Writers Giving Back
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THE MAGAZINE OF THE PIPER CENTER FOR CREATIVE WRITING | COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES ON SERVICE WRITERS GIVING BACK PAMELA USCHUK ON THIS WRITER’S LIFE A LOOK INSIDE ARIZONA LITERACY CHARITIES PROFILES OF THE YOUNG STORYTELLERS FOUNDATION BOOKS FOR HUMANITY WRITERS HARVEST 826 VALENCIA AND MORE... ALSO INSIDE STEVE ALMOND | MEREDITH HALL | REBECCA SEIFERLE | DANZY SENNA IN THIS ISSUE THE YOUNG STORYTELLERS FOUNDATION .....................................................................4 VOL 5, ISS 2 SPRING 2009 Allyson Boggess explains how the L.A. community is giving back to youth. EDITOR Beth Staples THE READING WAR ...............................................................................................................6 Justin D. Sikes takes a look inside Arizona literacy charities. COPYEDITOR Veronica Lucero FIRST A HOUSE. THEN A BED. THEN A BEDTIME STORY. ............................................8 Deanna Kern Ludwin reveals the origins of Books for Humanity. CONTRIBUTORS Steve Almond Erin Marie Paquette FROM ACADEMIA TO EAGLE FEATHERS ................................................................................9 Allyson Boggess Fernando Perez Pamela Uschuk on This Writer’s Life. Meredith Hall Jessica Devoe Riley Ryan Heisel Rebecca Seiferle SHARE OUR STRENGTH ..................................................................................................... 12 Bill Konigsberg Danzy Senna Holly Wilson shows how Writers Harvest events collect food for the hungry. Deanna Kern Ludwin Justin D. Sikes Bojan Louis Rose Swartz ...................................................................................................... 13 Rachel Malis MAKING A CONNECTION Pamela Uschuk Justin D. Sikes profiles ASU newcomer Peter Turchi. Danelle Mallen Holly Wilson Paul Ocampo A SUMMER ABROAD .......................................................................................................... 15 Bojan Louis and Fernando Perez describe the Prague Summer Program. PIPER CENTER STAFF RENAMING HOME ............................................................................................................... 16 T.R. Hummer, Director Rachel Malis finds poetry in Odessa. Sean Nevin, Assistant Director Elizabyth Hiscox, Program Coordinator Tom McDermott, Director of Communication TOWARD A HAPPY WORLD ............................................................................................... 18 Danelle Mallen explores a new wave of tutoring centers. Amanda Monrad, Finance Manager Beth Staples, Managing Editor Matthew Brennan, Program Assistant OUT OF THE ASHES ............................................................................................................20 Kristina Morgan, Program Assistant Paul Ocampo presents a group of veterans reflecting on war and peace. THE SUPERSTITION REVIEW ............................................................................................23 Erin Marie Paquette introduces the new online literary journal. PIPER CENTER ADVISORY COUNCIL Naomi Shihab Nye WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? ...........................................................................................32 Ben Bova Jessica Devoe Riley and a character with sass. Billy Collins Barbara Peters, ex oficio Harold Dorenbecher Janaki Ram Dana Jamison, chair John Rothschild A NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR ASU’S YOUNG WRITERS PROGRAM ..............................34 Ryan Heisel explains the connection with Free Arts of Arizona. Simi Juneja Greg Thielen Jo Krueger Theresa Wilhoit Kathleen Laskowski George Witte HOW TO LOSE YOUR REMAINING HAIR ..........................................................................35 Maxine Marshall C. D. Wright Bill Konigsberg on life after MFA graduation. DEPARTMENTS Q & A: ALMOND, HALL, SEIFERLE, SENNA .........................................................................24 TABLE OF CONTENTS PHOTO WRITERS CONFERENCE PREVIEW ..................................................................................... 31 Geoffrey Gray MFA FACULTY NEWS ..........................................................................................................37 ALUMNI LINER NOTES ........................................................................................................38 2 FROM THE DIRECTOR Dear Readers, A new year brings many changes: a new presidency, new economic conditions to deal with, and (we hope) many new opportunities for the discipline of creative writing gener- ally, Arizona State University’s creative writing program, and for the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing to serve our constituents. The most significant new development at the Piper Center for Creative Writing is the addition to our staff of Assistant