Please read this excellent article that captures how I feel... especially in response to those who don't seem to "get it"... regardless of their gender. It begins: "Say thank you. Say thank you to the women who gave you a voice. Say thank you to the women who were arrested and imprisoned and beaten and gassed for you to have a voice. Say thank you to the women who refused to back down, to the women who fought tirelessly to give you a voice. Say thank you to the women who put their lives on hold, who –lucky for you — did not have “better things to do” than to march and protest and rally for your voice. So you don’t feel like a “second class citizen.” So you get to feel “equal.”"
Type a message to a friend, family member, pet, politician, or lover, and email it to snailmailmyemail@gmail.com. Then sit back and relax while your email is handwritten, sent out, and delivered to the recipient of your choosing, completely free of charge!
Snail Mail My Email is a month-long (July 15 - August 15), interactive community art project which seeks to both share the warm-fuzzy feeling of receiving a personalized letter as well as inspire people to send their own snail mail. Anyone with internet access can partake by simply sending an email, after which the very same message will be handwritten and physically mailed to the chosen recipient anywhere in the world, completely free of charge.
10 items are food related
5 are related to exercise and wellness
17 of them are sports/leisure/hobby type activities
7 are literacy related
at least 12 of them involve travel
11 will help me build some mad skills
and 9 of the list items are purely indulgent
This is almost painful to watch. Come on, kids, life is about taking risks. It's bittersweet. So dear. So awkward. So unlike reality, in that we're privy to both minds at once in this video. If we only had a God's eye view, it would be so much easier. Of course, at 2 am... with the help of a little alcohol the filter seems a bit less intrusive. :)
Painting with Your Senses: Teaching "Show Don't Tell" Friday, March 12, 6:00-9:00 PM
Throughout the course we wrote a number of poems in 15-20 minutes, but in this session I wrote four. Here's an example of one of our prompts:
Write a poem --any length we want -- specific things must be included:
* a tongue will touch or taste something * a smell will remind a speaker of something else * you will invent the name of a color * something in the poem arrives or departs * invent a verb * name what the radio is playing * name a body of water
Here's a draft of my attempt (you'll notice I didn't get all the requirements in, oops.)
My blood spools, spinning like the dizzy maker on my childhood playground and if I think too hard or stare too long I get the same motionless feeling and now I start to slump a little to the left afraid to embrace that weightless feeling when as a child I'd hold on like Superman with my legs spindling out behind me And my mouth is a copper penny as my platelets return. Welcome home, my own red sea. I pray I won't feel the shiver of my vein collapsing as the cuff's chokehold tightens on my arm. I require a bit of gauze--a game I play with myself to pretend there is no 16 gauge needle. Something to squeeze, my brain immersed in book, and a blanket thick to work its warmth when the saline slams through the tube, reverse motion washing the coagulant-rich crimson back to shore, a glacial melt spilling in my veins.
Our Poem: Creative Collaboration in the Classroom Saturday, March 13, 8:30- 11:30 AM
We adopted a poem from the choices Goodman provided in a mini-anthology the night before. We used our "adopted poems" to examine the following things.
Any poem can be considered in terms of its... Line – isolating the lines and looking at them Music – looking at the sound devices Shape – is it short lines, long lines, etc. stanzas, appearance. Mind is this more about concept or ... (I missed the rest of that one) Velocity is this meant to be read word by word… or is it more like Alan Ginsburg Foot – meter?
Then we each picked just ONE line from the poem that we liked and talked about why. Looking at line breaks and at the "poems within the poems"
We tried an Exquisite Corpse poem and then did some partner poems some blind, some responsively. None of these quite worked as well for me, but I could see potential for cool things, especially with students.
Building Your Own Room: Inventing Poetic Forms Saturday, March 13, 1:30-4:30 PM
In this session we started by revising one another's poems from earlier. It was interesting to hear others' efforts at revision and tightening of language.
Then we attempted to understand line breaks in a poem where they'd been removed. It was an interesting lesson in enjambment.
How do you form a line: Breath Idea Architecture
We ended things by trying to write in a very tight form--a set number of lines and syllables. And then we'd revise that to fewer syllables, fewer lines. It was a great exercise. Difficult for some (ahem. me!)
