THE MAGAZINE OF THE PIPER CENTER FOR CREATIVE WRITING | COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

ON PLACE WRITERS IN THE WORLD AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL ON THIS WRITER’S LIFE PREVIEW: 2008 WRITERS CONFERENCE PROFILES OF LOUISE GLÜCK C.D. WRIGHT SPECIAL REPORT: MFA STUDENTS VISIT CHINA

ALSOINSIDE DENISEDUHAMEL | DINTYWMOORE | LAURATOHE IN THIS ISSUE

VOL 3, ISS 1 SPRING 2008 FEATURES

EDITOR CONVERGING VOICES ...... 4 Beth Staples Brian Diamond previews the 2008 Desert Nights, Rising Stars converence.

COPYEDITOR DISCOVERING “MANY INDIAS” ...... 6 Veronica Lucero Liz Wimberly reflects on her trip to India.

CONTRIBUTORS THE REAL WORLD ...... 9 Aimée Baker Dinty W. Moore Charles Jensen explains why the work of Louise Glück matters. Matthew Brennan Aimee Nezhukumatathil Katie Cortese Arijit Sen Denise Duhamel AREA CODE ...... 11 Leah Soderburg Robby Taylor considers what it means to write from the Southwest. Brian Diamond Rose Swartz Charles Jensen Robby Taylor Brian Lee Dinh Vong CREATIVE WRITING GOES TO CHINA ...... 17 Beth Staples travels from Tempe to Tibet. Nadine Lockhart Liz Wimberly

FINDING OUR ROOTS ...... 19 Charles Jensen and Arijit Sen reconstruct the Piper House. PIPER CENTER STAFF T.R. Hummer, Director COFFEE, COFFEE EVERYWHERE ...... 22 Charles Jensen, Assistant Director Nadine Lockhart reveals the best places to get your fix around campus. Tom McDermott, Director of Communication Beth Staples, Managing Editor Aimée Baker, Program Assistant FREEDOM IN THE SUN ...... 29 Matthew Brennan retreats to Casa Libre en la Solana. Matthew Brennan, Program Assistant Meghan Brinson, Program Assistant Kristina Morgan, Program Assistant HER WORD IS WORLD ...... 31 Rose Swartz profiles poet C.D. Wright.

LIFE ON A HALF SHELL ...... 35 PIPER CENTER Katie Cortese describes life after MFA graduation. ADVISORY COUNCIL Ben Bova Barbara Peters, ex oficio- Janaki Ram THE SECRET LIFE OF WRITERS ...... 38 Billy Collins Brian Lee joins the Graduate Creative Writing Student Association. Harold Dorenbecher John Rothschild Dana Jamison, chair Greg Thielen Simi Juneja Theresa Wilhoit THE NATURE OF THE BEAST ...... 40 Matthew Brennan gets inside the writer’s mind. Jo Krueger George Witte Kathleen Laskowski C. D. Wright Maxine Marshall NEW AND SEASONED VOICES ...... 42 Naomi Shihab Nye Dinh Vong chronicles her trip to Canada’s WordFest.

DEPARTMENTS THIS WRITER’S LIFE: AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL ...... 14 Q & A: DUHAMEL, MOORE, TOHE ...... 24 TABLE OF CONTENTS PHOTO 2008 ONLINE BOOK CLUB SELECTIONS ...... 33 Geoffrey Gray MFA FACULTY NEWS ...... 44 ALUMNI LINER NOTES ...... 45 2 FROM THE DIRECTOR

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

As the observers of their cultures, writers are often called upon to not only comment on the places they inhabit, but also to define them, explain them, enliven them through the business of phrase, description, metaphor. Think of a writer whose work you know well and you’ll likely be able to evoke a sense of a place they are connected to: Hemingway’s Spain, for instance, or the Patterson, New Jersey of William Carlos Williams’s poems. It is perhaps the job of the writer, then, to make place universally under- stood but uniquely rendered.

In this issue of Marginalia, we tasked ourselves with exploring the places writers inhabit. What connects us to a place? How do we find there the rich beginnings of our voices and our stories? Our writers have criss- crossed Phoenix and the globe on their journeys, landing as close as local coffeeshops and as far as China and Tibet. Every place is an opportunity for us to learn about the world, but we can learn about ourselves as artists as well.

Wherever your community happens to be—whatever places you inhabit—I hope these articles encourage you to write about your world, to help you locate the speakers and narratives within you.

Sincerely,

Terry Hummer Director, Creative Writing Program and Piper Center Domestic Initiatives

3 CONFERENCE

CONVERGING VOICES A PREVIEW OF THE 2008 DESERT NIGHTS, RISING STARS CONFERENCE BY BRIAN DIAMOND

There’s no magic formula for putting together a successful tain what the final list of writers will look like. As Piper Center writers conference, though having a diverse collection of distin- for Creative Writing Assistant Director Charlie Jensen puts it, guished and emerging writers is a good place to start. And in that “It’s best not to have any assumptions when planning the list.” regard, the 2008 Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference Checking assumptions at the door is probably an appropriate taking place February 20–23 promises to be something special. strategy with the Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference. Of course, putting together the right mix of writers and events The true power of the conference comes not only from allow- for a conference is no easy task. It can take two to three years of ing participants to listen to and work with their favorite writers planning to get writers such as former US Poet Laureate Louise but also in the unexpected discoveries of new and emerging Glück or Nebula and Hugo award-winner Orson Scott Card on writers. In a literary landscape that is increasingly segregated board. And even with endless hours of preparation, it’s never cer- between fiction and nonfiction, poetry and prose, academic and

4 CONFERENCE

commercial writers, a writing conference serves as one of the sessions to allow participants a chance to catch their breath. To cre- rare sites of cross-pollination between genres and sensibilities. ate a more intimate feel, the Meet the Writers session will be held The conference is a place where literary scholars can hear in the gardems bejomd the Piper House. An open mic reading from and enjoy those “popular” writers that may not be consid- will also be held during lunch so participants can share their work; ered appropriate for study inside the academy, while the general the event will community can experience avant-garde poets whose work is be hosted by not readily available at their local bookstore. Jensen points out Hayden’s Ferry that no matter who the “big names” are, it’s never certain which Review. This writer or writers will resonate with conference goers. “Even the year’s confer- most challenging poets who may not be read by a wide audi- ence also fea- ence have been well received. They bring something unique.” tured a “Quick To that end, this year’s conference will feature writing styles Registration” that cater to almost any literary taste, whether it be the playful, option that biting wit of a poet such as Denise allowed par- Duhamel (Two and Two, Mille et un ticipants to sentiments) or the emotionally nu- register for the General Confer- anced prose of best-selling author ence, Small Group Instruction, Rick Moody (Right Livelihoods, and to purchase one ticket to each The Ice Storm) or even the histori- evening reading at a discount over cally charged travel writing of Jeff the “a la carte” price. Participants Biggers (United States of Appalachia, who chose to experience only a In the Sierra Madre). Add to that list portion of the conference could readings by Arizona State Universi- still simply pay for the confer- ty’s own award-winning poet Beck- ence events they were interest in ian Fritz Goldberg (The Book of Ac- attending, even separate tickets to cident, Lie Awake Lake) and former the evening reading without the faculty member Peggy Shumaker, general conference fee. whose latest work of creative non- Last year’s participants said fiction, Just Breathe Normally, was of the conference, “The authors recently published, and you get the were amazingly accessible, helpful, sense for the range of options avail- CAROLYN FORCHE RETURNS FOR THE 2008 CONFERENCE. interesting, and more than willing able to conference goers. to share their se- Being exposed to a diverse literary palette is only part of the crets and impart appeal of the conference, however. Having the chance to work their wisdom.” in small craft sessions with renowned writers and teachers is an- The Piper Cen- other. It’s not often that you get the chance to spend several days ter for Creative working in a small group with a writer such as Bernard Cooper Writing prides or with Mary Sojourner, whose workshop on creative nonfic- itself on provid- tion is a perennial favorite. The small group workshops, which ing an excep- typically sell out fast, are complemented by larger classes that tional “teach- are as diverse as the writers themselves. From classes dedicated ing” conference to the art of the query letter to explorations of the interplay focused on developing our participants’ craft while celebrating between the printed page and the cinematic screen, the instruc- the world of writers and writing. tional sessions showcase the divergent and dynamic makeup of More information on the conference is available through the our current literary moment. Piper Center for Creative Writing website at www.asu.edu/ New to this year’s conference is additional break time between piper/conference.

5 INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

DISCOVERING “MANY INDIAS” WRITING AND RESEARCH IN KOLKATA BY LIZ WIMBERLY

The dogs affected me most. There were so many. I walked ern part of the city where I stayed was broken and uneven, its past one on the sidewalk with two puncture wounds, as if left by cracks filled with dirt and mud, huge puddles after a monsoon. fangs, on his swollen, elevated shoulder. The marks were infect- Families huddled against the walls of buildings and in corners, ed, surrounded by dried blood and flies, and filled with oozing babies trying to sleep, mothers trying to wash a plate or a pot, puss. He lay on his side, feebly trying to lick the wound. Across people sleeping on cardboard, mouths hanging open, oblivious the street, there was a pigeon poking at what looked like a cat as I stepped over them or around. Children begged in the street. carcass in a noose or a stuffed animal on a leash left midwalk by They followed me down the road, grasping at my shirt, stick- its owner. I told myself that’s what it was, an abandoned toy, that ing their hands in my taxi. “Aunty,” they said and motioned to no cat could get that flat, more fur than flesh and bones. their mouths as if eating. I wanted to help them, to feed them Sure, the poverty was everywhere. The sidewalk in the south- all, although I knew I couldn’t. There are too many children,

6 INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

like there are too many dogs, for me to take care of them all, to many of the brothel workers live as well (arranging themselves make much of a dent. They would surround me, swallow me up. by the entrance in a pecking order of sorts: the younger and For the children at least, I know, there are several organizations, more conventionally beautiful are first in line), and is constantly many people trying to help them. For the dogs, I don’t know, filled with children who are sleeping, drawing, playing games, they seem to be left on their own. or taking classes. Every afternoon they line up to sing their na- I went to Kolkata (Calcutta), India, for two weeks in July tional anthem. Courteau’s English class was held on school eve- 2007 on a Piper Center for Creative Writing International Re- nings, after children were back from classes. Five days a week search Grant. My plan was to work in the marginalized area we would take the walk from the Kalighat Refugee Hawker of the Kalighat red-light district in hopes that my experi- Center (an open-air market run by refugees), past Kali Temple, ence would help inform my MFA graduate thesis in fiction and deep into Kalighat until we finally turned down a small al- (a novel). I was living by a comment that had made a strong ley lined with women in bright saris. Here, past people’s homes, impression on me: Christina Henríquez, when discussing set- a small candy store built into the wall, and the bathing pipe, was ting her stories in Panama for her New Light. first collection, Come Together, Fall I WENT TO INDIA TO FURTHER EDUCATE Courteau’s goal there was to Apart, talked about how traveling to help the children with their Eng- a place that she knew (her father is MYSELF ABOUT SEX-BASED TRADES lish conversation skills to supple- from Panama) but that was still ‘the ment their school lessons. My role other’ gave her space to be creative. SO THAT I WOULD BE ABLE TO WRITE in her class was one of encourage- I’d kept this in mind when I’d set ment: I helped individual students, my thesis in North Carolina (where ABOUT SUCH TOPICS, ON WHATEVER kept score during games, and oc- I’ve spent a good deal of time) in- casionally served as a prop when stead of my native New England, LEVEL, WITH COMPASSION AND Courteau wanted to act something which I struggle to write about. out. I also taught a quick class on And as I started to research certain SENSITIVITY. WHAT I RECEIVED THERE resumes and cover letters to the themes in my novel further, I went older children—“for when you to an even more drastic other: India, WAS MUCH MORE. want to get a good job,” as Cour- where the majority of the 150,000 teau pointed out. The children, women trafficked into Southern split into two classes by age, were Asia every year become brothel workers in cities such as Kol- some of the brightest and fastest learners I’ve encountered as kata. These women live and work in small rooms, often taking a teacher, and the atmosphere, both within the classroom and five customers per night. Their children reside there, too, staying within New Light as a whole, was warm: older children helping in the streets or under beds while their mothers work or at or- younger as a community aimed toward a common goal. ganizations such as New Light, a twenty-four-hour care center In addition to the five days a week at New Light, Courteau that offers meals, medical care, HIV and sex education, classes and I spent weekends teaching fiction workshops at the Seagull and tutors, a safe place to sleep, and a girls’ shelter, Soma Home, Foundation’s bookstore. The goal of Seagull is to teach gender for at-risk teenagers. ASU MFA fiction graduate Darcy Cour- equality through art, and Courteau and I held our workshops teau was already teaching English classes at New Light on her for high school students interested in learning more about the own Piper Center for Creative Writing grant and invited me to art of writing. Although New Light and Kalighat were only join her for a few weeks to experience the organization and the a few blocks away, the fiction workshops were a completely area firsthand. We first ran a book drive: she solicited children’s different experience: these students were privileged, from the books from generous friends and donors, and I packed my suit- best schools in Kolkata. Competition for college admission in case with more books than clothes. India is incredibly fierce; there are so few spots for so many New Light is located in the center of Kalighat, one of the students that those in the ninetieth percentile in high school red-light districts of Kolkata, five minutes away from Mother will most likely not get accepted into university. The pressure Teresa’s Nirmal Hriday (home for the dying). It is built on the was evident in these students, especially the younger, who asked roof on an old Hindu temple at the end of Nepal Alley, where questions about whether they had to wear uniforms or if their

