Random Tidbit for you about MFAer, Daniel Darling

S Something to know… Dan Darling, Blue Mesa Review Production Editor and Fiction MFAer, is also a teaching wonder. This summer, he taught a lesson using the Cartoon Network’s Aquateen Hunger Force in his English 102 class. Believe it or not, Ripley, if you have cable, watch it this Saturday night. Apparently, he’s getting a good ole fashioned cartoon network shout out. Stay tuned for more information.

Watch a clip from the random cartoon by clicking on this blog posting…

Dana Levin’s Graduate Poetry Workshop Rescheduled

Dana Levin’s English 522: Graduate Poetry Workshop has been rescheduled to Wednesdays, 4:00-6:30.

FALL 2009 COURSE DESCRIPTION

Each week we will critique original poetry produced by students. Workshop will focus on revision and ways we can open a poem up to become its strongest and most vivid self, predicated on these ideas: that a poem has an autonomous life apart from the author’s will and intention, and that composition/revision is an act of dynamic relation between you and the poem: what does the poem want you to do with it? How do you find that out? Strange exercises may be assigned to further poem-opening; engaging the unconscious will be a focus. We will also, together, determine what kinds of readings would best advance the class: readings that teach us something about poetic composition and/or the history of contemporary American poetry in relation to zeitgeist-the spirit of the time-and how the individual artist both resists and absorbs his/her historical/cultural/aesthetic moment to produce strong, uncanny and impactful poems. Students will write one critical essay and produce a portfolio of 20 pages, including ten revised pieces.

New Russo Chair: Poet Dana Levin

Poet Dana Levin has accepted an offer to come to UNM as the next Russo Chair in the creative writing program.

Dana is currently the Chair of Creative Writing and Literature at the College of Santa Fe where she’s taught in the creative writing program since 1998. She’s the author of IN THE SURGICAL THEATRE (Copper Canyon 1999) and WEDDING DAY (Copper Canyon 2005). Dana has received numerous awards for her poetry, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a PEN award, an NEA, and an American Academy of Poets Prize.

Dana will be teaching the 522 poetry workshop this fall. That class is scheduled on Thursdays from 4:00-6:30. UPDATE: scheduled for Wednesdays 4-6:30pm

Core Writing Program’s First-Year Writing Awards

The Core Writing Program’s First-Year Writing Awards recognize and
reward outstanding teachers of English 101 and 102. They highlight the diligence and imagination of our Graduate Teaching Assistants and Part-Time Instructors, who work tirelessly to help our first-year students develop the reading and writing skills so essential to higher education.

We received a large number of truly excellent nominations, which made
the decisions deliciously difficult. Thanks to TA Mentor Dan Darling and
his associates for their conscientious deliberations.

Please join me in congratulating these winners of the second annual
First-Year Writing Awards:

Most Innovative Instructor: Felicia Chavez

Best Peer Mentor: Leigh Johnson
Stephanie Spong, Honorable mention

Best Assignment Sequence: Tanaya Winder and Felicia Chavez

Best Emerging Teacher: Stephanie Spong
Carmela Starace, Honorable mention

Outstanding Teacher: Paul Formisano

Sam Tetangco, Honorable mention
Jeremy Ricketts, Honorable mention
Erin Murrah-Mandril, Honorable mention

I hope all the award winners, all of their friends and families, all of
their professors and all of their mentors, will be able join us on May
15 at the EGSA Awards Ceremony to celebrate.

Mark Behr to Teach Creative Non Fiction

Mark Behr has accepted UNM’s offer to teach the graduate workshop in creative nonfiction this fall. Mark is an associate professor at the College of Santa Fe. He’s currently on sabbatical and living in South Africa. Mark is best known as a novelist, but presently working on a collection of essays.

And check out the Wikipedia entry –>

Fall GAships Announced

Creative Writing Program Director Julie Shigekuni writes in:

On behalf of the creative writing faculty, I want to thank everyone who applied for a creative writing program GAship and to announce awards as follows:

Works-in-Progress: Linda Rickert

Blue Mesa Review:
Sam Tetangco, Editor
Melanie Unruh, Associate Editor (f09)
Dan Darling, Associate Editor (sp10)

Program Director’s assistant: Erika Sanchez (f09); Nari Kirk (sp10)

Taos assistant: Jennifer Simpson

In addition, I’m pleased to announce a special award this year to be given to Lisa Gill in recognition of her extraordinary achievements and contribution to the creative writing program via publishing, the organization of events, and mentoring of students. I think we all appreciate Lisa’s talents and efforts. Please join me in congratulating Lisa on receiving this award.

And to everyone who has received a GAship, congratulations!

Julie

Double Congratulations to Kyle Churney

Make that TRIPLE Congratulations to Kyle:

Kyle Churney (MFA Poetry)  successfully defended his dissertation, Paradise Theories, on March 30

AND…   one of his poems has been accepted for an ekphrastic section in Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review (www.borderlands.org)…

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Three poems  more accepted by Weber (http://weberjournal.weber.edu), appearing online and in print.

Got Ink?

I just created (copied from Greg Martin’s website) a page to showcase the published works of alumni and current students in the Creative Writing (Creative Non-Fiction) Program….

So, if you have news, let us know! Fiction writers and poets welcome too!

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.