Brent Goodman - Public reading/Q&A session Saturday, March 13, 7:00-9:00, North Dakota Museum of Art, UND
The night ended off with Brent doing a public reading from his book The Brother Swimming Beneath Me. A few of us gathered recently to read some of his poems and to do some poetry explication before we met him. I loved what I read and it was thrilling to hear him read from that book at his reading. I'm all revved up for poetry month now... yippee!
I posted this on my creative writing page on my teacher website, but I went to the trouble of creating the links so I thought I'd share it here too. March starts today. Make this a goal. Why not?
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Here's how Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak, Chains, Wintergirls and more, explains her WFMAD project posted on her blog: The rules are simple. In fact, they aren't even rules. They're more like guidelines, the Pirate Code of Writing.
1. Commit to write for 15 minutes a day for the entire month of August. 2. Just do it.
Seriously. That's all there is to it. You don't have to sign up anywhere, or meet minimum word count goals or complete a whole freaking novel in 30 days. (And obviously, you can do this ANY month... it doesn't have to be August) Just. Write. Every Day. This. Month. 15 Minutes.
My new computer area. Fabric covered bulletin board to my left. John Cusack on my right.
My yarn stash. Projects in progress are in baggies lining the bottom shelf.
The decision on these shelves was a tough one. I brought my pal Andrea in for some consultation last Wednesday on our way to have dinner with Greg Williamson. She encouraged me to go with the 8" shelves instead of the 10". So wise. Thanks, Andrea! I moved my blonde bookshelves into my studio space rather than store them. They are perfect for shelving and storage. I have some writing reference books in here as well as all my knitting, sewing, crocheting books and patterns. The Orla Kiely basket from Target is one of my favorites in this image. The shoe bag organizer is something I've used in the storage area for some time. It is a lifesaver when it comes to finding things like batteries, tape, glue sticks, post its and so much more. The closed closet doors open to reveal another workspace:
My sewing nook. I have stamping, scrapbook, extra fabric, cotton batting, and mending in progress on the shelf above. I have my wooden crates from my former office space serving as shelving for things like old journals, writing portfolios, colored paper, markers, paints, modeling clay, modge podge, and felt.
Here are some details of the more decorative bits of the room. Yum. This was the frosting on the cake.
I'd first heard this book mentioned on someone's blog. I found a copy at the library awhile back and have finally had some time to explore the book. Can you describe your life in six words? That's what the editors of storytelling magazine SMITH asked readers in 2006. The book is a collection of those 6 word bios (some by famous people, some not). Here are some favorites (and the page numbers I found them on):
"Soul'd out so I could prophet." --Gotham Chopra (Deepak's son p 15)
"Watching quietly from every door frame." --Nicole Resseguie (1)
"Nobody cared, then they did. Why?" -- Chuck Klosterman (2)
"I asked. They answered. I wrote." --Sebastian Junger (3)
"I still make coffee for two." --Zak Nelson (7)
"Wolf! She cried. No one listened." --May Lee (6)
"Wasted time regretted so life reinvented." --Vicky Oppus (9)
"Followed white rabbit. Became black sheep." --Gabrielle Maconi (13)
I find that in the whirlwind of my typical days which turn so quickly to weeks, I have little or no time for writing. I have a storehouse of ideas and rarely have time or patience to truly dig in and do anything with them. This month, I pledged to write a poem a day in honor of all the other writers who are happily writing their crappy novel as a part of NaNoWriMo. Even that simple goal has gone unmet, though after this weekend I'm getting closer.
Friday night and Saturday I retreated from "life," at least as much as one is able, and I took part in a RRVWP writing retreat with 7 others. It was heavenly to just have a space and place and time to work. Three participants stayed at the guest house and the rest of us, who live locally, returned home to sleep. Each person worked on a different kind of writing; Some on young adult books, some on professional writing, on a NaNoWriMo novel, poetry, childhood memoir, and essays.
We had a sharing time on Saturday before we left and it was wonderful to get a glimpse into the writing and progress of others. To be fair, Linda's piece on a childhood story was the most polished of anyone's writing at our sharing time, but it was so wonderful I wish I had a copy. I think she's really got something there. A natural story telling gene, perhaps. Rather than a short narrative essay, I think she's got one chapter in a wonderful book. I'd buy it!
