snowvigating off dreiser

Poetry Workshop--Syllabus

2006-01-04T15:54:00.000-08:00

Doug Martin
English 221/325/424/524: Poetry Writing
Office Hours: TTH—11am-12:30pm (or by appointment)
Root Hall, Room A-210
Phone: 812-237-3157
Email: dougmartin832@yahoo.com
or dmartin21@mymail.indstate.edu

TEXT

Profpack (available at Goetz Printing, 16 South 9th Street)

WEBSITES

Academy of American Poets: http://www.poets.org/
Poets & Writers: http://www.pw.org/
snowvigate (online literary journal): http://snowvigate.com
snowvigate blog: http://snowvigate.blogspot.com
(literary scene, news, writers, links, the bizarre)

COURSE GOALS

As a workshop course, this class requires students to produce their own poetry, critique the poetry of others, and to better understand the creative as well as the revision process used by successful poets. You will also be required to read and comment on professional poems from your Profpack and to attend a literary reading.

Each day, 3 students will have their poetry discussed in class. These students should submit photocopies of 3 original poems to me and their classmates the class-day before the discussion (19 copies per poem). If you do not submit your work a class-day before your scheduled workshop time, your grade on your portfolio could be lowered by 10pts. This grade reduction applies to each of the 3 workshops at which your work should be examined. You will also forfeit your turn to have the work critiqued in class. You will still have to get copies of the 3 poems to me and your fellow classmates ASAP.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Portfolio=500pts.
Journal=300 pts.
Critique Folder=100pts.
CWC Literary Reading=50pts.
Attendance=50 pts.
Extra Credit "Santa Letter"=10pts.
------------------Total=1000pts. not including Extra Credit
1000-900=A
899-800=B
799-700=C
699-600=D
599-0=F
_______________________________________________________________________
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
1/10 Intro to the class.
1/12 Techniques of Poetry. Discussion of "Prosodic Handout."
1/17 Workshop (WS) #1,2,3; Read Robert Bly essay.
1/19 WS #4,5,6; Do "Mimicking Exercise." Read Andre Breton.
1/24 WS #7,8,9; Read James Tate, Elaine Equi.
1/26 WS #10,11,12; Read Paul Breslin essay. Read James Wright.
1/31 WS #13,14,15; Read J.L. Jacobs, C.D. Wright, Kim Chinquee.
2/2 WS #16,17,18; Read Charles Simic, George Looney.
2/7 WS #1, 2,3; Read Joanna Howard, Brian Evenson, Cooper Esteban.
2/9 WS #4,5,6; Read David Wojahn, Lynda Hull.
2/14 WS #7,8,9; Read Carolyn Forche, Mary Oliver.
2/16 WS #10,11,12; Read Marianne Boruch, Juliet Cook.
2/21 WS #13,14,15; Read Albert Goldbarth.
2/23 WS #16,17,18; Read Edward Hirsch.
2/28 Discussion of "Submitting Poems for Publication."
3/2 Discussion of Dana Gioia essay.
3/7 Revision Process. Read Larry Levis, Arisa White, Sharon Old.
3/9 Revision Process. Read Brian Beatty, John Yau, Connie Deanovich.
3/21 Revision WS#1,2,3. (discuss one revised poem per student turned in)
3/23 RWS#4,5,6; Read Tess Gallagher, John Colvin.
3/28 RWS#7,8,9. Do "Word List Assignment." Read Rita Dove.
3/30 RWS #10,11,12; JOURNAL DUE.
4/4 RWS #13,14,15; Read Pablo Neruda, Gary Soto.
4/6 RWS #16,17,18; Read Dara Wier, Matthew Brennan.
4/11 Audio Interview with Maggie Anderson. Discuss 2 poems from Profpack. (Students
Decide).
4/13 Audio Interview with Gary Lutz. Discuss 2 poems from Profpack. (Students Decide).
4/18 Discussion of 3 poems from Profpack. (Students Decide.)
4/20 Revision Discussion.
4/25 Revision Discussion.
4/27 Revision Discussion.