7 INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

EXCERPTS FROM DARCY COURTEAU’S BLOG ABOUT HER SUMMER IN INDIA

From A Preface 6/22/07

In Calcutta’s red light district, brothel workers serve johns in rooms so tiny they resemble swallows’ nests carved in a cliff face, though not so elegant. Six years ago, a local social worker, Urmi Basu, had had enough: in the middle of it all, she founded a children’s shelter, called it New Light and opened with 200 dollars and 8 children. Now New Light takes in 160 kids in three different locations. Women bring their children to the shelter before they start work; LIZ LEADING A WORKSHOP AT THE SEAGULL FOUNDATION BOOKSTORE without it, the children would either be on the street or ly- preference for magazines over serious literature implied a lack ing under mother’s bed while she takes customers. of intelligence. I wanted to tell them to relax, to go outside, but outside was an entirely different place from the air-conditioned From Toys ‘R Not Us 7/10/07 bookstore. Inside, Courteau and I talked about conflict, about desires and obstacles, using ASU professor Melissa Pritchard’s To see these children is to want to give them everything, story, “Sweet Feed,” as an example. The students took notes and shower them with love, kisses, toys. But while every child asked more questions than I was prepared to answer, participat- in the world should receive nutritious food, healthcare, and ing more than most of the students in the classes I had taught in a safe, loving home, I have come to believe that they do not the States. Later I encountered their hard work again as I read need toys. through 120 entries to a Seagull high school fiction anthology The kids here have brilliant imaginations. They move titled Stories for Peace, for which Courteau and I are judges. like foxes, always have something going on. Jaya peels a label I went to India to further educate myself about sex-based from a bottle and finding it still has some stick, fixes it to trades so that I would be able to write about such topics, on her nose, cheek, ear. Rajiv hides behind a piece of card- whatever level, with compassion and sensitivity. What I received board, jumping out to surprise us. there was much more than what I had originally traveled there for, that supposed information, although my experience isn’t as From Thank You for the Gift of Books 7/24/07 easily translated onto the page as I originally presumed. Kolkata is an easy city to fall in love with, but I’m not exactly sure why. Last Thursday, Liz arrived with her collection of beautiful It is a diverse, complicated place, deserving of the “Many In- books, the same day Drew’s boxes arrived. Before that, I’d dias” that E. M. Forster discusses in A Passage to India and what made do with a scraggly handful of...eh, not so great books. popular guide books explain as the need to accept contradic- When a book disappeared a couple of weeks ago, I knew it tions, paradox, and the unpredictable. The people that I met was not the book’s literary merit (it was a treacley Winnie were warm, open, and inspiring, the area I set out to explore the Pooh paperback) but a hunger for words that had tempt- thought provoking, to say the least. And as usual, especially for ed some child. As I began the next day’s class, my beloved India, everything I assumed was simply more complicated than Bekash walked up and handed me the book. I was pleased to originally imagined. note that it was a little more creased and worn than before. I’ve spent hours staring at the spines of the new books, our FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT NEW LIGHT, YOU CAN new wealth. I had hoped only to have enough to read in my VISIT THEIR WEBSITE: WWW.NEWLIGHTINDIA.ORG. class. Thanks to you all, we will now open lending libraries at TO READ DARCY COURTEAU’S FULL BLOG, VISIT: New Light and at their girls’ shelter, Soma House. Arnab has HTTP://SUMMERATNEWLIGHT.BLOGSPOT.COM. been huffing and puffing about “bloody Americans” since the books arrived—in other words, he is mighty pleased.

8 ICONS PHOTO CREDIT: SIGRID ESTRADA

THE REAL WORLD WHY LOUISE GLÜCK MATTERS BY CHARLES JENSEN

Louise Glück is a poet of constant evolution. In the author’s thing, Glück’s voice does what few poets’ voices consistently do: note in The First Four Books of Poems, a collection pulling to- it innovates. gether the first seventeen years of Louise Glück’s poetry, she With each project, Glück begins by exploring what has been writes, “The book that followed grew out of it [Firstborn, her missing. In her third book, she tried to avoid “recurring vocabu- first collection] in that each [poem] tried to respond to what lary;” in her fourth, she tried using contractions and questions I perceived as too-defining limitations.” In her next collection, after noticing their absence in the previous three collections. Glück notes how she sought to leave behind her tendency to This constant self-interrogation—What have I not yet done?— write in fragments and instead, in The House on the Marshland, is one of the simple elements that makes Glück’s work essential she constructed poems of complete sentences. At the comple- reading for contemporary poets. tion of each book of poems, when looking forward to the next This is a tireless labor. In her eleven collections, Glück has

9 ICONS

explored everything from the slow degradation of a marriage that the product might make a fine instrument for craft projects (Meadowlands) to the death of a parent (Ararat) and beyond. and—voilá—the X-acto Knife was born. Glück’s poetry is of- Her poetry has been widely praised and recognized, receiv- ten described as “precise,” much in the same way the archetypal ing—among many others—the National Book blade cuts “X-actly” where its user places it. In her Critics Circle Award, Yale University’s prestigious poems, precision often manifests itself as a kind of re- Bollengen Prize, and fellowships from the Guggen- straint. Emotions are banked deep in her lines rather heim and Rockefeller Foundations as well as from than described by them, and even in her reluctance the National Endowment for the Arts. From 2003– to give actual voice to feelings, she unleashes them. 2004, she served as Poet Laureate of the United It’s this tool that is most cutting in her work, but States and, beginning the same year, accepted a mul- like the labor of Sisyphus, instead of disabling us, it tiyear commitment as the judge of the annual Yale makes us feel more human. Or, as it was written in Series of Younger Poets prize, in which she selects The New York Times, “Her poems send you out into a debut manuscript by a poet less than forty years the world a little colder but wide awake, with that of age. Through this last assignment, her impact on voice of hers ringing in your head.” the future of American poetry is both indelible and Hearing her poems read aloud, another signature distinctly her own. trait of Glück’s work becomes clear: a wry humor that comes To equate Glück’s work with labor gives it a mythic quality, from her avoidance of the expected. Sloughing off the heavy something both overwhelming but sacred—and this, too, is an cloak of the “truth!beauty!love!” poetry of eras past, she writes equally appropriate metaphor as she in “October,” Averno’s opening frequently uses mythic stories, im- GLÜCK’S IS A POETRY OF THE REAL piece: ages, and symbols in her work. Her most recent book, Averno, is named WORLD—NOT THE IDEALIZED WORLD, THE It is true there is not enough for the place the Romans believe beauty in the world. led to the Underworld. The poems IDYLLIC WORLD—THE REAL WORLD, WITH A It is also true that I am not in this collection explore the myth competent to restore it. of Persephone, while Meadowlands ALL ITS FLAWS AND IMPERFECTIONS AND Neither is there candor, and used the trope of Odysseus and here I may be of some use. Penelope—but in modern times DISCOMFORT AND DISAPPOINTMENT. and parlance—to delve into what Glück’s is a poetry of the real makes a marriage work or fail. In her fourth book, The Triumph world—not the idealized world, the idyllic world—the real of Achilles , she relates a story in which a teacher discusses the world, with all its flaws and imperfections and discomfort and life of an artist as evocative of the myth of Sisyphus, who was disappointment. But she is not a poet who wallows in the fail- doomed to push a boulder up a hill for all eternity. But even ings around her. In them, she sees the value of the rock atop in this instance, Glück revises the myth (in her poem entitled the mountain. She sees the moment for what it is: something “Mountain”) for her own purposes: made more perfect for its shortlivedness, something worth not- ing. Something worth remembering, worth repeating. I am standing on top of the mountain. Louise Glück will appear at the 2008 ASU Desert Nights, Both my hands are free. And the rock has added Rising Stars Writers Conference, giving a reading and an audi- height to the mountain. ence Q&A session on the final night of the conference. This reading will be ticketed and open to the public; tickets will be In Glück’s world, even the most banal of works has merit, sold for $10 and can be purchased by contacting the Piper Cen- offers benefit to someone or something, even if only for a mo- ter for Creative Writing. ment. A mythic story from Glück’s own life concerns the work of FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE DESERT her uncle, who failed in his attempt to invent a surgeon’s scalpel NIGHTS, RISING STARS CONFERENCE, VISIT because it couldn’t be cleaned. Glück’s father suggested to him WWW.ASU.EDU/PIPER/CONFERENCE.

10 GENRE

AREA CODE ON WRITING FROM THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST BY ROBBY TAYLOR

This is something not uncommon: out of politeness, a person will change the subject to “What You (Robby Taylor) Do.” Or will ask me where I’m from. I will say, “New Mexico.” They they will say, “You’re the first New Mexican I ever met,” and will say, “New Mexico?” Then they’ll go through their mental then look at me as if I’m New Mexico’s Lone Representative to filing cabinet, trying to think of something . . . something New the World. At worst, they will call me New Mexico-centric or Mexico. If I’m lucky (or unlucky), they will remember that one ask me about Georgia O’Keefe (not that I have anything against road trip with a friend, where they were just passing through. Georgia O’Keefe). “Me and my friend were saying how we feel sorry for people That or New Mexico doesn’t exist at all, their map having a in New Mexico. I mean, like, what do you do?” If that person missing tooth. hasn’t had the experience of driving on I-10 or I-40 (thus leav- It may seem that interactions like this would be wounding, ing their New Mexico filing cabinet completely empty), they but deep down it works to reinforce my state pride, making me

11 GENRE

all the more unbearable to be around. I’m glad that out of fifty me, he was born and raised in Las Cruces (although I wouldn’t states, New Mexico is (arguably) the most misunderstood. I’m mention it). Unlike me, he spent some time living in El Paso, glad that people think our license plates are being ironic (The which is part-Texas. While studying at Columbia, he had a Land of Enchantment) when they’re actually being sincere. I’m teacher tell him that a lot of people were writing stories about glad that in the fifth grade, our pen pals mailed us photocopies New York City but not many about Las Cruces. It was encour- of the American Constitution, as well as some U.S. currency. If aging, being told to write where one came from, how it could writing is an act of wonder, then New Mexico must be thought make your work different than the rest. Lee Abbott went on to of as a Bigfoot—everyone’s always skeptical. An example: no say that people from Las Cruces had a different way of speaking one ever believes me when I tell them my story about our pen and how he had always been interested in that, how they told pals from Wisconsin. “A teacher wouldn’t do that,” they say. But stories. she did. And I saw it. So I’m glad I come from a Bigfoot. It’s I find this agreeable. Once I had an aunt who moved away a questionable place to write to Houston. When she came to from. IF LANGUAGE IS A BLUEPRINT FOR CULTURE, visit us at Christmas time, she Of course, I’m being com- always swore that my cousins pletely New Mexico-centric THEN IT’S NO WONDER OURS IS SO UNIQUE, and I had accents. She seemed here. I’m supposed to be writ- astonished by it, as if we were ing about the Southwest as a THE INFLUENCES BEING SO RICH AND VARIED. possessed by nephews she whole, but my inherent bias has didn’t know. Once at an airport taken over, probably because of NEW MEXICO HAS THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE in Las Vegas, a pilot came up to some deep-rooted insecurities, me and asked where I was from. our land mass being situated OF HISPANIC ANCESTRY OUT OF ANY STATE, “Knew it,” he said and kept on between Aggressive Texas and walking. I was thirteen. I didn’t Feisty Arizona. If this was an AS WELL AS A LARGE POPULATION OF NATIVE know there was a way we talk- article about Writers from the ed, despite the fact that I had al- Southwest, we’d certainly be AMERICANS, THIRD MOST IN THE COUNTRY. ready been watching cable tele- squeezed out. vision for a long time. Now, I’m Not that New Mexico doesn’t have its share of great writ- not saying that New Mexicans are the only people in the world ers: Cormac McCarthy, Simon Ortiz, Rudolfo Anaya, Lee K. who might have a funny way of speaking, I’m just saying that Abbot, Anna Castillo, Robert Boswell, Kevin McIlvoy, Antonya it’s nice to be acknowledged for something that’s there rather Nelson, and Tony Hillerman, among many others. It’s difficult than what there isn’t. If language is a blueprint for culture, then to say what gives a writer state citizenship, what makes them a it’s no wonder ours is so unique, the influences being so rich “New York” Writer or a “Louisiana” Writer. An example: Demi and varied. New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanic Moore is from Roswell. Could we then say that Demi Moore ancestry out of any state, as well as a large population of Native is a “New Mexican” Actress simply because she was born there? Americans, third most in the country. Probably not. There’s not a single Demi Moore film that has In an interview with Graywolf Press, Kevin McIlvoy, a long- ever incorporated New Mexico as either its setting or subject time professor at New Mexico State University, shared his own matter. She probably doesn’t even know the area code. Another ideas on language and place. “I have, as well, placed deepening example: Edgar Allen Poe was born in Boston but died in Bal- trust in the music of narrative voice as it is formed by various timore. There are no New England Ravens. rich oral storytelling traditions in New Mexico culture.” I don’t So what earns the Place you’re writing from if it isn’t a mat- think it gets more true than that, at least for me. All that space. ter of birthright? What does it even mean to be Southwestern? All that time to sit around talking. Perhaps, then, it’s not a matter Do you have Four Corner Stories? Do you need to love the of coming from Somewhere and more a matter of being lucky Desert? Do you find the Space lonesome? Is it in your Genre? I enough to have Those You Never Imagined even tell you their remember when Lee K. Abbott visited ASU in spring 2006 and story at all, to be struck by the mystery of wide and distant gaps. sat in on our fiction workshop with Ron Carlson. He talked Perhaps it’s a matter of breaking down, getting off the road. Per- with us for a long while and was generous with his time. Like haps it’s a matter of finding your own words along the way.