And that's not all. We were treated to delicious food from Dakota Harvest Bakery who catered the event with yummy soups, salads, breads, fruit, and pastries. Considering I am not a fan of cake I am amazed at how their lilac-colored cream cheese-frosted cupcakes are dominating my thoughts. If I was ever interested in losing weight or being healthy I would say this retreat did little toward that effort. I probably consumed a stick of butter yesterday and possibly a small loaf of bread. And now I'm dreaming of cupcakes. Sigh.
I had a wonderful time and would do it again in a heartbeat. I am afraid to praise it too highly for fear the next time the RRVWP hosts a retreat, they won't have room for me!
Last Friday I was exploring the web looking for ideas for expanding tutoring in classrooms and I stumbled on onceuponaschool.org and something about it caught my attention. Then I discovered a familiar name--Dave Eggers, author of one of my favorite books--A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.
It took me a minute or two to discover that Eggers was behind the site; that he is an advocate for education, particularly reading and writing. And not only an advocate of education, but of building bridges between citizens with skills to offer and kids who need one on one tutoring.
The website is the result of Eggers receiving the 2008 TED prize (Technology, Entertainment & Design Conference).
In his speech he details his dream, its roots, how he got involved, how his dream has grown, and how he wants to hand off this dream to communities everywhere using the onceuponaschool website to make the evidence visual and inspiring for others.
Eggers speaks rapidly (at light speed, actually) genuinely, passionately, with his hands, and in a style that is completely his own. He is funny and yet, I was completely moved. I urge you to watch the entire speech to really understand what he and others did at 826 Valencia in San Francisco. The video is 25 minutes. I realize that's a lifetime to typical blog reading, internet browsers. Yet, once I started watching it I was transfixed. Maybe you have to love Dave Eggers or be passionate about kids and volunteering and writing, but I thought it was entirely worth it. In fact, I can't stop thinking about it.
If the idea of watching that video is too much, read on. I have reprinted some of the best bits from this article by Alan T. Saracevic, Chronicle Business Editor
Each year, the TED conference organizers pick three extraordinary individuals to each receive an award and then make a wish. Then the TED community, made up of some of the most influential scientists, artists, business leaders and politicians in the world, goes forth and works to make those wishes come true.
This year, San Francisco's very own Dave Eggers, a Pulitzer-nominated novelist and community activist stole the show. In a hilarious, rambling speech that had the crowd roaring with laughter and applauding in appreciation, the 37-year-old writer made his wish:
"I wish that you - you personally and every creative individual and organization you know - will find a way to directly engage with a public school in your area and that you'll then tell the story of how you got involved, so that within a year we have 1,000 examples of transformative change."
To help facilitate the process, Eggers has created a Web site, www.onceuponaschool.org, that will serve as a clearinghouse for people to chronicle their volunteer efforts.
Eggers founded a groundbreaking tutoring center/publishing house in San Francisco's Mission District. Named after its street address, 826 Valencia, it has grown into a municipal treasure and a national movement that is helping thousands of kids with reading and writing skills in cities from coast to coast.
The way it works is simple: Interested writers, editors and artists rent a storefront and hang a shingle offering tutoring services to kids in the neighborhood. During the day, the pros work on publishing projects such as Eggers' McSweeney's literary journal. When school lets out, the kids come in to do their homework and work on projects with one-on-one help. In many cases, the kids work up anthologies that get published.
Now, you're probably wondering how Eggers and his friends get kids to come in for more tutoring after a day of school. A lot of it has to do with the program's whimsy.
When Eggers first rented that storefront on 826 Valencia St., the landlord said they had to sell something. It was zoned commercial. So the writers put together a Pirate Supply Store in the front of the shop, selling gear for the "practicing buccaneer." Visitors can buy custom peg legs, and eye patches, and planks by the foot. Ocean maps and parrot feed. It's all pretty hilarious and it seems to put the kids at ease: This is not your average learning experience.
That very model, learning mixed with whimsy, caught on across the country. A group of writers in Brooklyn opened a store that sold superhero gear. In Chicago, there's a tutoring center masquerading as a spy store. And in Los Angeles, there's a time-travel mart.
Through those experience, Eggers has become committed to the power of tutoring and the need for supporting the nation's foundering public schools.