Director Sean Nevin and Program Coordinator Elizabyth Hiscox. No strangers to ASU or the Piper Center, Sean and Elizabyth are both graduates of ASU’s MFA program in poetry, and have been associated with the Piper Center virtu- ally from its inception. Elizabyth is an Assistant Poetry Editor for the online journal 42 Opus and was Poet-in- Residence at St. Chad’s College of Durham University, England. She also instructs composition, literature, and creative writing at ASU. Her chapbook Inventory from a One-Hour Room is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. Among Sean’s many strengths—he is a highly accomplished and acclaimed poet, author of A House that Falls (Slaper- ing Hol Press) and Oblivio Gate, (Crab Orchard Award Series), and recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize, the Alsop Review Poetry Prize, the Robinson Jeffers Tor House Prize for Poetry, and a fellowship from the National En- dowment for the Arts—Sean brings significant expertise in outreach. He divides his time between the Piper Center for Creative Writing and ASU’s Young Writers Program, which places poets and fiction writers in local schools to instruct students and teachers in the craft and pedagogy of creative writing. Sean is helping the creative writing program and the Piper Center to evolve its mission in our new moment, and to keep outreach front and center in our mission. Welcome, Sean and Elizabyth: we are delighted to have you aboard. I also want to encourage you all to register for the seventh annual Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference that will be held from February 18th to the 21st. In this climate of economic uncertainty, maintaining support for the arts and arts organizations through participation or donations is crucial. We at the Piper Center have created very special discounted conference fees in response to the economy’s downturn to continue providing access to the quality creative writing programs we offer the community. Visit the Web site for full discount details (www.asu.edu/piper). This year’s conference offers readings and interviews with authors; agent pitch meetings; panels on publishing and the writing life; and classes in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The faculty includes poets Carolyn Forché, Kevin Prufer, Mary Ruefle, and Natasha Trethewey; fiction writers Steve Almond, Bernard Cooper, Percival Everett, Alice Sebold, and Danzy Senna; and creative nonfiction writers Meredith Hall, Nancy Mairs, and Dinty W. Moore. It will also host the state finals for the NEA’s Poetry Out Loud competition, a national high school poetry memorization and recita- tion competition. From all of us here at the Piper Center for Creative Writing, we wish you—writers and readers—a happy, healthy and creatively productive 2009! Sincerely, Terry Hummer LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Have something to say about something you’ve read? We’d love to hear from you! Send comments, suggestions, article ideas, and topics for thought or discussion to [email protected]. 3 GIVING BACK THE YOUNG STORYTELLERS FOUNDATION HOW THE LOS ANGELES CREATIVE COMMUNITY IS GIVING BACK TO YOUTH BY ALLYSON BOGGESS KNBC News Channel 4 in Los Angeles captured the scene though. Take a deep breath.” And she smiled. from the backstage of what appears to be a school audito- This small snippet of a scene reveals the excitement and rium: Tatiana Perez, a young girl wearing a dress and a black anticipation of a young woman about to see her own writ- hat emblazoned with the letters “YSF” in blue, was fidgeting ing progress—from its inception as an idea in her head to its and talking to a man in a blazer. She looked very much the expression in her own handwriting on the page and to its professional with an ID badge on a lanyard around her neck. final production on the stage—to its ultimate performance. “I haven’t done this before,” said Perez. As she breathed in, The Young Storytellers Foundation, a nonprofit organization she pulled her arms inward and expelled her breath ner- based in Los Angeles, California, is currently making the re- vously. Actor and mentor for the Young Storytellers Founda- alization of these creative dreams possible for fourth and fifth tion (YSF) Tom O’Keefe told her, “You’re really good at it, graders enrolled in over thirty Los Angeles public schools. 4 GIVING BACK The concept behind Young Storytellers gained shape in are afforded the individual attention and creative encour- 1997 as a reaction to the curtailment of financial support agement they crave; volunteers who participate give back for art programs in area public schools by a small group of to their community and share their artistic gifts. For such a American Film Institute screenwriters. Galvanized by their small donation of time, the emotional payoff is incalculable. ideas for a program to counteract the creative