12 PIPER WRITER’S STUDIO

PIPER WRITER’S STUDIO: SUBMITTING WORK TO AGENTS

The Piper Writer’s Studio workshop series offered by send your book to. Her advice was to choose about a dozen the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing includes books you admire and feel are similar to your own work, a Saturday one-day workshop within most of its eight-week then to look in these authors’ acknowledgements and see if sessions. These four-hour work- the names of any agents recur. shops are intensive and focus on a The second noteworthy specific topic. In the first Writer’s piece of advice, and perhaps the Studio session this fall, a group of most meaningful to me as both writers—from here at ASU to as a writer and an editor, was that far away as Flagstaff—joined liter- an agent reads a manuscript un- ary agent Meg Giles for a discus- til the author gives the agent a sion and workshop exploring how reason to stop. This sounds like to submit work to agents: finding common sense: if an agent will the right agent, what to include in stop, so would any other reader. cover letters and query letters, and But readers are already invested what agents are and are not look- in a book when they make the ing for, among other details. effort to select it, buy it, check We spent the first hour introducing ourselves. Aside it out from a library. Agents have to look at anything and from the one story, chapter, or other excerpt we had all everything that is sent to them, and the faster they can find read in advance of the workshop, Meg knew nothing about a reason to say no, the faster they can move on and find us or our work; she wanted to know where we were from, something they like better. Agents can’t afford the time to what kind of workshop experience we had had, what au- be forgiving. thors we read, and most importantly any background we —Matthew Brennan could give to the piece submitted for workshop, especially for those who had brought excerpts. The class was the most HELPFUL TIPS: diverse assembly of writers and writing I have ever seen to- •Find agents to query based on published books you gether in the same workshop—memoirs, fantasy, romance, admire; check the acknowledgements to see who your historical novels, short stories, multigenre—connected by favorite writers thank. the fact that all of us would eventually, we hoped, be facing •Know who you are submitting your work to. Request the daunting world of publishing and looking for agents guidelines, sample copies, and/or catalogs. ourselves. •Make sure your manuscript is neatly typed and error- The first half of the workshop functioned as a kind of free. Q&A about the literary agency and publishing business. We •Agents are looking for a reason to stop reading your then workshopped our own pieces for about ten minutes manuscript - don’t give them one! each. I am used to workshops that may spend up to an •Don’t call in a few days to ask the agent if he or she hour on one short story, but I still found these few minutes received your manuscript. helpful as a sounding board for what parts of my story hit •Do show from your correspondence or phone conver- home and which ones needed clarification, or termination. sations that you are an agreeable, flexible person. But what I found most helpful about the entire afternoon were two pieces of advice Meg gave about literary agents. The first was how to go about selecting which agents to FOR MORE INFORMATION ON UPCOMING WORK- approach with your work by query letter and which to SHOPS, VISIT WWW.ASU.EDU/PIPER/WORKSHOPS.

13 THIS WRITER’S LIFE

THIS EDGE OF JUNGLE THIS WRITER’S LIFE BY AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL

I want to make sure my husband feels like he knows what he hands if you touch it, and sea snakes that may sidle up next to you is doing: it is our honeymoon after all. In the parking lot of our if you venture too far from the shoreline. More blinking, more resort here in St. Lucia, our tour guide tosses wet snorkel equip- squinting. And inside I am laughing because my otherwise fear- ment at us from a glass tank filled with blue fluid that reminds less and brave new husband is clearly nervous. In fact, it is the first me of cleaning my windshield. By now, I know my husband time I ever recall seeing him flat out scared. It’s a small moment, is nervous by the way he blinks hard and squints his eyes, and I know, but one that will stay with me for the express purpose of that when he picks up his gear and steals sideways glances at the somehow recapturing that day in a poem. I file it away and try to other couples, he is sizing them up to see if he can figure out remind myself to jot it down once we get back to our room. if he is the only one here who has never snorkeled before. Our Dang it—I just caught myself! I’m doing it again, and on my guide begins to warn us of eels, fire coral that will burn your honeymoon, to boot. I’m supposed to be out here relaxing on a

14 THIS WRITER’S LIFE

Caribbean island, far away from work, family, and friends—and even without a pen and paper in sight, I am still working. I am writing. I have been blessed with several research grants and a teach- ing job that lets me have my summers and winter holidays ‘off’—time that I use for renewal, writing and traveling. But I find that during those travels—even those, like my honeymoon, where I am supposed to be at ‘play’— I can never turn off the switch. I am always writing, always trying to remember, like a candy or pastille to savor for later. This does not mean that my head is never ‘in the moment,’ so to speak, when I am in another country, for example, but that I enjoy and thrive upon this movement from one landscape to the next to charge up my writing. As if seeing a new and unfamiliar horizon line is just the gentle push I need to remember with exacting detail the richness of what I call home, of intimacy. And if that horizon line is underwater and filled with parrotfish and the shape of my spouse wearing flippers, then so be it. * Henry James famously implored a writer “to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost,” and in a recent trip to south India to introduce my new husband to my grandmother, this quote rang especially true, even though I purposely did not bring my writing journal or any writing instruments when we rented a houseboat for a day. I wanted to put aside all thoughts of work, of writing and just enjoy the day as it unfolded. The minute we stepped aboard our thatched boat, I sorely regretted my journals and pens left at my grandmother’s house. I thought all would be lost and I would never remember specific smells and sounds for future poems. Clouds gathered unannounced, as if the sky was mimicking my disappointment. But later, when I returned home, I realized I had been writing “in my head” all along. On the houseboat, rain pimpled the lake and greeted us in the afternoon, smelling of crow feather and cumin. The boat- men docked our rented houseboat for the evening in the still and quiet backwaters of Kerala, and my ankles ring with mos- quito bites—the only skin exposed under my broomstick skirt. Dusk gathered close and the boat’s kitchen staff began preparing our dinner. My husband and I sat on the deck, facing the elegant sweep of waterways. Out of nowhere, a honey calf ran out of the jungle and charged right towards our boat. It took one look at us, shrieked, and stumbled away in the other direction. I do not have to tell you there was nothing more frightening than this calf’s mama barreling full-speed towards us minutes later, still dragging a

15 THIS WRITER’S LIFE

piece of fence tied around her neck, demanding to know what doorknob and latch. From the window I could see the small we did with her baby. I thought she would jump onto the deck fires on the other side of the bay slowly extinguish themselves of our boat and chomp on my thin brown arm. When she saw one by one. The scent of fruitflesh hung heavy in the starlit our blank looks, she snorted and charged back into the trees. bay. The last thing I remember hearing was a distant meowing By dusk, something jumped continuously from the coconut and chattery laughter, and I swear the monkeys were still hav- trees that edged the shoreline to the thatched coir roof of our ing a good laugh over us, a new couple still trying to navigate houseboat. Each thud came with a small yelp, like a sack of pup- through this edge of jungle—this new marriage. pies thrown at us. Small husks of fruits rained down the side of For all these travels, for the chances to see these new land- the boat but we said nothing and barely breathed. I froze, held scapes and wild animals, I felt very lucky, just as we have felt my husband’s arm, and scanned the shoreline for any outlines every day since my husband and I were first married, and why of men among the trees. What now, we wondered. And still we shouldn’t our luck continue? It was our one-year anniversary sat there, under the open-air patio of the houseboat and didn’t after all, and the next week we chose to spend it a little further say a single word to each other. We didn’t think to call out to north in Kerala, on the elevated hill stations where tea and pep- the boatmen who were now preparing our curry dinners just per grow almost wild. There we would spy baby elephants in the fifty feet away in the cook’s quarters. The tiny hairs in my ears wild, chomping on cinnamon and eucalyptus. What a gift, what pricked awake, trying to place the source of the strange sounds a way to commemorate a beautiful first year together, than to coming from the patio roof above us. My husband whispered view such a regal animal in as natural a habitat as was possible in that everything was going to be okay, but I could see his green this densely populated country. Really, I was still in disbelief that eyes were open wide in alert mode. The sun was almost com- we were able to catch a glimpse of one of India’s beloved and pletely vanished, but suddenly we noticed chips of papaya flesh endangered elephants. It was the first elephant I had ever seen and bright chartreuse skins pitched from our houseboat roof that wasn’t in a tiny zoo. This elephant seemed in complete bliss and into the bay. Someone or something was eating and making as she ate, oblivious to our serendipitous intrusion. a mess over the sides of the roof. The plink-plink of fruit pieces I know all this in my head and kept it in my heart even and seeds into the bay made the water boil with minnows and though it’s been almost two years since we were there. I couldn’t tiny turtles at the water’s surface. The hungry turtles especially even begin to write about it until months after we returned hoped for a defeated dragonfly or wasp. home to western New York. I never brought my writing jour- Now the sun had set completely and small fires from distant nals with me to those places in St. Lucia and south India, and villages told us where the shoreline began on the other side of in a way, I feel like what I do get down on the page now seems the bay. As if on cue with the sun, the fruit showers and thump- somehow more accurate, truer, perhaps, than if I were to have ing stopped. The chattering seemed higher, more distant. A few taken diligent notes and conducted interviews with the locals minutes of silence—then a giant something landed on the roof- as I went along. top and the thatch began to sag with a heavy secret. No more On our way back to the hotel, we saw the last of the tea work- movement. Finally, bravely, my husband poked his head outside ers clip the neatly clipped green carpet of tea leaves into canvas and saw more clearly from the lanterns now lit by the boatmen sacks for the day’s harvest. In the backseat of our rented car, I who were already squatting ashore by their own fire and eating rested my head on my husband’s shoulder and closed my eyes their dinners. for a nap, trying to remember each step of the lovely elephant Of course! Monkeys were laughing at us from the trees a few he saw—we saw—and I hoped we would be able to return one yards away and the obese wildcat that chased them from our day and see her still thriving. The heavy scent of pepper and tea site was now guarding the roof, refusing to move. And who laced the air and left our clothes fragrant for days. were we to shoo it away? The boatmen laughed and said the fat cat would not harm us, but we better finish our shrimp curry quickly. These giant stray cats apparently love curry and have been known to lick unattended plates clean. AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL IS AN AWARD-WINNING We finished our delicious meal in a hurry and retreated to POET, PROFESSOR AND AUTHOR OF THE BOOKS our bedroom. We never locked the door before, but we locked MIRACLE FRUIT & AT THE DRIVE-IN VOLCANO. it that night—as if these monkeys would know how to turn a

16 INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

CREATIVE WRITING GOES TO CHINA STUDENTS AND FACULTY TRAVEL TO SICHUAN UNIVERSITY BY BETH STAPLES

Tempe’s sister city, Chengdu, in China’s Sichuan province is the China-U.S. Center for Sustainable Development, to a recent known for its powerfully spicy cuisine. Chengdu is also home to initiative that sent MFA students and two creative writing pro- Sichuan University, an institution that might be described as simi- fessors to Chengdu to explore the possibility of bringing creative larly bold in its effect. Comparable to ASU in size and scope, it is writing classes to Sichuan University’s curriculum. the biggest multidisciplinary university in China, and has played In May 2007, five fiction-writing students—Aimee Bak- a significant role in defining modern higher education there. In er, Caitlin Horrocks, Beth Staples, Robby Taylor and John accordance with President Michael Crow’s “New American Uni- Young—set off to Chengdu with the task of translating the im- versity” plan, since 2004 ASU has created numerous projects, pro- portance of creative writing to the students and faculty they grams and partnerships throughout China: from the creation of would meet there. During the two weeks they spent on Sichuan MBA programs in Beijing and Shanghai, to a collaboration with University’s campus, they met mornings with classes of under-

17 INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

graduates studying English language and writing. Team teach- chile and the meats available for cooking ranged from whole fish ing, they introduced the conventions of story-telling, then asked to duck colon. “I had to prepare my stomach for that meal all each of the students to try writing a story of their own. The week,” Aimée Baker said, “and it still wasn’t ready for it.” results were impressive. Many of the Chinese students had been They also attended a speech at SU given by Michael Crow, writing stories or poems for years, with no outlet for that kind who was also visiting. “I thought it was interesting to hear Mi- of creativity in school. Some had never been asked to express chael Crow talk about how the world has become much small- their imaginations in quite that way er, while at the same time more com- before. The workshop conversations plicated,” said Robby Taylor, “There were consistently lively, fueled by the we were in China, a year before the student’s curiosity, their inventiveness, Olympics. There’s twenty-four hour and their remarkable vocabulary. As is a day construction going on, rampant usually the case, the teaching was in- traffic, and just an endless amount of sightful for the teachers, too. Reflect- energy. Yeah, the world does seem ing on the experience, Caitlin Hor- a lot smaller strangely. It’s still over- rocks said, “As a teacher, it was very whelming to think about.” useful to me to have to articulate just Taking advantage of their time in what creative writing is, why we do it China—and hoping to experience in American universities, what value it adventures to spark their own writ- has for an individual and for an edu- ing—the five MFA students did some cational institution or a culture. It was additional traveling. Thanks to the interesting to try and bring that mes- Piper Center for Creative Writing, sage to students who almost all had they spent five days in Beijing, where very practical, business and job-ori- they saw the Great Wall, Tieneman ented goals for themselves.” Square, the Forbidden City, ate Peking Several afternoons each week, the duck, and tried to decipher the thou- graduate students joined ASU creative sands of Chinese characters flashing writing professors Jay Boyer and Jew- around them in neon. ell Parker Rhodes to show members For their last week together, they of the Sichuan University faculty how boarded the China-Tibet train, a trip to conduct creative writing workshops, which took them through the high- using the faculty members’ work as est railroad tunnel in the world; the examples. The response was encourag- elevation at Tanggula Pass reached ing on all sides; a new group of MFA 16,640 feet. The two-day trip reached students will return to China during its destination in Lhasa, considered the upcoming summer to continue the the holy capital of Tibetan Bud- work started by the inaugural group. dhism. There they visited the Potala The trip wasn’t all about the work, palace—former home of the Dalai though. The hosts from Sichuan Uni- Lama—and the Jokhang Temple, versity were extremely gracious, plan- where thousands of pilgrims gathered ning weekend jaunts and trips to to pray, prostrating themselves around restaurants so their guests from ASU could experience China the temple’s perimeter. They also ate yak, and drank yak butter culture, history and food. The students saw the giant pandas at the tea, both Tibetan staples. Panda Research Base, climbed Qingcheng Mountain to visit its John Young summarizes his experience: “The trip was amaz- Taoist temple, saw the Jinsha musical, and learned about ancient ing. We saw so much, learned so much. I am very grateful to Chengdu. The group was also treated to a dinner of “hot pot,” have had this opportunity as a teacher, a writer, and a person similar to fondue, except that the cooking oil was filled with spicy living in this very big and very interesting world.”