"This is a different kind of TED wish, one that we haven't had before," said TED organizer Chris Anderson, who went on to say that anyone can get involved in this idea, not only the world's elite power brokers. "I really hope that in a year's time, there's a thousand stories."
To learn more about 826 Valencia and the other like-minded tutoring centers emerging across the nation, go to 826national.org Check it out.
Maybe my talented, intellectual, highly skilled friends in the Seattle area would be interested in volunteering at their site.
It's November and, for many, that means it's time to begin their novel writing frenzy. I've been wanting to participate in NaNoWriMo ever since I learned it existed. Unfortunately, I crashed and burned last year and I know better than to try this particular year.
So, in an effort to be supportive to my other foolish friends, I am going to do a different sort of pledge. A poem a day pledge for the month of November. I promise to write 30 crappy poems before this month is done.
Unfortunately, I am not off to a very good start. I just realized it is the first day of November and I have only 24 minutes of it left. Yikes.
*I made that up. I am guessing National Poetry Writing Month is in April where it belongs as a part of the existing celebration of the genre!
Today Heid Erdrich paid a visit to the RRVWP summer institute and I had the opportunity to be a part of the action. We heard her read from all three of her books of poetry... the two out now--Fishing for Myth and The Mother's Tongue and one due out next November. She talked about her inspirations and her revision process and what she tells her students about writing and revision. Edrich's down-to-earth, friendly spirit added to the experience and I was pleased with how willing she was to talk about her poetry and how it was shaped.
I just got my hands on her poems a week ago and I really like Fishing for Myth... of course I love myth and story and legend and so much of that makes its way into the poems. Here's one example.
True Myth by Heid E. Erdrich
Tell a child she is composed of parts (her Ojibway quarters, her half-German heart) she'll find the existence of harpies easy to swallow. Storybook children never come close to her mix, but manticores make great uncles, Sphinx a cousin she'll allow, centaurs better to love than boys -- the horse part, at least she can ride. With a bestiary for a family album she's proud. Her heap of blankets, her garbage grin, prove She's descended of bears, her totem, it's true. And that German witch with the candy roof, that was her ancestor too. If swans can rain white rape from heaven, then what is a girl to do? Believe her Indian eyes, her sly French smile, Her breast with its veins skim milk blue -- She is the myth that is true.
This week I attended a Creative Writing Workshop and because of that, oddly enough, I've been writing less on this blog. The first two days were devoted to poetry and revision. I was really getting in the groove. Days three and four we explored fiction and creative nonfiction and publication. This is not my strength as evidenced by the extensive retooling we did on my writing in class. At a sentence level my writing became "what not to do." Oh well. I feel like I learned new things and though my confidence may be at a new low in regard to my prose, I am more excited to write in verse. One of our last efforts was a jump back to poetry mode and we all wrote sonnets. My first ever. Mine (very much still in a first draft stage) was about kidney stones. Nice, eh?
In addition to writing, this workshop exposed me to some new authors. Tony Hoagland, for example. We read a poem by him on day one that I loved and then Nancy suggested we read Lucky (the poem I posted on Tuesday) and I did. When I read it I was overcome by tears. It really hit me hard. Now, after hearing the reactions of others, I'm doubting my first impression.
Maybe it was just the fragility of the older woman that did it. Maybe it was the fast forwarded image of my own mother dying that shot through my mind. Maybe it was the images of people I've known who have died from diseases that have wasted their bodies and robbed them of who they once were for good or for bad. In "Lucky" I sensed a man who didn't have a good relationship with his mother and yet at this late stage of the game he was getting something he could not have any other way for whatever reasons, the least of which might have been that when his mother had more fight she might not have let him or wanted him to be the one to care for her. But she was stuck with him and he was stuck with her and sometimes in the quiet there was a kind of joy. And I saw the last few lines as particularly expressing that there was a sweetness there that they both could still enjoy despite his struggles with the power he managed to inherit whether desired or not.. the idea of the caretaker becoming the cared for.
Nevertheless, last night at trivia I discovered not only that people do read this blog, but that "Lucky" was not a favorite poem and for that I apologize. I will post "Jet" by Tony Hoagland --the poem I loved in class. A poem I think is close to perfect in many ways. I love the imagery. It hints at the choices we make, the sacrifices, how we feel about how things have turned out. And any poem with space references in it, is just great.
