IthacaLit: Lit with ArtIn the guise of a beggar, Odysseus returned to Ithaca.
Introduction: Spring is all about taking a deep breath. Let's breathe in the fresh air, welcome the outdoors in through our windows, step out onto the dirt, hang some laundry on the line and envisage the you that takes those clothes fresh off the line & puts them on to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet. Eliot. In daily ritual we prepare ourselves to be our best for one another. Watching a fresh breeze ripple through that laundry on the line, we rest in a space all our own, the essential we without the art of window dressing. It is there that the muse drifts on the wind, and, like that wind, inspiration fills us. Our desire is to inspire you with great writing & visual art that connects you to places inside you, places that encourage, celebrate & energize. Your muse, the new breeze on your face, the skip in your step as you step out in those freshly laundered duds, are gifts spring infallibly brings after the quiet days of winter. Live, breathe deeply, and enjoy all that we have to offer – in that order because, above all else, we want you to experience the essential you bubbling up with the tender green shoots of spring! Thank you for being with us on the journey, Editors, Ithacalit |
Spring 2012I can dance just as I used to dance,
in dresses shining as the stars, in dresses pale as the moon, but I am not the same princess. Featured Poet: Our Featured Poet this spring is Jeannine Hall Gailey, whose words above, from the poem, "Allerleirauh Reveals Her True Self to the Prince," speak to the ever-changing face we turn to the faces we meet. Hall-Gailey creates a voice for the super- hero or mythological female. Her poems address the very familiar from the vantage point of a disguised or alternate self, imbued with special powers yet often burdened by these transformative powers, gifts that almost always represent the double-edged sword. We have two new, unpublished poems for you that will be available in, Unexplained Fevers, appearing in 2013 from Kitsune Books. In This Issue: We present Featured Artist, Treacy Ziegler, whose work is appearing at the Arnot Museum March 9th to May 4th. We welcome twelve poets, whose new poems you'll be the first to read: George Bishop, Howie Good, E.K. Gordon, Melissa Holm, Erin Hollowell, Len Krisak, M.K.Meder, Karla Linn Merrifield, Corey Mesler, Mark J. Mitchell, Mark Petrie and Cheryl Snell. We know you'll enjoy new non-fiction from Madeleine Beckman, "Jean Valentine at Home in Poetry," and Nels Hanson, "A Ribbon for New Year." |
*NOTA BENE: All archived materials are reached through the drop-down tab labeled Archives. The tab drops down from Spring 2012.
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Alex Grant's New Collection
Poet and fabulist Alex Grant has created a history of the heart and mind in The Poems of Wing Lei. A monk-poet born in the JiangXi province of China in the mid-9th century, Wing Lei was a contemporary of the Chinese poetry masters Li Po, Tu Fu, and Wang Wei. His early life was spent in relative anonymity as a mid-level government official in the province, though it is known that he wrote poetry during this time. When his beloved wife Nagini was drowned in a flood during the spring of her thirty-fifth year, Wing Lei gave up his government position and took vows at a nearby monastery. He spent seven years there before embarking on his travels, writing poetry and living on the charity of those he met in the Chinese Countryside. He is believed to have died in his sixty-first year. These poems are the story of his life and travels. Alex Grant speaks with Frank Stasio on NPR's State of Things.
GrassRoots Festival of Music and Arts
Keith Frank
July 19-22
Trumansburg, NY
The festival is presented over a four day period (Thursday-Sunday) on four stages. The band selection reflects the eclectic tastes of our 'amorphous committee', a difficult to nail down group of musicians and artists who lean toward roots related & world music. Come for the music, sustain yourself with the great food, international art & energetic community spirit!
GrassRoots doesn't hesitate to bring you great music you've never heard of before. Every year wonderful new bands are discovered and presented along with many old and true friends. The Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance started a long time back as a concert to benefit local AIDS support organization AIDS work at the State Theater in Ithaca NY. Featured artists were Donna the Buffalo and pals The Horse Flies, and Neon Baptist. Encouraged by the success of that night, members of Donna the Buffalo conspired to create a festival that would continue to raise money for the fight against AIDS and other worthy causes, provide regional and national exposure for excellent local musicians, and expose the local and regional music lovers to excellent national and international artists.
In the intervening decades, GrassRoots has grown from its humble beginnings to a nationally recognized event, unique in its focus on traditional and contemporary roots music and one of the few self-sustaining non-profit arts organizations in the state.
Trumansburg, NY
The festival is presented over a four day period (Thursday-Sunday) on four stages. The band selection reflects the eclectic tastes of our 'amorphous committee', a difficult to nail down group of musicians and artists who lean toward roots related & world music. Come for the music, sustain yourself with the great food, international art & energetic community spirit!
GrassRoots doesn't hesitate to bring you great music you've never heard of before. Every year wonderful new bands are discovered and presented along with many old and true friends. The Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance started a long time back as a concert to benefit local AIDS support organization AIDS work at the State Theater in Ithaca NY. Featured artists were Donna the Buffalo and pals The Horse Flies, and Neon Baptist. Encouraged by the success of that night, members of Donna the Buffalo conspired to create a festival that would continue to raise money for the fight against AIDS and other worthy causes, provide regional and national exposure for excellent local musicians, and expose the local and regional music lovers to excellent national and international artists.