PORTFOLIO AND CRITIQUE FOLDER DUE IN CLASS DURING THE TIME OF OUR FINAL EXAM: Date to be announced.
_______________________________________________________________________
Portfolio:

5 of the 9 poems turned into the class must be revised extensively. These revisions should take into account the comments made by students and the notes I have made on your writing, both given to you after your workshop is finished for the day. My notes must also be turned in as a part of your portfolio. You must also include in your portfolio all revisions you have made on the pieces and the final pieces themselves.
_______________________________________________________________________
Journal:

For the journal, you need to purchase a Fat Lil notebook (5 ½ X 4 inches, 200 pages). This journal is easy to carry around and record notes for original work. The journal needs to be 50 pages (1-sided) and will be turned in on 3/30. The journal should contain ideas for poetry, lines or sentences which pop into your head, articles from newspapers (AP stories, for instance) which you could base a creative work on, discussions of pieces from your Profpack, etc. Anything which helps you toward the poetic process is welcome in the journal.
_______________________________________________________________________

Critique Folder:

Of the student work examined during the course of the semester, you will need 88 critiques. For each critique, you merely need to write comments in the margins of the poem and a small paragraph dealing with your interaction with the text. After each workshop, you must give your critiques to the students whose work was discussed, and to make a photocopy of these critiques to keep in a folder you will turn into me during our scheduled Final Exams time. In addition, your "critique folder" should contain one copy of 12 poems you have read outside of class which have inspired you in some way. There is no need to write critiques over these 12 poems.
_______________________________________________________________________
CWC Literary Reading:

In order to progress as a poet, students need to interact with the writing community. Each spring, the ISU Creative Writing Committee pays money for a visiting writer to read his/her poetry, fiction, or non-fiction on campus. Thus, as a part of this course, you will be required to attend this public reading. Attendance at and a one-page response to the reading is worth 50pts toward your final course grade. If, for some significant reason, you cannot go to this event, you must let me know ahead of time and you will be able to write a one-page response to a poem, an interview of a poet, or a video of a poetry reading to make up for your missing and to receive credit toward your final class grade.
_______________________________________________________________________
Extra Credit:

You can earn 10pts. in extra credit if you volunteer to write a "Santa Letter" to a young child. Although we are far away from Christmas, I have a deal with specific teachers in this area of Indiana to supply them with letters they may give to grade school students who write letters to Santa each year. If you are interested in taking on the persona of the man or woman in the red suit, see me for specifics.
_______________________________________________________________________
Attendance:

To quote Dr. Carino from the English Department, "like all courses, this one happens in class." Students who miss 3 or less classes will receive 50pts. for attendance. Students with 4 unexcused absences will receive 25pts. for attendance. Students with 5 unexcused absences will receive 0pts. for attendance. Students with 6 unexcused absences may have their final course grades lowered by 50pts. Anyone with 7 unexcused absences can have their final grades lowered by 100pts. Anyone with 8 or more unexcused absences will fail the course. Medical documentation or a university sponsored event will both count as an excused absence.
_______________________________________________________________________

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is defined as stealing someone else’s work and putting your own name on it as the author. For instance, if you pull something from the internet, re-type it, and call it your
own, that is plagiarism. This act has serious consequences from the university, and you may receive an "F" for the class.
_______________________________________________________________________
Late Work:

If you do not submit your work the class-day before your scheduled workshop time, your "Portfolio" grade could be lowered 10pts. This grade reduction applies to each of the 3 workshops at which your work should be examined. Thus, late work all 3 times could result in a "Portfolio" reduction of 30pts. You will also forfeit your turn to have the work critiqued in class. You will still have to get copies of the 3 poems to me and your fellow students ASAP.

Each week after 3/30 your journal is late your grade will be lowered 50pts. for that specific project.