Jet by Tony Hoagland
Sometimes I wish I were still out on the back porch, drinking jet fuel with the boys, getting louder and louder as the empty cans drop out of our paws like booster rockets falling back to Earth
and we soar up into the summer stars. Summer. The big sky river rushes overhead, bearing asteroids and mist, blind fish and old space suits with skeletons inside. On Earth, men celebrate their hairiness,
and it is good, a way of letting life out of the box, uncapping the bottle to let the effervescence gush through the narrow, usually constricted neck.
And now the crickets plug in their appliances in unison, and then the fireflies flash dots and dashes in the grass, like punctuation for the labyrinthine, untrue tales of sex someone is telling in the dark, though
no one really hears. We gaze into the night as if remembering the bright unbroken planet we once came from, to which we will never be permitted to return. We are amazed how hurt we are. We would give anything for what we have.
I have a friend who likes to harrass me for my minimal reactions to films. Lately my most typical responses go something like this: "It was okay" or "It was good." The following are what passes for my movie reactions or "reviews" from the depths of THE diary. For some reason these just crack me up.
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Monday June 18, 1984 ... I feel sad at heart because of the most wonderful show on television was just on. It was called "Somewhere in Time." I must see that show again. I must. It had the saddest ending. The main character was played by Christopher Reeve "Superman." Love, Carmyn
Thursday June 21, 1984 D.D. Heather K. called today. She got back yesterday. I told her the whole story of "Somewhere in Time." Then she told me something about a show called "Vacation." It sounded pretty dumb to me...
Sunday June 24, 1984 D.D. Today mom said that Footloose was playing at the Outdoor Theatre and she took me to it. I loved it. A lot of swearing in the movie. This was the first outdoor I've ever been to. It started at 20 minutes after 10 o'clock. It lasted until 12:30. "Footloose" is a great song. "Give the Boy a Hand" is too. Today I baked a chicken pot pie. It tipped over on the stove. I put the filling back in it and nobody even knows it spilled. It was delicious. Love, Carmyn
Thursday July 12, 1984 .... I weeded 7 rows and I'm getting $3.50. And I'm saving. It rained real hard and it also hailed hail the sized of MARBLES. We went to Romancing the Stone. It was great. Love, Carmyn
Sunday July 22, 1984 ....Tuesday I am going to the fair. My dog got in a fight with a groundhog in our yard! And my mom gave me her old camera and some film. I watched part of Shogun. It's good. Love, Carmyn
Saturday August 18, 1984 .... Tonight we went to the movie, Jason, Lori, me, Michelle, and Jenna and well, mom too! It was called "Gremlins" about a cute little mogwai (a little bear cub creature) his name was "gizmo" and you can't get him wet or he'll multiply and he hates bright lights and sunlight will kill him. And most important rule, don't feed him after midnight or they turn mean. It's really a stupid and scary show. I didn't like it at all. Love, Carmyn
Saturday September 1, 1984 ... When we got to the mall we went to B. Daltons and I bought a book. Then we went to the movie The Karate Kid. It was so good! I liked it better than any Star Wars movies.... Love, Carmyn
A few months ago a question from my friend Jennifer sent me searching through my childhood diary for answers. This diary, a birthday gift in 1984, is truly the greatest source of nostalgic pleasure. Every kid should write in one so they have something to laugh at 20 years later. Or in my case, 24 years later. Written in purple pen on the inside cover is the phrase, "I'm 11 years old and lovin' every minute of it." After reading the entire diary cover to cover, I tend to believe it.
My heart aches just a bit as I read about all the time I spent with my cat and my cabbage patch kids out there on the farm. There's a bittersweet humor in the words of this naive, childish, little girl who was once me. It's also incredibly funny the things I commented on and the attitudes I had about certain things. Most of all, I love the flood of memories that hit me when I read mention of places, people, and things I've not thought of in ages. I have no idea if this is something anyone else might enjoy, but for my own amusement I'm going to start posting an entry from the diary once a week. After all, Oscar Wilde once said, "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train."