18 PLACE

FINDING OUR ROOTS THE HISTORY OF THE PIPER WRITERS HOUSE BY ARIJIT SEN & CHARLES JENSEN

Nestled in the corner of Palm Walk and Tyler Hall, theVirgi- of the ASU Tempe campus, connecting the modern campus to na G. Piper Center for Creative Writing has had a long and dis- its roots, now more than a century deep. The Writers House tinguished history: Once upon a time it was the first skyscraper is considered the most well-preserved building over fifty years in Tempe (at two floors, it was nearly double the height of the old on campus, and is listed on the National Register of His- runners-up); it boasted an early and sensible conversion to cen- toric Places. It was originally built in 1907 and served for many tral air-conditioning; it also served as the administrative build- years as the on-campus home of the University President. The ing of the alumni association (1961–1972) and enjoyed several university community was much smaller then, more intimate; years of prestige as the University Archives (1972–1995). Along the neighborhood created by the campus buildings was sur- with the Old Main building and its companion, the University rounded by a wrought-iron fence that separated it from the Club, the Piper Writers House rounds out the Historic Quarter rest of town.

19 PLACE

Of the presidents who lived there, the most memorable was tained students at the house, hosting barbecues in the backyard, Grady Gammage. Grady came to Arizona in 1913 to attend the while Grady Gammage, Jr, enjoyed building a tree house in the University of Arizona front yard and and, after marrying hanging out his high school Eng- with the stu- lish teacher, Dixie, he dents at the began a long career in men’s dormi- Arizona education as tory across the a high school teacher street as they in Winslow. Eventu- shot pool on ally, Grady became their outdoor the President of the veranda. The Arizona State Teach- house was ers College, which PIPER BEFORE RENOVATIONS PIPER AFTER RENOVATIONS then a bus- became Northern Ari- tling and vibrant heart of the university campus and a center of zona University, and then took his position in Tempe in 1932. its community. In the 1930s, the two-story addition was added to the house, In those days, the house featured a shuffleboard court and adding an upstairs sunporch and a library area. It also expanded a large night-blooming Cereus cactus on the west side of the the small kitchen out toward the gardens, giving the house its house, where the hibiscus garden and fountain are now located. current architectural foot- For one night in the middle print. of the summer, the Cereus Dixie fell ill after ar- would bloom, attracting riving on the campus and people from the surround- became a shut-in. She was ing area to enjoy its tremen- rumored to never leave the dous—but brief—beauty. second floor of the house. After Grady Gammage It’s said she never changed passed away in 1959, Grady out of her nightgown but Jr. and Kathryn continued wore a large hat; even after to live in the house un- her death, students claimed til 1961, when it turned to see her walking back back over to the University and forth in the second for general use, eventually floor windows in that same housing the alumni associa- THE PIPER HOUSE LIVING ROOM outfit, and it is said she con- tion and then the archives. tinues to “haunt” the Piper Writers House to this day. It was renovated for use by the Piper Center for Creative Grady hosted many famous people during his run as Presi- Writing in 2004, restoring it to its mid-century splendor, dent, including Lady Aster, Edward Teller, Ronald Reagan, sev- complete with period-inspired furnishings and accents. It eral Heads of State and even Robert Frost on two occasions. now houses a comfortable living room and meeting area for With its gorgeous bay window overlooking the gardens and students and faculty, classrooms for community and university Old Main lawn, the guest room is now a beautiful office space writing workshops, a publishing resource center and library, for several Piper Center for Creative Writing staff members. and the offices of the Piper Center for Creative Writing staff Grady remarried in 1950 when Kathryn Gammage moved upstairs. The house is open to the public on Thursdays. to Arizona to be with him. By mid-century, the house was the A portrait of Kathryn Gammage, the house’s last matriach, only centrally air-conditioned home in Tempe and it also boasted hangs on the landing in the stairway, a gift of Grady Jr. She acts one of the neighborhood’s first television sets, which was given as a reminder that the community - ASU and beyond - is at the to Grady and his wife as a wedding present. Grady often enter- heart of the Piper Center’s mission.

20 WRITER’S STUDIO

PIPER WRITERS’S STUDIO The Piper Writer’s Studio is a series of writing craft workshops for writers of all levels. Each course is led by SPRING 2008 WORKSHOPS an experienced writer from our local community who Writing the Young Adult Novel will mentor workshop participants through different with Laurie Brooks aspects of a specified genre or area of interest. March 17-May 5 Piper Writers House Beginning and One-Day workshops are appropriate for writers of all experience levels. Intensive Fiction Writing with Stella Pope Duarte March 17-May 5 Intensive workshops are led by distinguished writers Paradise Valley Borders from the tops of their fields and are appropriate for writers who have taken four or more writing work- Writing and Rowing with Raye Thomas shops. March 17-May 5 (various dates) Piper Writer’s House/Tempe Town Lake Beginning workshops are $400 per 8-week session. In- tensive workshops are $550 per 8-week session. One- Beginning Creative Nonfiction with Erin Sweetin Day workshops are $75. Piper Center for Creative March 17-May 5 Writing Members receive a 10% discount off tuition ONLINE for every workshop registration they purchase. Beginning Fiction Writing with Jennifer Spiegel March 17-May 5 ONLINE

Writing Through Times of Crisis with Shavawn Berry Saturday, March 29, 11 am–3 pm Piper Writers House

Writing with Humor with Tania Katan April 19 (tentative), 11 am–3 pm Piper Writers House

Writing for Social Change with Shavawn Berry Saturday May 3, 11 am–3 pm Piper Writers House

21 TRENDS

COFFEE, COFFEE EVERYWHERE INSPIRATION AND CAFFEINATION WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE BY NADINE LOCKHART

Access to the Piper Center for Creative Writing is a luxury. I ematics. Oasis is an offshoot of the MU dining service and pro- can brew my own coffee and tea in the kitchen, sit in the living vides an assortment of espresso drinks, mostly iced Javalanche room to read, write, or relax, and if the weather permits, I can Blended coffees, along with a variety of teas. They have a cov- rock on the porch chairs, and chat with fellow writers. As good ered self-serve counter for sugar, cream, and condiments, and as this gets, sometimes I need a break into another world—the free ice water is always available at this counter. One can sit at world of the coffeehouse: my bohemian fantasy of folk music, any of the large picnic-style tables under a dozen date palms. poets, finger-snapping claps, and a bottomless cup of joe. CupZ is the one I frequent the most because of its “on- The closest venue, Oasis Café, is a one-minute walk from the-way” location from parking and the bus stop. A three-foot Piper. Yes, I timed it; I timed them all. It’s a small brick building Sparky Sun Devil inlay graces the entrance floor that sets the located between the Engineering Research Center and Math- tone for a décor comprised mostly of maroon and other reds. It’s

22 TRENDS

busy and noisy with music, chatter, and espresso machines, yet I sandwiches, salads, and gourmet pizza. All espresso drinks are notice many patrons are able to study either at the tables or in half price during happy hour, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. the “living room,” which includes board games, magazines, and Another one of the Charlie’s assets is Café Biblioteca, lo- a TV where the news runs during the day and DVD’s are played cated in the underground entrance to Hayden Library. You’ll on Movie Night, Fridays at 6 find plenty of seating inside p.m. Wireless is available, and and out. It’s a great place to an ATM is located right out- either hit the books or day- side the door. dream; the architecture en- Their menu includes sev- courages the latter, with a eral fresh salads, soups, sand- window opening high above wiches, and smoothies, but the building’s entrance and the main draw is coffee, fresh another pagoda-like design ground locally and served hot, on top of the stairs. People- iced, or blended. The coffee watching is great here. The of the day is often Cowboy menu is the same as Charlie’s (dark) or Cowgirl (sweet). All Terrace but includes a few drinks and pastries are half additional items. The teas are price at happy hour, weekdays made to order using loose from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. leaves placed in bags skew- One of the best kept se- ered on a stick and balanced crets is Charlie’s Terrace Café, on a cup. located on the second floor of Three Roots on Tenth the College of Design North Street and Mill is also popular, (informally known as the ar- FOLLOW THE DOTS TO CAMPUS’ CLOSEST COFFEE. even with some of the baris- chitecture building). If you do tas at the previous cafes I visited. find it, you’ll also find plenty of room to do your studying, When entering the lobby, you’ll first see a large basket of ba- indoors and out. The main inside section has about eight pa- gels for a dollar each. The fare is all vegetarian, most of which tio-style tables, matching planters, two self-serve refrigerators is also vegan and as organic as possible, including some of the with health and quasihealth drinks, including water, Sobe, Na- coffee.The gallery, to the right of the lobby, has art for sale on ked, Fuze, Glaceau, and Arizona Tea (which everyone knows by the wall, hence its name; otherwise, it seems more like a living now is out of New York), and some prepacked food prepared at room of intimate groupings using a mishmash of potted plants, Charlie’s other locations In this area, you’ll find an ATM, wire- tables, chairs, and sofa-like furniture held visually together by less for laptops, and for those without laptops a computer with a warm red tones. Suite A, on the opposite side of the lobby, is free Internet connection. For slower communication, there is a the quiet zone—no speakers. In the other rooms you’ll hear message board on the back wall, and posted on a structural col- barista-chosen tunes. In the corner there’s a piano sporting a umn is a translation of Vitezslav Nezval’s poem “Praha.” Praha globe and some old academic texts, Descartes/Spinoza—#31 of is the Czech word for Prague, the capital city of the Czech Britannica’s Great Books Series and English Philosophers from Republic, situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia. Bo- Bacon to Mill. Buddhist-inspired art covers the walls, including hemia! a round mural of White Tara; the door, held open by an artificial Outside on the patio, you can people watch from above like a plant, acts as a message board. demigod and lift dialogue as voices carry at this particular loca- Starting in January, Three Roots will be hosting an event tion, but you can still study in relative silence because the music every Friday night—movies on first Fridays, poetry on third is not piped into this section. It is a large space with twice as Fridays, and concerts in between. Wireless is available, but cell much seating as on the inside, even more plants, and to combat phones are for outside use only. the seasonal heat, there are umbrellas and a shade cover. Whatever your style or beverage of choice, there’s something The counter menu includes Illy espresso drinks, loose tea, close by to satisfy your caffeine cravings.

23 Q & A

DENISE DUHAMEL’s most recent book of poetry, Two and Two, is the winner of Binghamton University’s Milt Kessler Book Award. Other titles include Mille et un Sentiments, Queen for a Day: Selected and new Poems, and The Star-Spangled Banner. She is an associate pro- fessor at Florida International University in Miami.

DINTY W. MOORE is the author of the forthcoming mem- oir Between Panic and Desire. His other books include The Accidental Buddhist, Toothpick Men, The Emperor’s Virtual Clothes, and the writing guide, The Truth of the Matter: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction. He edits BREVITY, the on- line journal of concise creative nonfiction.

LAURA TOHE is Diné and was raised by her family and rela- tives on the Navajo reservation. She has written and co- authored four books. Her most recent book, Tseyi, Deep in the Rock won the 2007 Glyph award for Best Poetry and Best Book by Arizona Book Association and is listed as a Southwest Book of the Year 2005 by Tucson Pima Library.