You have until 4:00pm on the Friday during Finals Week to turn in late portfolios and critique folders without a grade reduction. Anything turned into me after 4:00pm on the Friday during Finals Week will not be accepted. If you need this time extension, please take all work to Mary Ann Duncan, A-261, Root Hall.
_______________________________________________________________________
POSSIBLE THINGS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR JOURNAL

AP articles you could base a creative work on.
Words you find in other writers and want to use in your work.
Mimicking exercises from published writers.
Ideas for poems.
Critiques of professional work you admire or hate.
Dreams.
Any paranormal experience.
The names of writers you want to read in the future.
Slang you hear someone use in a restaurant, for instance.
Addresses to magazines, journals, presses you could submit your work to.
Strange stories from relatives.
A conversation with a tree.
Certain techniques you find in other writers you want to use in your own work.
Certain techniques you find in other writers you NEVER want to use in your own work.
A poem about your birthday, or what will become the anniversary of your death (see W.S. Merwin).
Paraphrases of stories from the Farmer’s Almanac, Hoosier Folklore (or any unique publication) you could tie into poems.
A paragraph or two about your goals as a writer and human being.
A strange image from a Psychology textbook you have read.
Automatic writing exercises.
1-page responses to poems from the ProfPack.
Your scansion of a poem.
Your description of snow, or any animal, plant, or natural occurrence.
Notes on a creative work inspired by a program on the History Channel, Lifetime, the local news, etc.
Writing on the thing that scares you the most.

Intro to Creative Writing--Syllabus 219

2006-01-04T15:18:00.000-08:00

Doug Martin
English 219: Intro to Creative Writing
Office Hours: T/TH 11am to 12:30pm, or by appointment
Root Hall, Room A-210
Phone: 812-237-3157
Email: dougmartin832@yahoo.com
or dmartin21@mymail.indstate.edu

TEXT

ProfPack (available at Goetz Printing, 16 South 9th Street)

WEBSITES

Poets & Writers: http://www.pw.org/
snowvigate.blogspot.com: site on writing
snowvigate.com: online international journal of writing

COURSE GOALS

As a workshop course, this class requires students to produce their own creative work, critique the creative work of others, and to better understand the creative as well as the revision process used by successful writers. This class also highly stresses the importance of reading professional writers and the techniques of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and drama.

You will be broken into groups of 3-4 students for group workshops. You are responsible for bringing copies of your work (3 poems, 1 short story or non-fiction piece, 1 dramatic act) for each member of the group, as well as one copy for me. The group should prepare critiques for each creative piece turned in. Ten minutes should be given to each student’s work during the group workshops.If you do not submit your work the class-day before your scheduled workshop time, your grade for the revised manuscript (2 poems, 1 short story or non-fiction piece, or 1 dramatic act) could be lowered a grade and you will forfeit your turn to have your writing critiqued in class. You will still have to get copies of the work to me and your fellow students ASAP.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Original Writing=300
(2 poems, 1 fiction or non-fiction, and 1 dramatic manuscript=100 pts. each)
.Journal=300 pts.
Final=300
Class Participation and Critiques of Classmates’ Work=50
Attendance=50 pts.
Extra Credit "Santa Letter"=10pts.
------------------Total=1000pts. not including Extra Credit
1000-900=A899-800=B799-700=C699-600=D599-0=F______________________________________________________________________TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
1/9 Intro to the class.
1/11 Poetic Imagery: Ai—“A Dream in Two Parts;” Edward Hirsch—“Dawn Walk.”
1/13 Writing day.
1/18 Metaphor and Simile: Richard Wilbur--“A Simile for Her Smile;” Sylvia Plath-- “Metaphors;” Jane Kenyon--“The Suitor;” Denise Levertov--“Leaving Forever;” Martin Espada—“Tiburon.”
1/20 Writing day.
1/23 Free Verse: James Liddy—“Casey’s Birthday List for Seamus;” Connie Deanovich—“Silver Nakedness in Calumet City;” Lynda Hull—“Jackson Hotel;” Brian Beatty (handout).
1/25 Meter: (handout); Mark Strand—“Sleeping with One Eye Open;” Theodore Roethke—“My Papa’s Waltz.”
1/27 Writing day.
1/30 Sounds and Form: James Wright—“Lying in a Hammock on William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota.”
2/1 Film on Poetry
2/3 Writing day.
2/6 Narrative Poetry: Nicolas Christopher—“Walt Whitman at the Burial of Poe;” Carolyn Forche—“City Walk-up, Winter 1969;” Sharon Olds—“The Death of Marilyn Monroe;” Norman Dubie—“Elegy to the Sioux.”
2/8 Work on Rough Drafts of Poems.
2/10 Rough Drafts of 3 Poems Due.
2/13 Group Workshops. Student Critiques Due.
2/15 FICTION: techniques.
2/17 Film on Fiction
2/20 Revised Poetry Manuscript (2 Poems) Due with All Rough Drafts and my Comments. Larry Brown—“A Roadside Resurrection.”
2/22 Barry Hannah—“Herman is in Another State.”
2/24 Writing day.
2/27 Tom Noyes—“Crowd Pleasing.”
3/1 Susan Neville—“Second Coming” and "Seeds."
3/3 Writing day.
3/6 Annie Dillard—excerpt from Pilgrim, Kim Chinquee--"Marmalade;" Girija Tropp--"Escalate."
3/8 Leslie Norris—“Blackberries;” Joyce Carol Oates—“The Boy;” Gabriel Garcia Marquez—“One of These Days;” Richard Brautigan—“The Weather in San Francisco.”
3/10 Work on Fiction Rough Drafts.
3/20 Rough Draft of Story (5-10 pages).
3/22 Journals Due. Student Critiques Due. Group Workshops.
3/24 DRAMA: techniques
3/27 Revised Manuscript of Story Due with All Drafts and my Comments.“The Deer Park."
3/29 Two 10-minute plays.
3/31 Film on Drama.
4/3 Writing day.
4/7 Rough Draft of 10-minute play Due.
4/10 Group Workshops. Student Critiques Due.
4/12 3 10-minute plays performed by group.
4/14 3 10-minute plays performed by group.
4/17 3 10-minute plays performed by group.
4/19 Film.
4/21 Film.
4/24 Final review. Revised 10-Minute Play Due with All Drafts and my Comments.
4/26 Final review.
4/28 Final review.