Monday June 18, 1984
Dear Diary, Today was fabulous. The greatest thing happened. I got to babysit. It was at our house. Karen brought Brian over and I babysat for about two hours in the afternoon. Everything was fine. I got $2.00. Tomorrow is the Cando Fair. I'm feeling kind of sick at heart. Because of the most wonderful show on television was just on. It was called "Somewhere in Time." I must see that show again. I must. It had the saddest ending. The main character was played by Christopher Reeve, "Superman." Love,Carmyn
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This entry reveals not only how prices of babysitting have gone up, but also how even back then I was all about the movies. That's one of my favorite things in the diary.--reading my first reaction to films and music. For those curious, click here for more information on Somewhere in Time.
I remember when I was first in college and working as a waitress in the metropolis of Grand Forks. I waited on local newscaster, Terry Dullum. The next time I spoke to my dad, I proudly mentioned this. To which my father replied, "I'm sorry to tell you this, Carmyn, but I've never really considered Terry Dullum to be a celebrity." Looking back, I have to agree.
Yet, this Tuesday I must admit I'm a little bit aflutter for my most recent celebrity encounter. (No, it's not John Cusack. If I met him, I'd be cool and wonderful and he'd realize in moments I was the girl he's been dreaming of all this time and we'd be married quietly and I'd be sure not to flaunt my newfound happiness. No one likes a braggy girl.) No, last night I met Salman Rushdie. Perhaps I'm misrepresenting the situation. Sadly we did not have a one on one encounter that ended in a friendly embrace. I mostly just saw him speak for about 90 minutes. Still, this passes for excitement in my life. I did speak to him as he signed my copy of Haroun and the Sea of Storiesat the NDMOA reception that followed the kick off of the UND Writers Conference.
This past week flew by like... like something really fast. That's how tired I am, I can't even think metaphorically. Sigh. Here's how I've been keeping busy:
On Tuesday and Thursday, I helped my sister pack for her 2 months and ten days trip to Australia in addition to working with Pam on trivia questions and participating in parent/teacher conferences on Thursday.
On Friday, I celebrated The Day of the Dead at Pam's with the DNA trivia folk.
On Saturday, after having lunch with Tara, I hauled Ashley's luggage to the airport to weigh it. Thank goodness we did... one bag was 3 pounds over and one bag was 2 pounds under so we shifted and removed things and got it all under control. Then I finished writing two "free drink questions" for trivia and went off to host.
On Sunday, my mom and I drove Ashley to Minneapolis because her flight to LA left at 7 am, the next morning. We enjoyed a couple yummy meals, half price books, IKEA, and Crate and Barrel and then we hugged and kissed the wee one good bye and mom and I headed home... Ahhh... just TEN hours in the car. (By the way, it was the first out of town trip for my car... it got 34 miles to the gallon. Not too bad, I don't think)
Oh, and I'm already failing miserably at NaNoWriMo... it turns out I don't have enough time for LIFE (like sleeping and doing laundry) let alone writing.. but I've not given up yet.
1) If you don't do it now, you probably never will. Novel writing is mostly a "one day" event. As in "One day, I'd like to write a novel." Here's the truth: 99% of us, if left to our own devices, would never make the time to write a novel. It's just so far outside our normal lives that it constantly slips down to the bottom of our to-do lists. The structure of NaNoWriMo forces you to put away all those self-defeating worries and START. Once you have the first five chapters under your belt, the rest will come easily. Or painfully. But it will come. And you'll have friends to help you see it through to 50k.
2) Aiming low is the best way to succeed. With entry-level novel writing, shooting for the moon is the surest way to get nowhere. With high expectations, everything you write will sound cheesy and awkward. Once you start evaluating your story in terms of word count, you take that pressure off yourself. And you'll start surprising yourself with a great bit of dialogue here and a ingenious plot twist there. Characters will start doing things you never expected, taking the story places you'd never imagined. There will be much execrable prose, yes. But amidst the crap, there will be beauty. A lot of it.
3) Art for art's sake does wonderful things to you. It makes you laugh. It makes you cry. It makes you want to take naps and go places wearing funny pants. Doing something just for the hell of it is a wonderful antidote to all the chores and "must-dos" of daily life. Writing a novel in a month is both exhilarating and stupid, and we would all do well to invite a little more spontaneous stupidity into our lives.