Q & A DENISE DUHAMEL, DINTY W. MOORE & LAURA TOHE

HOW HAS YOUR WRITING CHANGED OVER THE YEARS? references. I’ve also moved from using free verse to em- ploy more traditional and nontraditional forms. Over the DENISE DUHAMEL (DD): I started writing when I was ten past 15 years or so, I’ve worked on collaborative poetry years old. I wrote “novels,” designing my own construc- projects with Maureen Seaton (we published three books tion paper covers and spines—which were usually ribbons together), Amy Lemmon (with whom I am currently tied through lined three-hole punched paper. I didn’t start working on a series of poems written in ABBA rhyme, writing poetry on a regular basis until I was in college and with the mention of an Abba song in each), Stephen Paul became familiar with contemporary poetry. Over the past Miller (with whom I’ve written poems based on mega- 25 years or so, my poetry has moved from the anecdotal alliteration), and Sandy McIntosh (with whom I recently and confessional to bringing in pop culture and mythic finished a 237 line list poem). I am currently making vi-

24 Q & A sual poems and artists book which brings me back almost WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FUNCTION full circle to my first childhood creations. OF ART, AND HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR OWN WORK FULFILLS THAT FUNCTION? DINTY W. MOORE (DWM): During the early 1990s, I imag- ined that I would be writing mildly successful short sto- DWM: Art shines a certain light on human experience. ries and a progression of failed novels for the rest of my It may be an intimate light. It may be a comic light. career. I stumbled sideways into the growing genre of It may be dramatic, absurdist, minimal, or explosive. I creative nonfiction, though, and quickly enough found a think they all matter. But art sheds the sort of light you home. At first, my approach to nonfiction was driven by don’t find in a newspaper, usually. It is the sort of light my background as a fiction writer. I tried to mimic the you often will not find in polite conversation. It is a light form I knew best and reproduce the familiar pleasures of that large authoritarian entities – government, organized a short story in my memoir es- religions, corporations – do not says, applying the craft of char- ART SHINES A CERTAIN LIGHT ON HUMAN encourage, because these entities acterization, scene, structure, the often prefer that we remain in conventional rise and fall of plot EXPERIENCE... IT IS THE SORT OF LIGHT YOU OFTEN the dark. and action. My work? It is a small part of Lately, though, and especially WILL NOT FIND IN POLITE CONVERSATION. IT IS the whole. in my new book Between Panic and Desire (Nebraska, 2008), I’ve A LIGHT THAT LARGE AUTHORITARIAN ENTITIES LT: I don’t know if there’s a single begun to experiment with bor- most important function of art, rowed structures and oddball – GOVERNMENT, ORGANIZED RELIGIONS, CORPO- but rather art can surround our forms. Many of my chapters lives in such a way that expresses take on a peculiar shape – an RATIONS – DO NOT ENCOURAGE, BECAUSE THESE and explains the experiences that abecedarian, an autopsy report, are going on within our lives and lists and quizzes, a made-for-TV ENTITIES OFTEN PREFER THAT WE REMAIN IN THE in the world. Art and artists al- movie script, a Zen koan. And ways push the boundaries of what though I have no particular ar- DARK. is socially acceptable, definitive, gument with chronological or- –DINTY W. MOORE and what is original. It’s dan- der, my memory doesn’t always gerous to be an artist when you work that way, so my newer es- push those boundaries; art itself says reflect this as well, by moving back and forth in time can be dangerous. History has shown us that you can get without apology. locked up, censored, exiled or even destroyed. The artist My latest work – what I’m working on this month – is who pushed the limits usually existed on the margins and even more experimental, in that it involves dice, and ran- became suspect. This observation of the artist in western dom obstructions. society I found to be curious because I grew up with peo- ple who were always creating. Like many words from the LAURA TOHE (LT): I started out writing narrative poetry English language we had no words for art or artist. They relying on the oral tradition that I was raised in. In my were simply people who created throughout their lives. last book my writing became more lyrical and less like the They were not held in suspicion but rather appreciated for narrative style I started out writing in. I think my writ- what they made and passed on. ing has moved toward a greater exploration of the essence When I was growing up, I watched the process and as- of poetry, working more inward with more clarity, more sisted with creating a woven blanket. I appreciated every getting at the heart of what I want to express. I am always step of what the weaver created with wool, sweat, design, challenged and excited by what comes at me and makes and perseverance. One day I looked around my house at me work in new directions. all the weavings given to my by the weavers in my fam- ily and felt saddened that I didn’t weave. Then I realized

25 Q & A

that I weave with words, not with wool. Like weaving, Zone: Zero. Her book places war and technology front the creation of poetry and stories is done alone and with and center. a similar process of weaving. In the western mind I am an artist. I think my work as creator/artist sometimes DWM: I believe that all citizens have a responsibility to functions as a translator of human experience and expres- voice their opinions about war, poverty, disappearing sion. habitats, global weather calamity, injustice, and whatever other issues we face as people and a planet, not just writ- WHAT RESPONSIBILITY, IF ANY, DO WRITERS HAVE TO VOICE THEIR ers and artists. But I suppose as writers our giftedness OPINIONS ABOUT WAR AND OTHER RELATED ISSUES? with words, our ability to be clear and forceful, gives us a little extra responsibility. DD: This is a question that interests me very much. And something I think about a lot as LT: Voicing opinions about war our illegal and immoral war rages POEMS ARE SO IGNORED BY THE LARGER CULTURE shouldn’t just be left to the on in Iraq. We are blessed to have writers but to anyone who feels the poetry of Brian Turner who, OF COMMERCE THAT POETS ARE FREE IN A WAY strongly about this issue. I hope as a wartime soldier, has been to that writers who feel strongly Iraq. His work has a credibility THAT EVEN OTHER ARTISTS ARE NOT... BECAUSE about the war can voice their and authenticity that, of course, opinions without being cen- the work of poets who are non- THERE ARE NO FINANCIAL TEMPTATIONS TO WATER sored or lambasted in this coun- soldiers may not. Still, I think try. I’m really surprised more it’s important for poets to engage DOWN ONE’S WORK, IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE AS musicians haven’t expressed the world. Otherwise, what will themselves about war as they readers of American poetry think A POET TO SELL OUT. did in the 60s and 70s during 100 years from now if we haven’t –DENISE DUHAMEL the Vietnam war era. tried to respond at all? That we didn’t even notice that the war was going on? That we DO YOU SUBSCRIBE TO A PARTICULAR THEORY OR UNDERSTAND- were so elitist and pampered that we didn’t bother to ING OF LANGUAGE OR ART, AND IF SO, WOULD YOU DESCRIBE comment? Granted, not all poets’ aesthetics are such to WHAT IT INVOLVES? take on their subject matter directly—the poems don’t have to necessarily be direct. I just think to ignore what LT: I don’t think I have a definitive theory or understand- is happening in Iraq completely, to say or write nothing, ing. I think that art is always reaching for some form of shows a failure of our imaginations. There have been expression/exaltation from the mundane to the sublime. valiant efforts by Sam Hamil who edited an anthology Poets against the War, though many of the poems printed WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW YOUR SUBJECT? there are important statements rather than great poetry. The problem with political poetry is that it can be di- DWM: As a Buddhist, I’m more interested in what some dactic, clichéd, and flat—but it doesn’t have to be. Irony teachers call the “don’t know mind.” Now that sounds a and absurdity might be legitimate tonal responses at this little flip, but here is what I mean: good writing, in my point. H.L. Hix has a very funny and chilling villanelle opinion, comes about when a writer admits that he or “Poem Composed of Statements Made by George W. Bush she does not know something. It is the questions, not the in July 2003.” Steve Fellner’s poem “Russia is Big and so answers, that are most interesting. is China,” based on quotes from Bush at a summit with the Of course, that doesn’t mean you don’t spend time with Chinese president Hu Jintao, is a riff to simplistic think- your subject, studying, observing, pondering, scraping ing: “Monopoly is fun and so is strip poker./The weather away the surface, so that you can discover the questions, is nice and so is this iced tea...” I have just had the honor and the questions below the questions, and the even more of reading Stephanie Strickland’s manuscript-in-process, interesting questions below those.

26 Q & A

Flannery O’Connor talks about this: “Wouldn’t it be what I write might confuse that tribal book lover, mainly better for you to discover a meaning in what you write because of culture and context, some of it would make than to impose one? Nothing you write will lack mean- sense, because human beings share a common soul. So, ing because the meaning is in you.” yes, I would hope that my work – even across that distance – would be meaningful. HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE USEFUL TO STRANGERS? LT: My art would probably be more meaningful to an ab- original tribe than to an audience in Pennsylvania or New DWM: By being clear, specific, and honest. I think that is Jersey. all it takes. The meaning is inside of us, so if we capture truthfully DO YOU SEE ANY LIMITATIONS TO what is inside of us, strangers will I THINK OF THE REALITY OF MY ART AS IF I WERE YOUR ART? IF SO, WHAT ARE THE IM- recognize something there. PLICATIONS OF THOSE LIMITATIONS? STANDING ON THE EDGE OF A CLIFF WAITING TO LT: When I was in writing work- LT: I am limited by time and shops I used to have to “explain TAKE A DIVE. THIS MAY SOUND SUICIDAL, BUT space. If I don’t have these in my work,” which seemed to me my life, I am limited in expe- like having to explain myself. On IT’S ABOUT HOPING IT’LL BE A GOOD TRIP riencing my true self as a cre- top of that, English wasn’t my ator/artist. first language, and I was raised WITH A GOOD LANDING AND THERE’LL BE in a community that maintained HOW COULD ART BE MADE MORE VI- a worldview based on kinship, OTHERS THERE WHO WILL UNDERSTAND WHY I TAL AND USEFUL TO A PUBLIC SATU- land, and spirit. Even so, I didn’t RATED IN TECHNOLOGY? think I was handicapped but that JUMPED AND HOW IT WAS FOR ME. “strangers” hadn’t made the effort LT: I’m not a technophile but I to understand the heart and spirit –LAURA TOHE see the vast uses of technology of what this country was before in art and creation especially in the Europeans arrived. “Explaining my work” is not a the music field. Recently I collaborated with a composer foremost consideration for me. Language translations will who used a laptop to create a large orchestra and chorus always be an approximation. I want my work to be ac- performance. It took some time to complete but to think cessible but not at the cost of trying to figure out ways to if Beethoven or Mozart had this technology, what kinds make my personal experience useful to strangers. of compositions they would have created. So, I’m not completely unfriendly to the use of technology. In fact, IF TRANSLATED, WOULD YOUR WORK BE MEANINGFUL TO, SAY, AN technology has created a more level playing field for some ABORIGINAL TRIBE IN NEW GUINEA? PLEASE EXPLAIN. artists to get their work out there.

DWM: Actually, my first book, The Emperor’s Virtual Clothes, HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN was translated and released in the People’s Republic of ART AND COMMERCE AS YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED IT? China. I was flattered, certainly, but the book – a snapshot of American cyberculture in the mid-1990s – is full of DD: I feel completely free as a poet because there is almost Newt Gingrich jokes, bad puns about spam and cybersex, no commerce at all. If a poet is lucky, she might get $75 and other uniquely American pop culture references. I’d for a poem reprinted in an anthology, but more likely she love to know how these jokes translate in Beijing. will get a copy of the anthology as payment. Poets can Still, I imagine aboriginal tribes in New Guinea in- make some money teaching, giving readings, and (again, clude among the tribe individuals who are as tickled by if luck is on her side) getting grants. But, by and large, acquiring new knowledge as I am, so even though some of no one lives off the money she makes as a poet. In some

27 Q & A ways this is sad—that there is no dollar value on a poem. AND THE REALITY OF YOUR LIFE? And you will hear poets complain often about this very fact. But on the other hand, think of the possibilities for LT: I think of the reality of my art as if I were standing on poetry! Poems are not sponsored by Pepsi or American the edge of a cliff waiting to take a dive. This may sound Airlines. Poems are so ignored by the larger culture of suicidal, but it’s about hoping it’ll be a good trip with a commerce that poets are free in a way that even other good landing and there’ll be others there who will under- artists are not. There is no product placement in poetry, stand why I jumped and how it was for me. The reality no PG ratings or ratings of any kind. While there is cor- of my life isn’t as exciting as the jump, so I suppose the porate art, there is no corporate poetry. While banks may reality of my art allows me into another world where all buy paintings, banks are not buying poetry books to stock kinds of possibilities can come at me. their boardroom shelves. Because there are no financial temptations to water down one’s work, it is almost impos- HOW DO YOU THINK THE CONCERNS OF AMERICAN WRITERS DIF- sible as a poet to sell out. FER RIGHT NOW FROM THE CONCERNS OF OTHER WRITERS IN THE WORLD? LT: It seems much of art today is driven by commerce and catering to public whims. For example, in the movie LT: Certainly there are many people in the world who industry films are made with all kinds of demographics are living under all kinds of political, social, and envi- in mind. X film is a hit and suddenly we have a series ronmental oppressions, including in this country. When of sequels and prequels. One wonders what happened a war is taking place in your backyard, survival becomes to creativity in Hollywood. It seems creativity has been foremost. When I read Ha Jin I know he’s writing about fed to the corporate machine, while in earlier ages Eu- political oppression in China that extends back to an an- ropean art was driven by the religious machine. When I cient civilization thousands of years older than America. was growing up my grandmother used to cover her floors America as place is still new to American writers. At the with hand-made woven Navajo rugs. We walked on them same time America, as it is now known, has a longer his- thinking of them only as nice floor coverings. Within tory with the indigenous people who have stories that the last 30 or so years, these weavings were transformed extend back thousands of years old into time immemo- into commercial art forms. The prices of woven blankets rial. To these indigenous writers who know these kinds escalated and the demands for them shifted. They became of stories, America as a country, as a colonized country, is objects of art to decorate walls and furniture and as mu- a new addition to the longer story of this land that some seums pieces. One of the last weavings my mother wove tribes call Turtle Island. For this reason Indigenous writ- was a rug to cover her living room floor; it was woven for ers have more in common with other countries who have practical use. It must’ve been like an artist finishing up been colonized. the last brush strokes when she took it off the loom and laid it on the floor. We admired it but we wouldn’t walk WHAT DO AMERICAN WRITERS HAVE TO TEACH OTHER WRITERS on it. Our values had shifted too. IN THE WORLD? WHAT MIGHT THEY LEARN? The relationship between art and commerce is often one in which commerce dictates and sets value on works LT: If America is an experiment as some have posited, of art. Participating in this relationship as an artist is an- American writers have much to teach about colonization, other matter. If a particular piece of art sells at a high democracy, assimilation, Manifest Destiny within a con- price and the artist is faced with the choice of making a temporary setting. Each of the writers holds a piece of “sequel” or “prequel,” then does one sell out to the high- the story. est bidder or does one make another choice not limited by commerce? That said, I think one must create some sort HOW COULD ART BE MADE MORE VITAL AND USEFUL TO A PUBLIC of balance in the relationship between art and commerce. SATURATED IN TECHNOLOGY?