FINAL EXAM: Date to be announced.
_______________________________________________________________________Journal:For
Journal:

For the journal, you need to purchase a Fat Lil notebook (5 ½ X 4 inches, 200 pages). This journal is easy to carry around and record notes for original work. The journal needs to be 50 pages (1-sided) and will be turned in on 11/1. The journal should contain ideas for poetry, fiction, and drama, lines or sentences which pop into your head, articles from newspapers (AP stories, for instance) which you could base a creative work on.
_______________________________________________________________________Student Critiques:

A part of your responsibility for the course is to critique each piece of work the students in your assigned group turn in. For each critique, you merely need to write comments in the margins of the poem, short story, or dramatic piece and a small paragraph dealing with your interaction with the text. After each group workshop, you must give your critiques to the students whose work was discussed, and a photocopy of these critiques to me to be graded.
_______________________________________________________________________Extra Extra Credit:

You can earn 10pts. in extra credit if you volunteer to write a "Santa Letter" to a young child. Although we are far away from Christmas, I have a deal with specific teachers in this area of Indiana to supply them with letters they may give to grade school students who write letters to Santa each year. If you are interested in taking on the persona of the man or woman in the bright, red suit, see me for more specifics.

_______________________________________________________________________Attendance:To Attendance:

To quote Dr. Carino from the English Department, “like all courses, this one happens in class.” Students who miss 3 or less classes will receive 50pts. for attendance. Students with 4 unexcused absences will receive 25pts. for attendance. Students with 5 unexcused absences will receive 0pts. for attendance. Students with 6 unexcused absences may have their final course grades lowered by 50pts. Anyone with 7 unexcused absences can have their final course grades lowered by 100pts. Anyone with 8 or more unexcused absences will fail the course. Medical documentation or a university sponsored event will both count as an excused absence. _______________________________________________________________________Plagiarism:Plagiarism Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is defined as stealing someone else’s work and putting your own name on it as the author. For instance, if you pull something from the internet, re-type it, and call it your own, that is plagiarism. This act has serious consequences from the university, and you may receive an “F” for the class.
_______________________________________________________________________Late Late Work:

If you do not submit your work the class-day before your scheduled workshop time, your grade for the revised manuscript could be lowered 10pts. and you will forfeit your turn to have the work critiqued in class. You will still have to get copies of the work to me and your fellow students ASAP.