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Those reasons are the ones given by the NaNoWriMo crew on their FAQ pages and I thought they summed things up pretty well for me. I'm not sure I'll be able to complete the 50,000 word goal but I am going to go for it. Right now I have NO CLUE what to write about. What my novel should be about... who or where or when. Hmmmm... I know I am not supposed to start writing before November 1st, but it would be nice to have an idea. I'll probably add a word meter to the sidebar so you can monitor my progress too.
This week I attended part two of an institute devoted to studying authors as mentors. Our overall objective as teachers was to explore ways to use published authors' works in our teaching as exemplars for our students and even as a way to aid our own writing. Part one involved four days in the classroom and Part two was a field trip to Minneapolis to visit the Kerlan Collection in the Anderson Library on the University of Minnesota campus. For three days we studied the collected artifacts in a variety of authors' files.
The Kerlan Collection presently contains more than 100,000 children’s books as well as original manuscripts, artwork, galleys, and color proofs for more than 12,000 children’s books. One-eighth of the books are inscribed by the author or illustrator. The Collection includes books that are significant in the history of children’s literature, award books, classics, and representative books from Great Britain, Australia, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands, Germany and others. Also included are over 300 periodical titles and more than 1,200 reference titles as well as many other items including letters, posters, toys, photographs, audiovisuals, publishers' catalogs, and even a figurine collection.
I started my exploration by examining a few of the files of poet Eve Merriam. Next I discovered Margaret Sutton, author of the Judy Bolton books, a girls series similar, if not superior, to Nancy Drew. In her collection I found mainly letters to and from her editor. Notes on her books. Plot outlines. Original drawings. A mock-up for a book complete with fragile typed strips pasted in the pages and loads of images cut from magazines for the illustrations. It felt like a treasure. Mary Roger's Freaky Friday galley proofs and original manuscript and analysis by the editor was another treat, but getting to see and hold (with gloves of course) Carol Ryrie Brink's Newbery Award for Caddie Woodlawn was seriously cool.
I saw some original drawings by Beatrix Potter. A storyboard for an animated version of William Steig's Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. An 1895 correspondence between Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) and someone named Winnie. Later I read editor's notes on The Giver, a book by Lois Lowry and found some initial analysis by the editors and revisions the author made which definitely affected the tone the book. There was also a file of 31 different images for the cover art of the book Gathering Blue (a companion novel to The Giver) and it was cool to discover the title was almost Blue Yonder or The Gathering. I also looked at several drafts of Kate di Camillo's Because of Winn Dixie and could see evidence of revision even in the first page of each draft. Finally, the folder that seemed to have the biggest wealth of material was the Karen Hesse one for the book Out of the Dust. This is a 1930s novel written in verse and it turns out that nearly EVERYTHING in that book was based on a real event. Hesse had tons of notes and newspaper clippings from the 1930s that she used to work into the story. She had many more poems than actually appeared in the book and the only problem I had was in not having read the book recently enough to spot all the adjustments. I would love to return to Anderson Library and dig deeper.
We toured the facilities as well. All the archives are stored in two large climate controlled underground caverns carved out of limestone and lined with concrete blocks. Each cavern is 600 feet long, 70 feet wide and 25 feet high. The caverns are lined with 400 precast concrete panels. (each panel is 10 feet wide, 25 feet long and 8 inches thick) The ceiling consists of a thin layer of shale topped with 10 feet of reinforced limestone. Each cavern holds approx. 1.2 million volumes. In order to find the materials you would like to see, researchers can go online to their website and use the finding aids in the Author and Illustrator Holdings and Links category . Or if you are at the facility the most updated versions of their collection can be found in a set of red binders.
The Kerlan collection is just one of the collections housed in the caverns. In fact, it's part of the CLRC (children's literature research collection) which contains six core collections and several smaller collections. They are the Kerlan Collection of Children's Literature, the Hess Collection of Dime Novels, Story Papers, and Series Books, the Paul Bunyan Collection, the Laura Jane Musser Collection of Oziana materials, and the Illustrated Treasure Island Collection. All the material is accessible to anyone, who needs to consult it, but use by readers is confined to the reading room, where attendants bring requested material.
For folks who treasure children's literature, are interested in the process of publishing, or in author's personal journeys with a particular book, I would highly recommend spending a day exploring the Kerlan Collection.