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE REALITY OF YOUR ART DWM: Boy, I wish I knew.

28 MFA PROGRAM

FREEDOM IN THE SUN WRITERS RETREAT AT CASA LIBRE EN LA SOLANA BY MATTHEW BRENNAN

In the Fourth Avenue arts district of Tucson, Arizona—lined and the others in the complex, which can’t be seen from the with cafes, art galleries, restaurants, and bars—at the southern street, were built originally as housing for railroad workers. end of the street near where the railroad lines pass on the What began as communal accommodations for these workers, eastern side, there is a black, cast-iron gate, and behind it an with an outdoor washing area and outhouse, were recently unremarkable one-story white building front with red doors converted into an office and library, the director’s residence, and window trim. A red-lettered sign reads “Casa Libre en la and five apartments surrounding a courtyard with a pool and Solana,” which translates to Free House in the Sun or House hot tub. They are all uniquely and colorfully decorated, and of Freedom, to be less grammatically accurate but closer to its fully furnished. Each apartment has a bedroom, office space, a meaning. This modest façade, however, is deceiving in its sim- kitchen, and a living room area, but this is about as far as the plicity. It looks very much like what it is, or was: this building similarities go; there was no template for their design. Some

29 MFA PROGRAM

of the rooms are clustered together, others strung along one still existed?) were people I knew, friends. If I really wanted after the other like segments of a railroad, wrapping around to, I could have walked outside and walked into one of the behind another one of other apartments for a casual chat with the apartments. a colleague. Knowing I had this option The meaning of Casa somehow helped me stay focused on the Libre in Spanish could work within. not be more pertinent Having a small community of writ- to the house’s purpose, ers working side by side like this also for a house of freedom is gave us the chance to take some time exactly what it was de- off, to relax, to have fellowship together, signed to be, and is. For a and to let off steam about the morning while, including the du- and afternoon spent at the grind. Every ration of my stay in Tuc- night that week we had dinner together, son, I thought it meant either at one of the many restaurants on “house of books”—libre Fourth Avenue or taking turns cooking. is close to the Spanish Halfway through the week, we started word for book, libro— CASA LIBRE’S HOT TUB AND PATIO having communal brunches as well, sug- and this too is appropriate, for Casa Libre is a retreat gested as the burn of soli- for writers. But as a retreat, regardless of the books that tude built up. have been written there, in part at least, it is the freedom At the end of our resi- provided for this writing that is the focus and appropri- dency, Casa Libre hosted a ate subject of its name. The writers that come here for public reading so that the a variety of residency programs come here to write first five of us could share the and foremost. And though there is wireless internet, a work we had completed pool, and suites that are furnished better than most ho- during our stay. Despite the tels, the writing-friendly atmosphere and the work it heaviest storm of the week encourages are the main attractions. passing through that after- While these residencies are most often granted to noon, the event was attend- individual artists, Casa Libre does offer a few opportu- ed by several ASU students, nities for groups of writers to rent all five apartments, a few MFA candidates from allowing them to live and work if not together then at the University of Arizo- least side by side. This summer, four other MFA stu- na down the street, and a dents from Arizona State University and I attended a handful of others from the week-long group residency sponsored by the Piper Center for NIGHT LIGHTS OF TUCSON community. Creative Writing. It’s been several years since I’ve been able to Though I was happy with the work I accomplished during devote focused and extended time solely to writing and cer- this residency, given that kind of focused time and space to tainly the first time since beginning my MFA. Given a week work, I don’t find it remarkable to have done so. What made with this kind of focus and freedom, the potential for writing the experience worth more than the pages I was left with at is easy to imagine, perhaps to expect. the end was the community shared with my fellow writers, By the third day or so, however, I found myself looking out having others with whom to experience Tucson and its sum- the windows just to see if someone else might happen to be mer storms, the character of Fourth Avenue, and the writing outside. Some people may prefer solitude, but for many—my- itself. self included—going a week without human contact can be as difficult, as distracting, as the constant presence of other FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CASA LIBRE, VISIT: people. Fortunately, the people I was glancing out the window WWW.CASALIBRE.ORG. in hopes of seeing (to remind myself that the rest of the world

30 AUTHOR PROFILE MARNIE CRAWFORD SAMUELSON PHOTO CREDIT:

HER WORD IS WORLD A PROFILE OF C.D. WRIGHT BY ROSE SWARTZ

“Writing is a risk and a trust. The best of it lies yonder. My C. D. Wright grew up in the Ozarks of Arkansas and earned linguistic skills expand on the horizon. So does the horizon. a BA from the University of Memphis in 1971 and an MFA My goals are higher-minded than they once were. Once you from the University of Arkansas in 1976. Wright has since pub- could say I had ambition. I never could write any old way. And lished eleven collections of poetry and recently collaborated like many from my generation, I desire the integrated life,” C. D. with photographer Deborah Luster on the book One Big Self, Wright states plainly and brilliantly in a passage from her latest which examines the population of Louisiana’s prisons. She has book, Cooling Time, a collection of essay-like structures, poems, received grant awards from the NEA, Guggenheim, and Ma- and collected commentary on poetry and writing. Cooling Time cArthur Foundations and is currently a professor at Brown Uni- has been compared to Rilke’s Letters and been called “a prickly versity in Rhode Island, where she lives with her husband and love letter to the life of poetry.” fellow poet, Forrest Gander.

31 AUTHOR PROFILE

This past fall, C. D. Wright and Forrest Gander spent the first decision seemed to come as a surprise, and when asked by an week of October in Tempe, Arizona, where they served as artists audience member after the reading, she confessed that it had. in residence as part of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative I asked Wright if her appreciation of poetry had led to her Writing’s Distinguished Visiting Writers Series. love of words or if her love of words had led to an apprecia- Wright led a morning poetry workshop for MFA students tion of poetry, to which she responded, “I think it was loving at the Piper House, located on the campus of Arizona State words first. I seem to see things in terms of the word rather University. As an MFA poetry student, I was lucky enough to than in terms of the structure of a novel, of a plot, or a storyline. attend the workshop. Despite its brief nature, our group of seven However, because I grew up in the mid-South and we were all or eight was able to accomplish many poetry-reading and poet- talkers and visitors, a certain level of narrativity was an under- ry-writing activities and discussions. On Monday each student current in everything I tried to write.” came prepared with a poem from the week before; however, When I asked about a sense of place in her work, Wright Wright immediately asked whether we would like to do some spoke of her experience on a road trip with photographer Deb- new writing. Each day of the workshop was spent writing from orah Luster, a trip that provided the framework for her book prompts and sharing our work. We were also assigned nightly Deepstep Come Shining. “I need the mnemonics of my notes. I writings with similar constraints or still need the mnemonics of notes. goals. This, Wright hoped, would My notes provided me with a key give us a common dialogue that into how speech sounded in that she predicted would continue be- place, what the weather was like, yond the workshop and into our what trees were there; they gave lives as writers. me a specific region to orient my- One of the workshop partici- self to.” pants asked the poet if she would C. D. Wright’s visit to Tem- bring an example of a poem she pe culminated in a reading with thought was “really great.” Wright Forrest Gander at the Desert Bo- seemed surprised at first and told tanical Garden in Phoenix, where us that no one had ever asked her C.D. WRIGHT WITH HER HUSBAND AND FELLOW POET, FORREST GANDER she read a variety of poems from that before. Nonetheless, she ar- Steal Away and a yet to be published rived the next morning with “The Poem,” ars poetica by George manuscript that focuses on domesticity, Mexico, and the war. Oppen, which ends with these two stanzas: Midway through the reading Wright paused to find her place in the appalling and read a poem, one of my favorites, from Steal Away, which seas language begins like this: Everything Good Between Men and Women lives and wakes us together out of sleep the poem has been written in mud and butter opens its dazzling whispering hands and barbecue sauce. The walls and the floors used to be gorgeous. Later in the week, workshop participants had the opportunity The socks off-white and a near match . . . to participate in one-on-one conferences with Wright, and in addition to the workshop and conferences, on Tuesday afternoon It was an honor and an inspiration to have C. D. Wright visit the poet also gave a craft talk, which primarily consisted of her the Piper Center for Creative Writing. Her discussions and cri- reading a rambling, heartfelt, and sincere essay about her favorite tiques with the current MFA students were invaluable, as was word. The essay, she said, had been a solicited sort of assignment her insight and the experience of listening to her craft talk and to write about her favorite word. She discussed her favorite noises reading. It was wonderful to see a prize-winning poet act like a in words (low, soft noises with O sounds) and how she had fallen real person and a great poet at the same time; it seems that be- in love with words themselves. At the end of her piece she came ing a real person is what makes Wright’s poems so honest and to the conclusion that the word “world” was her favorite. The beautiful.

32 ONLINE BOOK CLUB

A WIDE AUDIENCE ONLINE BOOK CLUB ENTERS ITS THIRD YEAR BIGGER THAN EVER BY AIMEÉ BAKER

This year marks the third anniversary of the Virginia G. Center for Creative Writing assistant director, believes this Piper Center for Creative Writing’s Online Book Club. This distinctive format “fulfills the Piper Center for Creative Writ- unique book club takes a spin on the traditional book club. ing’s mission to make art accessible to a wide public and dem- Instead of being housed in a living room or coffee shop and onstrate how it’s integral to all our lives. It’s also an innovative scheduled at a set hour, it resides on the internet, using e- format for a traditional endeavor, something our organization mails so that members can sit down at any time of the day and strives to do. We don’t want to repeat what’s been done; we begin or renew a conversation with their fellow participants. want to revitalize it and make it new again.” Unlike traditionally structured book clubs, this means that Originally proposed by one of the Piper Center’s advisory members can discuss a title all month long rather than be- board members, the Online Book Club started out slowly ing limited by one session. Charles Jensen, Virginia G. Piper with only two selections and a few members. In the past years,

33 ONLINE BOOK CLUB

the Online Book Club has grown drastically and bers in person. “During Meet the Writers, I got now features title selections every month and in- to meet one of the members of the book club cludes over 200 members from seventeen states who was making really interesting comments, and three countries. As the Online Book Club and we got to have several conversations in per- grows in national recognition, so will its mem- son,” she says. Since these in-person interactions bership. “I think the book club is poised to go are meaningful to the Online Book Club partici- national, and actually, we couldn’t (or wouldn’t) pants, the Piper Center for Creative Writing will stop that from happening. Because the internet is continue to provide opportunities for members always on around the world, there’s really no end to connect. Past events have included members’ to how many people we can reach. I believe our only meetings with Michael Chabon and Russell book club can be enjoyed by people everywhere Banks and invitations to the annual Piper Center because the technology is easy to use, it’s widely holiday party. available, and our titles appeal to a wide range of The monthly selections are chosen by the readers,” says Jensen. Piper Center for Creative Writing staff to repre- In order to connect to the growing list of mem- sent a variety of authors, topics and genres. The bers, one of the newest features of the Online list hopes also to strike a balance between popu- Book Club is the presence of undergraduate and lar books that have received acclaim and media graduate student moderators who help facilitate attention, and titles participants might not nec- conversation by proposing questions and topics essarily be familiar with yet. Because the Desert for discussion. In a very real sense, the moderator Night, Rising Stars Writers Conference and the positions give students experience in negotiat- Distinguished Visiting Writers Series bring au- ing conversations and relaying their knowledge thors to campus every year, usually a title or two of literary and creative forms in a public forum. come from a past or future visiting writer. Fi- What these students gain, however, goes beyond nally, the staff considers feedback and reactions the academic. Sheila McMullin, who served as from book club participants. an undergraduate moderator for the 2006–2007 Members will have plenty to discuss in the academic year values the people she encountered upcoming year as 2008 brings a full listing of ex- through the online exchange. “Moderating for citing new titles to the Online Book Club. The the Piper Online Book Club has introduced me chosen books range from Pulitzer Prize winner to many intelligent and insightful readers. This Cormac McCarthy’s The Road to Elizabeth Gil- thoughtful community has provoked stimulating bert’s bestselling memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, to first conversations expanding on the deeper or hidden time novelist Aryn Kyle’s The God of Animals, to messages and themes of the literature we’ve read Peter Pereira’s poetry collectionWhat’s Written over this past year. I have enjoyed being a part on the Body. There will certainly be something of this idea-sharing community and have learned for everyone; the lineup features fourteen titles much from participating and guiding these con- from thirteen authors spread across fiction, poet- versations,” she says. ry, and creative nonfiction. Charles Jensen hopes And while Sheila connected to participants “that our members develop trust in our ability online, for Meghan Brinson, an MFA student in to recommend really wonderful books for them. creative writing, the chance to meet those she I’m especially excited about the 2008 book list! spoke to online in person was particularly mem- There are so many titles I can’t wait to dig into orable. At the 2007 Desert Nights, Rising Stars and a bunch I’m happy to revisit.” Conference, a special effort was made to identify To become a member of this vibrant com- book club members by placing an icon on their munity or to find out more information, simply name tags. Meghan Brinson used this as an op- head to www.asu.edu/piper/bookclub. portunity to meet her fellow book club mem-