I will give you a week after each deadline to turn in your revised manuscripts (poetry, fiction or non-fiction, and dramatic pieces). After this, your grade will be lowered 10pts. for each week each revised manuscript is late. The same grade reduction also applies to your student critiques.

I will give you a week after the journal due date to turn it in. After this, your journal grade will be lowered 30pts. each week it is late.

You have until 4:00pm on the Friday during Finals Week to turn in late work. Anything turned into me after 4:00pm on the Friday during Finals Week will not be accepted. If you need this time extension, please take all work to Mary Ann Duncan, A-261, Root Hall.
_______________________________________________________________________POSSIBLE POSSIBLE THINGS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR JOURNAL
1. AP articles you could base a creative work on.
2. Words you find in other writers and want to use in your work.
3. Mimicking exercises from famous writers.
4. Ideas for poems, stories, essays, plays.
5. Critiques of professional work you admire or hate.
6. Dreams.
7. Any paranormal experience.
8. The names of writers you want to read in the future.
9. Slang you hear someone use in a restaurant, for instance.
10. Addresses to magazines, journals, presses you could submit your work to.
11. Strange stories from relatives.
12. A conversation with a tree.
13. Certain techniques you find in other writers you want to use in your own work.
14. Certain techniques you find in other writers you NEVER want to use in your own work.
15. A poem, story, or dramatic piece about your birthday, or what will become the anniversary of your death (see W.S. Merwin)
16. Paraphrases of stories from the Farmer’s Almanac, Hoosier Folklore (or any unique publication) you could tie into stories or poems.
17. A paragraph or two about your goals as a writer and human being.
18. A strange image from a Psychology textbook you have read.
19. Automatic writing exercises.
20. Your scansion of a poem, or sentence diagrams from a fiction writer such as Tim O’Brien.
21. Your description of snow, or any animal, plant, or natural occurrence.
22. Notes on a creative work inspired by a program on the History Channel, Lifetime, the local news, etc.

snowlinks

2006-01-04T15:14:00.000-08:00

AA Independent Press Guide
Bliggidy Blog
elimae
International Theodore Dreiser Society
IQ Journal
ISU Creative Writing Program
ISU Student Creative Writing Association
Mid-American Review
Oklahoma Music Guide
Poetry Resource Page
Southern Indiana Review
Statesman
webdelsol.com
Walt Whitman Archive

Fiction Submitting with Odd John

2006-01-04T14:56:00.000-08:00

Now more than ever, there are ample opportunities for the new writer or poet to be published or even get paid (a very small amount) for his or her work. The question is, where to start?

You have probably heard that it is best to start at the top. If you are a realist, however, you know that at some point you will be sending your fiction or poetry to smaller publications that are more open to new writers. For the top down approach, you might like this website. It lists various markets in tiers. A good approach would be to try a few of the top tier markets, then move to second tier, etc . . .

After trying several print publications, you might want to try submitting to e-zines. The good news is that many of these magazines are wide open. Some of them, especially genre 'zines, even pay. The bad news is that what you publish in them will most likely sink like a stone and be forgotten. The thing to do is keep submitting, always trying for a little better market as you improve your writing and start to build a name for yourself.

Fantasy writer George R.R. Martin once said it takes five years of really hard work, publishing a lot of short stories in various markets, for a dedicated writer to build enough of a reputation that they have a chance to publish a novel. I like that. It gives me a nice concrete goal to shoot for. Right now I'm just publishing a few things in obscure e-zines, but if I keep working at it every day, then maybe, five years from now . . .

If you want to write science fiction, fantasy, horror, or literary fiction, you might find my del.icio.us list useful. Del.icio.us, if you aren't already familiar with it, is a service that allows you to bookmark websites on the net. You can also see what other people have bookmarked. Note that on the right side there is a list of various tags that I have grouped my bookmarks under, including flash, horror, and speculative fiction. There is also a tag for paying markets. Some of these paying markets, like Alien Skin, are very open to new writers. My list is less useful for poets, but most of the literary markets I have listed do accept poetry.

I created this list for my own use, so you may find some of the remarks to be rather cryptic, but there are a lot of decent magazines here, and nearly all of them accept electronic submissions, so you don't even have to pay postage to give them a try. Happy submitting!