In the intervening decades, GrassRoots has grown from its humble beginnings to a nationally recognized event, unique in its focus on traditional and contemporary roots music and one of the few self-sustaining non-profit arts organizations in the state.
Kids Believe! Open to Essay Submissions.
May 1 - June 15th
IthacaLit Guidelines
Summer issue news: We are open to submissions to a special summer issue page that will include short essays from students ages 12-18. In line with NPR's "This I Believe," IthacaLit is looking for student essays titled "Kids Believe."
Submit your 250-500 word essay telling readers about one belief that you hold dear. Write about this belief by telling readers about a specific experience that changed your outlook on life. This experience will have moved you in a significant way and will have become a valued part of your life history that helps you balance your interactions with others on a daily basis. The NPR guidelines state it this way, "Be specific. Take your belief out of the ether and ground it in the events of your life. Consider moments when belief was formed or tested or changed. Think of your own experience, work, and family, and tell of the things you know that no one else does. Your story need not be heart-warming or gut-wrenching—it can even be funny—but it should be real. Make sure your story ties to the essence of your daily life philosophy and the shaping of your beliefs. "
Please include your age & the name of the school you attend. For this segment of the issue, we are accepting work only from students age 12-18. Thank you. And keep writing!
IthacaLit Guidelines
Summer issue news: We are open to submissions to a special summer issue page that will include short essays from students ages 12-18. In line with NPR's "This I Believe," IthacaLit is looking for student essays titled "Kids Believe."
Submit your 250-500 word essay telling readers about one belief that you hold dear. Write about this belief by telling readers about a specific experience that changed your outlook on life. This experience will have moved you in a significant way and will have become a valued part of your life history that helps you balance your interactions with others on a daily basis. The NPR guidelines state it this way, "Be specific. Take your belief out of the ether and ground it in the events of your life. Consider moments when belief was formed or tested or changed. Think of your own experience, work, and family, and tell of the things you know that no one else does. Your story need not be heart-warming or gut-wrenching—it can even be funny—but it should be real. Make sure your story ties to the essence of your daily life philosophy and the shaping of your beliefs. "
Please include your age & the name of the school you attend. For this segment of the issue, we are accepting work only from students age 12-18. Thank you. And keep writing!
Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics
June 11th - July 8th
Boulder, CO
The Summer Writing Program is a four-week-long convocation of students, poets, fiction writers, scholars, translators, performance artists, activists, Buddhist teachers, musicians, printers, editors and others working in small press publishing. Programming includes workshops, lectures, panels, readings, special events, and more.
In dialogue with renowned practitioners, students engage in the composition of poetry, prose fiction, cross-genre possibilities, inter-arts, translation and writing for performance. Participants work in daily contact with some of the most accomplished and notoriously provocative writers of our time, meeting individually and in small groups, so that both beginning and experienced writers find equal challenge in the program.
All four weeks (or any combination of weeks) are open to any interested participant for noncredit. Students from other institutions or degree programs may also elect to attend for undergraduate or graduate credit.
contact: 303-245-4600
swpr@naropa.edu
Boulder, CO
The Summer Writing Program is a four-week-long convocation of students, poets, fiction writers, scholars, translators, performance artists, activists, Buddhist teachers, musicians, printers, editors and others working in small press publishing. Programming includes workshops, lectures, panels, readings, special events, and more.
In dialogue with renowned practitioners, students engage in the composition of poetry, prose fiction, cross-genre possibilities, inter-arts, translation and writing for performance. Participants work in daily contact with some of the most accomplished and notoriously provocative writers of our time, meeting individually and in small groups, so that both beginning and experienced writers find equal challenge in the program.
All four weeks (or any combination of weeks) are open to any interested participant for noncredit. Students from other institutions or degree programs may also elect to attend for undergraduate or graduate credit.
contact: 303-245-4600
swpr@naropa.edu
The Tin House Summer Writers Workshop
July 8-15, 2012
Reed College, Portland, Oregon
The Tin House Summer Writers Workshop is a weeklong intensive of workshops, seminars, panels, and readings led by the editors of Tin House magazine and Tin House Books and their guests – prominent contemporary American writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The program combines morning workshops with afternoon craft seminars and career panels. Evenings are reserved for author readings. Tin House editors and guest agents are available to meet individually with students throughout the week. For students who have completed a collection of stories or poems, a memoir, or a novel, one-on-one mentorships are available with select faculty and staff for an additional fee.
Contact: Cheston Knapp
Phone: 503-219-0622
www.tinhouse.com/writers-workshop
Reed College, Portland, Oregon
The Tin House Summer Writers Workshop is a weeklong intensive of workshops, seminars, panels, and readings led by the editors of Tin House magazine and Tin House Books and their guests – prominent contemporary American writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The program combines morning workshops with afternoon craft seminars and career panels. Evenings are reserved for author readings. Tin House editors and guest agents are available to meet individually with students throughout the week. For students who have completed a collection of stories or poems, a memoir, or a novel, one-on-one mentorships are available with select faculty and staff for an additional fee.
Contact: Cheston Knapp
Phone: 503-219-0622
www.tinhouse.com/writers-workshop