34 ALUMNI UPDATE

LIFE ON A HALF SHELL LIFE AFTER MFA GRADUATION BY KATIE CORTESE

In May of 2006, I graduated from ASU with a Master of Fine I stand in terms of longitude or latitude or any of the other Arts degree in fiction writing, and as a new alumnus I’ve been kinds of ’tude (platitude, rectitude, fortitude). As a student, all I asked to describe where I am now, post-MFA. I’ve interpreted wanted for the future was the time and means to write fiction that to mean physically, mentally, and cosmically. Geographically, and opportunities to teach others to do the same. I’m still in Tempe, a big surprise considering the Cape Cod native Hundreds of MFA programs release thousands of graduates I am. Today, I get my mochas from the same College Street coffee each year, most of whom have similar goals. It’s tempting to shop I patronized as a student and buy toothpaste at that same old think of us all as sea turtle hatchlings on one of those deserted Walgreens on Broadway. Emotionally, I’ve noted a vast improve- white sand beaches: after being kept in a safe, warm, life-giv- ment since grad school, which is easily chalked up to having fall- ing place for a short period of time, we are then abandoned en in love. Career-wise, though, it’s hard to name the place where with the ultimatum to “find the sea or perish.” The first step is

35 ALUMNI UPDATE

breaking through a tough, leathery shell—that small, manage- fiction students a few years back, and he listed off three good able universe—and then, our eyes adjusting to the light, a mad reasons to pursue an MFA: time out of the economy, mentors scramble toward the sea begins with only a salt scent to guide us. to guide and shape your work, and colleagues working at your Not everyone makes it. So where am I? Between the nest and a same level. All that is true. But the MFA gave me more than wet place, I guess. Maybe the real question is where have I been that. and how did I land myself here? I can remember sitting in my writing mentor’s office back I graduated from Skidmore College with a Bachelor’s degree at Skidmore, snow sifting down outside his narrow rectangular in English and theatre. While much of college is a pleasant blur by window. “I’m not the kind of person who can write a novel,” I now, I do remember one particular question that surfaced repeat- said, not that he had suggested I should. A quiet man, his mous- edly in the voices of well-meaning relatives, classmates from other tache twitched and twisted in a way that indicated laughter. disciplines, and friends from home. It went something like this: “You’ll do what the story requires,” he said. “It has nothing “An English major, huh? What are to do with you.” My experience you going to do now, teach?” Each IT TOOK ME A YEAR OF EMPLOYMENT in the MFA program at Arizona time, I’d tilt my head to the right State proved him right. I didn’t and squint as if thinking it over. AS AN EDITOR FOR A SCOTTSDALE- set out to write a novel, but a “Maybe,” I’d say, and then swiftly story I wrote halfway through change the subject to the early BASED PUBLISHING COMPANY, A YEAR OF the program became my 317- cold snap or the Red Sox’s series page thesis and continues to oc- hopes—which in 2002 were still DREADING THE DRIVE INTO WORK, OF HATING cupy my every spare night and a laughing matter. weekend hour. What I wanted to do was THE CAUSE I WAS FURTHERING, TO FULLY The story-turned-novel came write and find someone who from an assignment in a Forms would pay me to do so. A thing REALIZE THAT I WANT TO WORK TO LIVE AND of Fiction class. Without that as unlikely as the Sox coming assignment the book wouldn’t back against the Yankees in Game WRITE, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. exist—at least not in its current Seven with four straight wins af- form—and without my MFA, ter three losses, unlikely as the Boston Red Sox, those expert I’d be short a few dozen peers and teachers whose work and heartbreakers, winning a world championship—their first since lives have enriched my own. Without my time at ASU, I’d lack 1918—in five definitive games against St. Louis. A thing so im- that certain confidence I gained with membership in an inten- possible it wouldn’t do to speak it aloud. I kept my dreams to sive program where I felt honored to be a writer among writers. myself and quietly applied to MFA programs from the boarding In the program, I learned firsthand that I could write a novel house in London where I lived for six months after college. if I wanted to. It’s not finished yet, but my book exists and it’s Working at the London Museum of Science in South Kens- getting better, all because I had the time, funding, and support ington, feeding pages to a hungry and unwieldy novella, watch- to dream it up. ing in disbelief as a president decided to pick a fight in a volatile To return to the beach where we left those sea turtle hatch- Middle-East country, I waited for someone I’d never met in a lings, grad school seems now like a tide pool, sun-warmed and place I’d never visited to decide my fate upon returning to the safe. The ocean that awaited me after graduation was cold, wide, States. There was more at stake than admission into a school. It and seemingly formless, but by the time I arrived at the other seemed my whole person was up for review, my heart squeezed, side of the MFA, I’d written fifty-page papers for three of Dr. shaken, weighed, and shined against a shirt: was I worth tak- Boyer’s exhaustive literature courses, submitted dozens of sto- ing a chance on? An acceptance letter from Arizona State came ries for workshops, and done the impossible: finished a draft of in February, momentarily silencing my nasty inner editor. It a novel. If the waters outside of school were chilly, the MFA seemed like the answer to everything. degree was my parka and on graduation day I felt I had nothing For a fiction writer there are few places more conducive to to fear. practicing the craft of writing than at an MFA program. Visit- It turned out there was something lurking in the depths after ing writer Russell Banks ran a weeklong workshop with some all, a fish with teeth as thin and sharp as surgical needles—teeth

36 ALUMNI UPDATE

all but invisible from a distance—with a jaw wide enough to ommendation letters, Christmas cards, all chances to tune the swallow me whole. Picture me standing on its tongue, grasping engine, tighten his language, and to improve and advance as a a titanium tooth in each hand like a jailed crook in a silent mov- writer. I’ve tried to adopt that mentality, putting as much care ie. My mistake was believing that as and work into the grants I write a writer I would be happy making a during the week as into the com- living by word-crafting in whatever ments on my students’ stories or form was available to me. It took the revisions I apply to my novel me a year of employment as an edi- on the weekends. tor for a Scottsdale-based publish- When I got accepted into Ari- ing company, a year of dreading the zona State, I thought the letter drive into work, of hating the cause was confirmation that I was a real I was furthering, to fully realize that writer. It’s only now that I realize I want to work to live and write, not the truth. Real writers are people the other way around. who don’t quit even when to do Where am I now? The best an- so would simplify their lives, lower swer is back where I should be. In their blood pressure, improve their August I started as a development relationships, and fatten up their associate for Childsplay, a nonprofit bank accounts. It seems to me now children’s theatre located in the that real writers aren’t born or se- heart of Tempe. I write grants for lected from a pool of other quali- them, securing funds so kids and fied applicants; real writers grow families can see theatre, often for up and into the craft, stay humble, the first time in their lives. Here and never stop learning. So here my written words have real impact, I am in Tempe, living, working, and I’ve never before seen so much passion and selflessness teaching, writing. With grad school eighteen months behind dispersed through one office. At night I teach fiction classes to me, I’ve finally learned that becoming a writer is less like a race undergraduates at ASU. It’s a lucky life I lead now, one I hope than a parade: slow, steady (remember the story of that famous will continue in this fashion for a good long time. A teacher tortoise and his legendary victory?), and exposed to all the ele- of mine once told me every time he wrote something it was ments. Today is sunny, though, and for now I’m just enjoying an opportunity to practice his craft: e-mails, grocery lists, rec- the show.

����������������������������������������������������� �������������������� ������������������������ �������������� ��������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������� �������������������������������������������� ���������������������������������������� ��������������

���������������������������������������� � ������������������������� � ����������������������������������

37 MFA PROGRAM

THE SECRET LIFE OF WRITERS A LOOK AT THE GRADUATE STUDENT CREATIVE WRITING ASSOCIATION BY BRIAN LEE

Rarely is the question asked by a graduate creative writing many need an outlet to maintain their sanity. The majority of program: are our writers having fun? Writing can be, at times, a writers are not, contrary to popular belief, eccentrics who use profoundly solitary undertaking. Students arrive at ASU’s cre- their spare time to unravel postal service conspiracies involving ative writing program not only looking to be inspired, to polish a murderous rivalry dating back hundreds of years or to wan- their craft, or to improve their technique but also to immerse der aimlessly through the English countryside taking arbitrary themselves in a community of fellow writers and peers who can photographs, speaking in German to various characters who are help them navigate the lonely path of a writing career. Under enmeshed in the ever expanding web of history. The needs of the pressure of classes and teaching loads, MFA students can the typical MFA student are a bit more mundane. For this very sometimes forget that this experience is also meant to be en- reason, creative writing students each year form the Gradu- joyable. Though the majority of writers take their art seriously, ate Creative Writing Student Association or GCWSA (current

38 MFA PROGRAM

trends approximate its pronunciation as “jee-kwa-zuh”). lering as teams vie for the top spot. The loudest of the cheers GCWSA is a loose confederation of graduate students in the have normally come from the lane occupied by the playwrights. MFA program who seek to support each other and get to know Most nights, the teams are augmented by MFA students’ friends one another through organized activities. All students accepted and significant others who, incidentally, have turned out to be into the program are automatically members. GCWSA is at any some of the best bowlers. The stakes are high but emotions run one time responsi- higher, as evidenced by ble for a number of a near-occurrence of activities in which fisticuffs between first- students might par- year poet Brian Dia- ticipate. The weekly mond and second-year MFA reading series, poet Meghan Martin the annual retreat after a disagreement at Camp Tontazo- over form, technique, na, and a variety of and overall poetry team intramural sports strategy. events are some of As of the writing the activities under of this article, the fic- its purview. These tion team is on track to activities help to in- clinch the title without troduce students to so much as a bead of each other’s work perspiration on its col- and personalities. lective brow. “Without First-year fiction bowling, I would go MFA student and insane,” says Arijit Sen, a GCWSA representa- WRITERS HIKING AT CAMP TONTOZONA first-year fiction writer. tive Clint Monson expressed his wishes for a program noted for He enjoys the time spent with fellow writers, citing his need to its camaraderie: “Writing students can easily become very iso- escape his cramped and often fetid apartment. Other possible lated and begin to resemble territorial hermits that growl at the sports activities tentatively in the works are kickball, ultimate mere scent of one another. By getting involved in fun and excit- Frisbee, and an iron man triathlon. There is no confirmation at ing events, they have an opportunity to constructively bond.” this time of which one is more probable pending a vote. There is This October, a few MFAs spent a weekend at ASU’s Camp some speculation, however, that the triathlon would be the most Tontazona, located in the mountains near Payson. They hiked, unrealistic but also the most fulfilling for writers. painted, cooked, and discussed their favorite writers, all in an It’s not all fun and games. GCWSA is not limited to dealing idyllic setting. It allowed the students to get to know each other with issues of diversion. It holds meetings with the aim of airing outside of the familiar environs of campus and well-frequented student concerns and proposals. As the clearinghouse of student bars. The greenery and crisp air of central Arizona was a wel- opinion, it acts as another channel of communication among come change from the desert heat of the Phoenix metro area. the students, faculty, and administration. The crown jewel of all activities, however, is arguably the As the year goes on, GCWSA will continue its best efforts to biweekly Friday night bowling competition among the fiction, foster a sense of community that surrounds the writers of the poetry, and playwriting teams. This fierce battle of wit and skill MFA program. It is an important part of helping writers de- is comprised of a semester long tournament which culminates velop the part of their lives spent outside of workshops, classes, in the coronation of a champion. The winning team is deter- and away from their desks. And most importantly, it will perhaps mined by the tabulation of points awarded in categories such as give many more future opportunities for the fiction team to the highest average score and highest scoring player. trounce all comers in the battlefield of life known as the bowl- Each bowling night is accompanied by loud cheers and hol- ing alley.

39 CRAFT

THE NATURE OF THE BEAST THOUGHTS ON THE WRITING MIND BY MATTHEW BRENNAN

As a professional group, creative writers have shown a but many—such as Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Ernest higher than average rate of depression and suicide, esti- Hemingway—did not. Like the writing process itself, de- mated by some psychologists and surveys to be among the pression is a battle often fought in isolation and silence. highest. This raises the question: do the causes of depression These examples are extremes: depression does not al- also engender creativity, or does the writing lifestyle lead ways end in suicide, and not every writer is depressed. In to depression? Research has confirmed that true clinical the cases of Styron and Plath, who suffered from clinical depression is biological, a chemical imbalance within the depression—what Styron refers to as melancholia—it is brain, and that genetics is one of the causes. Novelist Wil- likely that their writing developed through the disease. liam Styron suffered from this disease. Through treatment But it is also true that the writing life creates certain pat- and support, he was able to resist the drive toward suicide, terns of behavior and thinking that may appear “crazy.”