CW Contests

2006-01-04T14:39:00.000-08:00

THE ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS
________________________
A PRIZE OF $100
for poetry by an ISU undergraduate
or graduate student
will be awarded
at the close of the 2006 spring term

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Please submit 1-5 original poems for the Academy of American Poets/Madelyn DeGaetano Memorial Prize.

All poems must be typed (photocopies acceptable as poems will not be returned), and all submissions should contain a cover sheet with the entrant’s name, mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, title(s) of poem(s) entered in the contest, and social security number. No names should appear on the pages of poetry themselves.

Apart from the winner, two honorable mentions also will be announced, though these honorable mentions will not be given a financial reward.

Take all submissions to Mary Ann Duncan in Room A-261 in Root Hall.
Deadline: 4:30 pm on Friday, March 31, 2006.
___________________________________________________________________

2006 Mary Reid McBeth Creative Writing Awards

Eligibility and Categories: Entries will be accepted from any current I.S.U. undergraduate. The categories are Drama, Fiction, and Poetry. Students may enter work in as many categories as they choose.

Prizes: Will be awarded in the above categories, with first and second prizes receiving modest cash awards and an invitation to read their work at Creative Writing Recognition Day in April.

What: Drama--A one-act play or first act of a longer play (25 pp. maximum)

Fiction--A short story or excerpt from a novel
(15 pp. maximum)

Poetry--A group of poems or single poem
(5 pp. maximum)

When: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 is the deadline.

Guidelines: All entries should be typed doublespaced with a cover sheet listing name, mailing address, e-mail address, title of works, phone, and social security number. Do not put your name on the manuscript itself.

Where: Submit all entries to Root Hall A-261.

Poetry Workshop--Chair Poem

2006-01-04T14:30:00.000-08:00

Write a short poem on an object (such as a chair) and think about the following:

What type of chair is it?
What is the color of the chair?
Where is the location of the chair?
Who, if anyone, is sitting in the chair?
Who are the chair’s relatives?
Where are they?
Has the chair ever been in love?
How old is the chair?
Does the chair have headaches?
Where will the chair go when it dies?
What does the chair say?
What does the chair desire and dream of?
Is there music playing around the chair? What type?
What season is the chair living in?
Can the chair see snow outside the window?
Can the chair watch TV?
Has the chair witnessed arguments of couples, bosses,
or objects such as newspapers?
Has the chair seen murders, bar fights, babies being born?
Should the chair run for president?
Does the chair hear cell-phones ringing?
Is the chair bugged?
Should this chair REALLY be funded by the NEA?

Now does the chair love you?

(It will if it wins an NEA)

Poetry Workshop--Snowpie Word Chart

2006-01-04T14:20:00.000-08:00

Poetry Writing Journal Entry

In 15 lines or less, use as many of the following words as possible to draft a poem. Some of these may be used as either nouns or verbs. The purpose of this assignment is to make connections between words and phrases one would not normally make:

hates me forever
A.J. Foyt
milk thistle
roars
pandemic
Indy
school prayer
hotel-snow
midnight seats
one-track mind
bourbon bar
iPod
starblock
calendar
so last year
torn paper
midgets
sweats
holler back
German dictionary
autistic
the past
Why me?
hillbilly acne
woodwork
lovers
like a sycamore
need
white

CW Newsletters

2006-01-02T11:56:00.000-08:00

____________________________________________________________________

Creative Writing Newsletter
Fall 2005

Department of English
Indiana State University
Terre Haute, IN 47809
(812)237-3160
www.indstate.edu/english/

STUDENT NEWS

Dean’s List

Spring 2005
Megan Anderson Chad Bebee
Jonathan Burns Rachael Bush
Joshua Flowers John Hutchison
Jonathan Hueber Jamie Luna
Kiel Majewski Jared Sexton
Robin Smith

Contests and Awards

Howard McMillen Fiction Award

This year’s winners of the fiction contest sponsored by Arion are the following:
1st place: Nathan Howard, for his short story “Out and About.”
2nd place: Kyle Hughes, for his story “Becoming.”
3rd place: Travis Bicker, for his short story “Fallen.”

