and the chapbook, The Perfect Hour (Pleasure Boat Studio). He is currently an assistant professor in Languages and Literature at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, where he also serves as the poetry editor of Zone 3. Falconer won the New Delta Review Eyster Prize for Poetry in 2000 and was a semifinalist for The Nation Poetry Prize in 1998, 2002, and 2003.

Michael Datcher coming May 9th!

Michael Datcher is the author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times Bestseller RAISING FENCES — a TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB Book of the Month pick. The film rights were optioned by actor Will Smith’s Overbrook Productions, who hired Datcher to write the screenplay.

He is co-editor of TOUGH LOVE: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur. Datcher’s latest play SILENCE was commissioned by and premiered at the Getty Museum. He has appeared on both news programs’ Nightline and Dateline as an analyst and is a frequent commentator on BBC Radio. He is co-host of the weekly public affairs news magazine BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE on 90.7 FM KPFK.

Datcher’s writing has appeared in the Washington Post, LA Times, Baltimore Sun, The Source, Ladies Home Journal, Vibe among many other publications. He has curated and/or presented his work at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Hammer Museum and other art institutions. Datcher is the former Director of Literary Programs at the World Stage Writer’s Workshop in Leimert Park. He now sits on their board of directors. Datcher has also served on the boards of PEN USA and Beyond Baroque Literary Center. He is Editor of THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FACT: International Journal of Literary Nonfiction. Datcher is a professor of English at Loyola Marymount University.

AND HE’LL BE HERE FOR 516 Words MAY 9th!!!

The event is sponsored by 516 Arts, UNM Creative Writing, and the Outpost Performance Space.

Watch for fliers, and more details to come…

Creative Spin on Women’s Health

My task was to plan events for National Women’s Health Week for the Governor’s Women’s Health Advisory Council. Now we have an event every day from May 10 to May 16, ranging from a talk on gender discrepancies in health to an AMP Acoustic Concert with Susan Gibson and Jana Pochop. There’s also a play called “Melanin” and a performance by storyteller Ramona King. And many students and faculty from UNM are also involved. Michelle Otero, who has a background using writing to help people recover from trauma, will be reading and speaking with Mary Oishi, another writing activist. (I’ll also be involved in that discussion.) Julie Shigekuni also authorized monetary prizes for teen girls who write poems related to health and wellness–and MFA student and page poet Emily Morelli will work with UNM undergraduate and performance poet Jessica Helen Lopez to select the finalists. There’s tons more that week, including a wellness journal bookmaking project with two of my favorite artists, Becky Holtzman and Valerie Roybal. And, before that, on April 25th, there’s a huge health fair at National Hispanic Cultural Center that the Council will be participating in. That day Tanaya Winder will offer a writing for health workshop for youth, and later I will present a talk and workshop on writing to heal–with the help of Sharon Oard Warner who edited an anthology of AIDS stories, ran writing workshops for nurses who work with AIDS patients, and taught courses on AIDS literature. Anyhow, check out the blog–and watch for two walks to be added. It’s been a really exciting project to work on–and I’m getting credit for my efforts!!! See details at the NMWELLWOMAN blog I’ve just launched.

Spring Break and Everyone Flew the Coop

Well not everyone. But things are a little quiet here.

I’m pretending that I’m getting lots of writing done. At this point that means that I religiously sit down at my computer and open up the document I am working on.   I stare at the screen for a while, or stare out my window and wonder why my pomegranate bush is not yet budding. And then I have an urgent need to vacuum. It’s like I’m frozen with half finished essays and I’m not sure what this avoidance is about. If you have any tips drop them in the comments below.

I did manage to submit one brief essay to Brevity magazine. I also received one more rejection letter (from Prairie Schooner) in the mail for the piece I submitted at the end of last semester. I feel surprisingly proud of myself. Sure, publication would be nice but I really am ok with the rejections.

I’m in the game.  Are you?

3/20/09 Exquisite Corpse

Art Exhibit Opening, Downtown Artscrawl:

Exquisite Corpse

Friday, March 20, 2009
5-8pm.

Poetry Performance & Wordplay @6:30pm hosted by Micaela Seidel… A surrealist game exploring the mystique of accident, a collective collage of images and words. @ OFFCenter Community Arts Project, 808 Park Ave SW, across from Robinson Park, 505-247-1172

*Based on an old parlor game, it was played by several people, each of whom would write a phrase on a sheet of paper, fold the paper to conceal part of it, and pass it on to the next player for his/her contribution

3/25/09 Spring 2009 Civil Rights Colloquium

University of New Mexico Spring 2009 Civil Rights Colloquium: “Significant Voices: Women on Equal Rights and Sexual Justice”

The Significant Voices Colloquium will foreground voices from the Native American, Asian, African American, Latina, and GBLT communities. Our keynote speakers will include visiting scholars Sarah Cortez (keynote address: “Latinas Write Their Lives”) and Elizabeth Archuleta (“Our Stories Are Our Theories: Kinship Relations and Indigenous Women’s Intellectual Traditions”). UNM scholars and writers, Sonia Rankin Gipson (“Creating a Place of Our Own: Black Women and the Women’s Civil Rights Movement”) and Marissa Clark (““Lesbian Voices: Speaking a World of Women’s Words”) will be featured.

Colloquium takes place Wednesday-Friday, March 25th-27th (See civilrights.unm.edu for panel times and locations.)

3/25/09 WAC Alliance Works in Progress Event

Scholar and writer Deborah Weagel will read from her work “Women’s Writing: Power, Fragmentation, Metaphor.”

Wednesday, March 25^th, SUB Santa Ana B
TIME: 3-4:30pm

An Evening with David Sedaris

Saturday May2, 2009 at 8pm

Kiva Auditorium

Tickets on sale at ticket master outlets or www.ticketmaster.com

David Sedaris is comming to Albuquerque.  He is the author of #1 New York Times bestsellar Dress you Family in Courdoroy and Demin and When You are Engulfed in Flames.