One More Referential Post

My third post on Masslive for this final week is going to be another referential post. But, it isn't an article I'll be refering to. I'm going to post a video I recently stumbled upon from www.ted.com, a really awesome website that has thousands of clips of talks and lectures by the most brilliant minds all around the world. It's like taking an intellectual bath when you browse that website. Anyway, I found a great video of the poet C.K. Williams reading his poetry to the TED crowd, and I thought it would be cool to post the video and blog about it.

Check out ted.com if you have the time, I guarantee you'll end up spending at least an hour watching these fascinating videos.

Writer's Block

I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with another idea for my MassLive blog. There's a Visiting Writers reading next Thursday in Memorial Hall, which I will write about, but as of right now...I just don't know. Can I do another list? Is that okay? What would it even be on? I feel like I've hit a wall. Maybe I should have thought about it earlier, but I was so absorbed in my article on Charles Simic that I wasn't really thinking about the fact that I should have at the very least two MassLive posts by the time class starts tonight. Ahhh!

This is really just me brainstorming. What could be good enough to post on there that won't take a few days to research and complete? Since I have about an hour and a half at this point...

I was thinking of doing something humorous...maybe writing about how to not write a poem. But who am I to pass judgement that way? I don't think any of the poetry I write is good. I can't just go publish my amateur opinions on a blog that a lot of people in this community read. I'm quite stuck. Maybe I could do a post about my two favorite poets? Naruda and e.e. cummings. But I never quite know how to write about what I like about poetry. There are only so many adjectives you can use before you begin to sound trite.

Well...here it goes. I'll think of something...I hope.

The Death of Poetry?

This week's class assignment was to post a 400-600 referential article on Masslive that had to do with our beat. I chose an article from Newsweek about the supposed decline of poetry readership and popularity, and what it means for the verse-inclined community at large.

I'm actually really glad I stumbled across this article for the assignment, because it's something that's been in the back of my mind for awhile. Most of the writing I find myself doing for pleasure consists of poetry...and though it isn't very noteworthy I think it's something I'll continue to do for the rest of my life. If I could think of something I love that I want to make a career out of, it would be writing poetry and short-fiction. You can imagine that isn't the most lucrative of passions but I suppose that has never mattered very much to me. Living here in Amherst is kind of like living in a literary-oriented bubble. It seems like every corner you turn, there is something going on having to do with literature and verse. The very air we breathe in this part of New England seems saturated in poetry. I've never experienced that anywhere else, not even in my hometown of Nantucket, where the natural beauty is as breathtaking to me as the hills of Tuscany were during my visit there, four years ago. I think that's because the people here are so unique. Everyone is literate, everyone is searching for knowledge, it seems everyone has their own individual take on the world. That is what poetry conveys. I don't know, I'm kind of just rambling but the Newsweek article really got to me. Check it out on Masslive once it's posted. Hopefully I'll be able to gather my thoughts a little better there.

Cheers.

Hurray for English Society

Lots of fun stuff going on in the creative writing scene. Last Thursday I went to my second English Society meeting, we talked about Jabberwocky, fundraising, and read our first submission. I postered all around campus on Friday, and finally got my interview with Soo Bee, the editor of the journal who is also just a really cool girl. I hope the article I wrote can be submitted to the Collegian as well as MassLive, for this class, because I think the publicity would do the ES some good.

In other news, the Poetry Festival is coming up on the 15th. I'm really excited for that, I've never been to anything like it. Also, the Visiting Writer's series is going strong, unfortunately Sherman Alexie's lecture was postponed. I was going to blog about it but sadly, there hasn't been a rescheduled date posted yet. More on that later.

I'm thinking of heading to Smith College sometime this week to look at the Sylvia Plath pieces that are a part of the "Unconquered by Flames: The Literary Lights of Yaddo" exhibit there. Her poetry is very haunting. This is my favorite, a villanelle, that I had to analyze my senior year of high school in AP English. Take a look. Hopefully I'll have more to post on that after my trip to check it out.

Brainstorming

So, to round out my beat, my professor's asked us to come up with five story ideas relating to what we've chosen to follow.

Number one:

Do a piece on the undergraduate literary journal "Jabberwocky." This journal is a big deal for fiction writers on campus, and a big part of the magazine includes poetry by undergrads like us. I've even submitted to them a few times. Not only will I be able to be behind-the-scenes for this dynamic literary post, hopefully I'll be able to be a part of it all semester and keep everyone updated on "Jabberwocky." Their first meeting of the semester is tomorrow at 6:30, and then afterwards we're all going to go to a reading.

Number two:

October 15th, Amherst Cinema is presenting a "poetry festival" through film. $5 a pop for students, so everyone should check it out. I'll be there, and hopefully some of the authors will as well. If I can score interviews, and even if I can't, it'll be a great story and I'm looking forward to covering it.

Number three:

UMass Amherst's writing program places among the top ten in the United States. There's a reason for this! I want to write a story on grads and undergrads in the writing department that have made a name for themselves with poetry, and I'd like to incorporate some of the reasons why UMass is such a haven for the literary-inclined. That includes interviewing professors of the poetry classes, students, and authors who have graduated or still attend.

Number four:

There is a Visiting Writers Series here at UMass Amherst. Not a lot of people know about it. The only reason I do is because I took a one-credit literary course my freshman year that required us to go to every single reading on and around campus. This semester, for my beat, I'd like to write stories on the individual poets who come to read their work here on campus. Onsite interviews with the author is something no one can really pass up. The first poetry reading is happening Thursday night at 7:00 (the same one the Jabberwocky group is heading to), at Memorial Hall, with Dara Wier.

Number five:

Emily Dickinson. We've all heard of her, the famously tragic poet, and we've all read some of her work. Lucky for me, the Emily Dickinson Museum is located directly in the center of Amherst, and their annual Emily Dickinson read-a-thon is happening Saturday, from from 7:00AM-10:00PM. I'd like to check it out, and write a story on why the poet is so important in this area of the country. I'll get interviews from the museum staff, and hopefully the hardcore fans of Dickinson's work who attend this annual Poetry marathon. Should be interesting, eh?

So there you have it, some rough ideas of what this blog is gonna be all about.

Re-imagine poetry

Amazingly excited to go to this.

New experiences are always dazzling.

Adventures in verse, to be continued.