Arion, the Student Creative Writing Club

Arion members have voted to change the name of the club’s annual literary magazine The Dolphin back to its original title, Tonic, which published its premiere issue in spring 1976. Tonic is now taking submissions of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. See their website at arion-isu.org for specific information or email Lowell at ltorres@mymail.indstate.edu.

Arion’s officials for 2005-2006 are Lowell Torres, President; Jessica Dyer, Vice President; Joe Donahue, Secretary. The faculty co-sponsors are Professors Doug Martin and Aaron Morales.

General

Graduate students currently writing creative theses (English 699) or creative projects (English 698) include Justin Bauserman (poetry), Sarah Strecker (mystery novel), Samantha Myers (novel), Jessica Schmidt (stories and poems). Angela LaVallie is writing a creative nonfiction essay (English 692).

Several students have had their poems published in the most recent issue of The Journal for the Liberal Arts and Sciences (vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 53-54), which is edited by Dr. David Gilman, a professor in the College of Education. Sarah Long and Lamora Delp each contributed two poems and Kiel Majewski and Daniel Robert Jordan one.

Jessica Dyer is Editor-in-Chief of ISU’s IQ magazine.

In addition to his poem in The Journal for the Liberal Arts, Daniel Jordan, a junior and a new CW minor, has just released with his band, The Red Racer, a CD titled No One Can Hurt You. This summer they’ll perform on a four-state tour.

Kyley Hedges, a senior CW minor, has two of her emulsion transfer/photographs – “Hayden” and “Which Way Home” - on display till Dec. 1 in this year’s “State of the Arts Exhibition” in the Dede Activity Center Lounge.

Kyle Hughes won the Creative and Performing Arts Scholarship and is a new CW minor.

ALUMNI NEWS

Brian Beatty (BS ’92) performed stand-up comedy at the Improv in Hollywood. The showcase at the historic club helped promote the recently published humor anthology Squeaky Clean Comedy (Andrews McMeel), which includes his work alongside samples from George Carlin, Ellen DeGeneres, and David Letterman. Another new collection, The Comedy Thesaurus, features Brian’s stage material. Brian works as a writer for Larsen Design and Interactive in Minneapolis. [b.beatty@larsen.com]

John Colvin (BS ’89, MA ’91) has just published a story in Word Riot (www.wordriot.org). The story is called “Plague of Statues.” [oddjohn@hotmail.com]

Josh Green (BS ‘02) was accepted into the MA program in English at U. of Indianapolis but has delayed his enrollment to pursue full-time feature writing for The Daily Sun, which is based in Lebanon, IN, with a bureau in Zionsville. For one series of articles he accompanied a trucker carrying supplies to victims of Katrina in Mississippi. [jgvienna@hotmail.com]

Sandra Kirby (MA ‘87) died at age 58 on May 31, 2005. She suffered from ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease. She wrote the first creative thesis in poetry and published several of her poems. Besides serving as an assistant librarian at Vigo County Public Library, she conducted creative writing workshops at the Swope Art Museum and taught as an instructor in the English Department at ISU. Tonic 4 (spring 1983) contains four of her poems, including “Express Line”:

blue cardboarded cheer
red canned dash
yellow plastic joy
jostling about with
packaged chicken backs
feet of pigs jarred and pickled
and rump of steer to roast,
civilization rattles on.
the hunter’s loincloth
disguised as fruit of the loom
buried beneath a layer of propriety
spear shriveled to an ignition key
he waits immobile at 8 Items or Less

Dawn Leamon Maxson (MA ’89) is now technical publications manager at Sun Microsystems. [dawn.maxson@sun.com] Her husband, Roger Maxson (BS ‘87), was named a finalist and was invited to participate in the Chicago Indiefest this July and August for a script he wrote. [rd_maxson@hotmail.com]

FACULTY NEWS

Matt Brennan’s poem “Summer of ‘36” recently appeared in Paterson Literary Review while other poems are forthcoming in Concho River Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, and Blue Unicorn. [mbrennan@indstate.edu]

Brendan Corcoran delivered a paper titled “Gathering and Casting: Heaney’s Hughes” at the Fifth International Ted Hughes Conference at Emory U. on October 6 and reprised the presentation at Always on Friday on November 4. [ejcorcoran@isugw.indstate.edu]

Michael Harrold has stepped down from his position as associate editor of Indiana English to pursue other professional interests. [ejharr@isugw.indstate.edu]

Mark Lewandowski’s short story “The Silent Fall” has been nominated by the editor of The Florida Review for a Pushcart Prize. It appeared in the journal’s spring 2005 issue. Another previously published work, his essay “Risk” from the Jabberwock Review is listed as a “Notable essay “ in The Best American Essays: 2005. [mlewandowsk@isugw.indstate.edu]

Doug Martin, who joined the Department this fall as an assistant professor, will be listed in the 2005-2006 edition of the Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers. He has poetry forthcoming in Poetry Harbor, and in addition his band, Delicious Militia, has just released their new CD, Wigglin’. On December 2 Doug will read his poems at Always on Friday. [dougmartin832@yahoo.com]

Aaron Morales, the Department’s other new assistant professor in creative writing, has work forthcoming in Another Chicago Magazine and Indiana English. The fall reading celebrating the release of Another Chicago Magazine issue 46, appropriately held in Chicago, featured Aaron. [amorales@isugw.indstate.edu]

PUBLIC READINGS

Creative Writing Committee Fall Reading

The fall reading was held November 9 at the Coffee Grounds. Readers included Sarah Long, Doug Martin, Brendan Corcoran, Jessi Hollingsworth, Jessica Mitchell, Kyley Hedges, Khrys Dagam, Sharon Earl, Mark Minster, Jessica Dyer, Brent Pulliam, and Matt Brennan. The em cee was Aaron Morales.

Arion Fall Reading

Arion sponsored a reading on Halloween, October 31, at the Sycamore Lounge in the student union. Readers were Doug Martin, Jessica Dyer, Mark Minster, Jessica Mitchell, and Lowell Torres. Sarah Long’s band, the Cornfederates, ended the event with their original brand of cowpunk songs.

Friends of the Library Reading

The Friends of the Library, with the Creative Writing Program, will host a reading at Cunningham Memorial Library on November 30 at 6 p.m. in the Browsing Area. Featured readers are new creative writing faculty members Doug Martin and Aaron Morales and students Khristopher Dagam and Sarah Long.

VISITING WRITERS

On November 15 novelist Russell Banks, author of such works as Affliction and the Sweet Hereafter, appeared at ISU as part of the University Speakers Series.

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES

Spring 2006

A. Morales 219: Intro to Creative Writing TTh 11:00
D. Martin 219: Intro to Creative Writing MWF 10:00
M. Lewandowski 219: Intro to Creative Writing MWF 12:00
M. Lewandowski 220/324/424/524: Fiction TTh 9:30
A. Morales 220/324/424/524: Fiction TTh 2:00
D. Martin 221/325/424/524: Poetry TTh 3:30

CREATIVE WRITING FUND

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation of any amount to the program’s Creative Writing Fund. Several years ago we lost our annual budget allowance from the University and to afford visiting writers we must rely on the generosity of our faculty, alums, and friends.

Contributions should indicate “Creative Writing Program” on the memo line of your check and be sent to: ISU Foundation, Indiana State U., Terre Haute, IN 47809.

The students and faculty thank you for your generosity.

CREATIVE WRITING LIBRARY

The ISU Creative Writing Committee is busy collecting books and journals for a small library in A-270 of Root Hall. If you have any books or journals you would like to part with, please send them our way.

We are also interested in documenting the history of creative writing at ISU. We would like to collect some of the following items: 1) copies of old CW Newsletters; 2) fliers, video and audio tapes, and news clippings of past readings and award ceremonies of students and visiting writers; and 3) copies of published work by graduates of the program.

Send all materials to: Doug Martin, Curator / Creative Writing Library / Dept. of English / Indiana State U. / Terre Haute, IN 47809.

PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH

We want to hear your news and to keep home addresses and email addresses current, so please keep us informed. We welcome any news - professional, literary, or personal. We welcome all of you to the biannual readings as well. Send info to: mbrennan@isugw.indstate.edu OR ejmad@isugw.indstate.edu