40 CRAFT

In her psychology book The Midnight Disease, Alice Some albums or playlists will work for months; then sud- Flaherty analyzes the cycles many writers experience denly I can no longer write to them. Sometimes I need clas- between writer’s block and the inability to stop writing, sical music because the words of lyrics will interfere. Music called hypergraphia. In his book of published lectures gives me one source of sound to hear and helps me focus on on writing, From Where You Dream, Pulitzer Prize winner the writing; without it, I would listen to everything around Robert Olen Butler compares the writing process to the me, both inside and outside my head. I also wash my hands athlete’s “zone,” where feats of athleticism—or creativ- before sitting down to write, not for any sanitary reason but ity—are accomplished decidedly without the conscious for the feel of it, the routine of it, as if washing away the thought process, through the subconscious, or by connect- remnants of the world for those hours that I leave it. When ing to a dream state. Some writers, like Butler, designate circumstances have demanded it, I have written with parts the first few hours of their day for writing, allowing that of this routine missing, but it can sometimes take over an perhaps this proximity to sleep permits a stronger con- hour before I am able to enter the appropriate state of mind nection to the subconscious. If you have ever experienced to set down a single satisfactory sentence. writer’s block, a situation in which the words poured out In From Where You Dream, Robert Olen Butler describes of you without restraint or if writing every day on a train into you have written words that you THE CREATIVE LIFE IS ONE THAT LENDS IT- New York City on his way to had not considered before sit- work, the only writing time he ting down—and I expect most SELF TO ROUTINE AND SUPERSTITION, TO had. When he finally moved to of us have or perhaps do regu- Louisiana after several years of larly—you have experienced ALTERED STATES OF MIND, TO HEARING this, he could no longer write these mental states. for a long time because he was Athletes are renowned for WORDS, SEEING IMAGES WHOSE ORIGINS not in motion. their superstitions—from wear- The creative life is one that ing certain items of clothing or ARE PERHAPS UNCLEAR OR UNKNOWN. lends itself to routine and super- failing to launder them, to the stition, to altered states of mind, way a baseball player approaches the plate or performs to hearing words, seeing images whose origins are perhaps certain routines the night before a game—but there are unclear or unknown. It also lends itself to self-criticism. many writers who have similar beliefs. Is it all just su- We are, after all, our own best critics, and for some of perstition? Maybe not. When such routines are disrupted, us—myself included—the toughest. Have you gone back concentration is broken, and the athlete’s or writer’s mind to the previous day’s work, which yesterday had felt good, becomes focused on what is missing rather than the task and hated it, only to later find that it still works with at hand; when the routine is complete, the mind can allow where the writing ended up? The rise and fall, the highs the body to function without interference. and lows, of a writer’s self-image and esteem can be dan- Which invites an interesting question: If the mind only gerous: if not all cases of depression are genetic, this cycle gets in the way, then where does creativity come from? seems a possible culprit. The creative life also lends itself Words, images, metaphors, plots, characters—the language to loneliness (though some writers prefer this), for most of capabilities of the brain are remarkable: the brain can take a writer’s work, to quote the late novelist Frederick Busch, thoughts, feelings, senses, and impressions, simultaneously is done “alone and in the dark.” interpret them, and put them into words. This is, of course, To hear words in your head does not make you schizo- learned and honed through years of training and practice, phrenic; to have a routine does not make you supersti- but how do words come to us? When you sit down to tious; to feel down and hate your work for a time does write anything, even an e-mail to a friend, how are they not mean you suffer from manic depression. All of these conjured? How can a writer have an original idea, one diseases and psychoses are real for some people and for that has never been thought before? some writers, but for most of us, these symptoms are just I have my own routines when I write: in a café, with a fa- the nature of the beast. In all likelihood, you’re not crazy; vorite drink, by hand in a blank journal, listening to music. you’re a writer.

41 INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

NEW AND SEASONED VOICES BANFF-CALGARY’S INTERNATIONAL WRITERS FESTIVAL BY DINH VONG

Thanks to travel grants provided to us by the Virginia G. Piper Wordfest exposed me to a barrage of new and seasoned voic- Center, nine MFA students attended the twelfth annual Wordfest es. Many writers were there to promote their recently published International Writers Festival in Alberta, Canada, this year. The books, two of which have garnered favorable reviews in Bookfo- trip was a welcome escape from the Phoenix desert. We wore our rum: Marina Lewycka’s Strawberry Fields—a darkly comic novel winter coats and scarves for a change and, more importantly, min- about migrant farm workers—and the much anticipated The gled with the seventy talented writers invited to read and discuss Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by cultural critic their work in over sixty-five events. The snowcapped mountains Naomi Klein. Director Anne Green informed us that this year’s of Banff, the up-and-coming writers showcased at Wordfest, and conference had an international focus, and writers from all over the camaraderie of spending time in a new city with fellow MFA the world were in attendances— A. L. Kennedy of Scotland, graduate students all helped reinvigorate me as a writer. Niels Hav of Denmark, and Nancy Huston of France, among

42 INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

many other notables. My favorite possessed the kind of intimate reading was by Minerva Margarita THE SNOWCAPPED MOUNTAINS OF BANFF, urban setting as Seattle or Port- Villarreal, a Mexican poet who read land, except much tidier. What her poems in their original language. THE UP-AND-COMING WRITERS SHOW- surprised me most about the city Being able to hear the music of her was how politically involved its words and engage with the mood and CASED AT WORDFEST, AND THE CAMARA- citizens were. While there, we emotion of each piece before getting witnessed several protests and a its meaning in the translation had a DERIE OF SPENDING TIME IN A NEW CITY surprising lack of visible poverty powerful effect. compared to American urban Music seemed to be a running WITH FELLOW MFA GRADS, ALL HELPED centers. When I remarked upon theme throughout the festival. Per- this difference, Aritha van Herk, haps the most entertaining reading REINVIGORATE ME AS A WRITER. director of the University of Cal- series, the Poetry Out Loud session, gary’s Creative Writing Program, paired poets and performance artists with musicians. The event explained that Canadians care a great deal about social justice. featured a one-person play critiquing British royalty and race I witnessed the benefits of universal healthcare firsthand when relations, an Australian hip-hop and b-boy artist (picture a a ragged-looking man walked by on state-of-the-art prosthetic stocky middle-aged white man breakdancing), and a slew of legs. Being outside of the U.S. even for only a few days allowed poets and fiction writers whose readings were accompanied by me to better critique the social problems Americans tend to ac- live music. In other events, writers were asked to choose a song cept as static and unchangeable. that shed light on their work, which was then played before In Calgary, we had the privilege of touring the Glenbow each reading. Museum with Miss Van Herk, who wrote the exhibit’s biogra- Wordfest writers were also invited to discuss the cultural and phies of “maverick” Albertans. She gave us a lively account of social aspects of their work. In the panel “Bollywood Dreams,” Calgary’s frontier history, its ethnic make-up, and its present day Ameen Merchant and other local Indian writers discussed how economy. Surprisingly, Calgary has as much of a cowboy past as the majority of Indian literature printed in the West deals with the American Western frontier, and we witnessed many a person colonialism, and therefore there are aspects of India that west- decked out in cowboy attire. erners aren’t familiar with, such as India’s southern regions, its Discovering Banff was the highlight of the trip. Banff was dap- hundreds of local dialects, and its Brahmin culture. One of my pled with snowcapped mountains, an emerald river, and a rustic favorite panels was “Toeing the Line,” which was about con- railroad line passing through. In Banff, the sky was clear enough troversial topics and the censorship of literature. At this event, to see the Milky Way. We hiked, went to readings, ate bison and Susan Juby read from her young adult novel, Another Kind of chocolate, and watched a fawn and her doe nibble on grass. One Cowboy, featuring a gay adolescent protagonist. Juby, along with of our waitresses said she came to Banff for a weekend and never the rest of the panel (composed of an left, which speaks to the kind of spell editor, a publisher, and a high school the town has over visitors. teacher), discussed the controversy of I am grateful to the Piper Cen- writing, publishing, and distributing ter for enabling us to attend Word- books that dealt with marginalized fest. There was talk of possible on- issues. Particularly, they spoke about going summer internships between the difficulty of getting these books our MFA program and Wordfest. It into the hands of the young readers would be a wonderful opportunity whom the books ultimately benefit. for MFA grads to gain experience The trip allowed us to experience in arts administration while enjoy- Canada itself. Our first stop was Cal- ing the culture and clime of Canada. gary, where we shared a hotel with Hopefully, this partnership will come the lively and dollied-up musical to fruition and benefit our program troupe, The Sweet Adelines. Calgary in the years ahead.

43 NEWS

PIPER CENTER FRIENDS The Piper Center wishes to thank our circle of generous friends for their support of our programs and initiatives.

SUPPORTING SUBSCRIBERS:

SUE BRACHMAN MARY ANN MILLER ROBERT & LUCY THIELEN MICHAEL W. ZIMECKI

Although the Piper Center is funded by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and a generous endowment from the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, we need your sup- port and involvement to continue our mission to cultivate a lively literary community in the Phoenix metro area.

For more information on providing your support, please turn to page 47 of this issue.

NORMAN DUBIE’s most recent poetry collection, The In- MFA FACULTY NEWS somniac Liar of Topo, is available from JAY BOYER’s The Crown Copper Canyon Press. Says their Prince of Perfect was pub- website: “Dubie’s poems bring to- lished in October, 2007; gether the astonishingly grotesque in November, his new and sardonically beautiful, to call one-act Mannequin ran forth the sin- off-off-Broadway in cere within the a series of short plays context of war at the Bowery Poetry and human Club; his Two Women, dissonance.” One Man, and a Bed, one of the three plays from T.M. MCNALLY’s new book, The an older work, Three Plays and a Bed, has been incuded Gateway, was released in December. in Ohio State University’s series “Limbo Plays” produced Ron Carlson says, “In prose at once by the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Re- fierce and elegiac, these powerful search Institute, this to happen in February, 2008. stories compose a careful and rueful celebration of our times.”

44 ALUMNI NOTES ALUMNI LINER NOTES TEAGUE BOHLEN’s (Fiction, 1997) Circle and a blogger for the Poetry Foundation’s Literary first novel, The Pull of the Earth, was Blog HARRIET. Also, this year he is the M. F. Steinhard awarded the Colorado Book Award Visiting Writer at Rutgers Uiversity this year. in Newark.

While still suffering a terrible case Read about TAYARI JONES’s (Fic- of book sophomoritis (she has two tion, 2000) books and speaking en- novels and two book proposals in a gagements at www.tayarijones.com. drawer), LISA SELIN DAVIS’s (Fic- tion, 2003) career as an urban plan- In the fall of 2006 LUKE KREUGER ning journalist is trucking along. (Playwriting 2003) held the posi- She’s been writing for the New York Times’ House & Home tion of Emerging Writer-in-Resi- and Real Estate sections, as well as House & Garden, This dence at Penn State-Altoona. In Old House, Interior Design and the like, and two environ- 2007, he was a Playwright-in-Residence at Northern mental magazines, OnEarth and Plenty (send her your in- Stage, a LORT theatre in Vermont; his play Los Angeles! teresting real estate or environmental news, please). She’s ...Is Underwater was given a staged reading by the compa- got a story on ASU’s sustainability program in the works. ny; and as part of the job, he helped Still living in her rent stabilized palace in Brooklyn with to administer Project Playwright, a her steady, watching the town go to pieces. Go visit before program that teaches playwriting to it’s totally destroyed and looks like everywhere and any- 5th and 6th graders. His first book where. You can scrutinize her (or get her email address) at was released in May of 2007: A Noble www.lisaselindavis.com. Function: How U-Haul Moved America (Barricade Books) is now available CARLOS MANUEL (Playwriting, 2007) attended the ATHE in major bookstores. “A’ Bon Chat, (American Theater for Higher Education) Conference this Bon Rat” was a finalist for the Prague summer, where he directed two short plays by Susan-Lori Post, English language play contest; Parks and presented a paper on his thesis play Lloronas. Af- The Kicker and Holiday Money Shot ter the conference, he went to Mexico City where he co- was performed by Toy Boat Productions of Portland, OR. wrote and co-directed two short plays for the annual sum- Exit, Cute Ed will be the featured play in the inaugural issue mer new play festival. Then, he went to Montreal where of The Alchemy Review a new print literary magazine out of he presented his one-man show La Vida Loca at the LASA the D.C./Baltimore area. He lives in Chicago and teaches at (Latin American Association) Conference. His one-man Loyola University and Lake Forest College. show had three scheduled performances in November, at Tulane University for two nights and at University of Ne- SEAN NEVIN (Poetry, 2002) assistant director of ASU’s vada-Las Vegas for one night. Young Writers Program, is the recipient of a 2007-08 Lit- erature Fellowship in Poetry from the National Endow- RIGOBERTO GONZALEZ‘s (Poetry, ment for the Arts, a 2007 Artist Project Grant from the 1997) memoir, Butterfly Boy, received Arizona Commission on the Arts and a 2007 fellowship the American Book Award from the from the Eastern Frontier Education Foundation. Oblivio Before Columbus Foundation. His Gate, his full-length poetry collection won the 2007 Crab forthcoming publications include: Orchard Award Series First Book Prize and will be published Men without Bliss: Stories, fall 2008. in fall 2008 by Southern Illinois University Press. He has He is currently on the Board of Di- new work forthcoming from North American Review. rectors of the National Book Critics

45 OLIVER DE LA PAZ (Poetry, 1998) is teaching creative profit organization dedicated to the discovery and cultiva- writing at Western Washington tion of Asian American poetry. Oliver and his wife Mer- University in Bellingham, WA. edith are expecting their first child His second book, Furious Lullaby, in March. was published this past September as the Editor’s Choice Selection at TRACY SINGER (Poetry, 2001) mar- Southern Illinois University. He is ried Frederic Diziere on April 29, poetry advisor for the Bellingham 2007 at the Royal Palms Resort & Review, and he is a co-chair on Spa in Phoenix, Arizona. http:// the advisory board for Kundiman www.theknot.com/ourwedding/Tra (http://kundiman.org), a non- cySinger&FredericDiziere.

SUBSCRIBE TO HAYDEN’S FERRY REVIEW SUPPORT THE LITERARY ARTS IN YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY The Piper Center is committed to supporting both a to the talented students of Arizona State University’s MFA vibrant and diverse literary community in the Phoenix Program in Creative Writing. Through our giving program, metropolitan area as well as fostering the work of the you can ensure your financial support is earmarked to next generation of literary leaders by providing funding directly benefit our students or our community.

PATRON OF THE ARTS | $3,500 each year for 3 years ($10,500 cumulative donation) / $284 per month This three-year gift creates a merit-based scholarship in the donor’s name for a current student writer in the MFA program. Patrons are invited to join their student recipient for lunch with the Artistic Director of the Piper Center. Includes a three-year Piper Center Membership.

CHAMPION OF THE ARTS | $1,000 cumulative donation per year / $84 per month In support of community enrichment programs including the Distinguished Visiting Writers Series and the Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference, these gifts will directly fund an upcoming visiting writer’s event. Includes a one-year Piper Center Membership.

ARTS ADVOCATE | $500 cumulative donation per year / $42 per month This gift funds the development and growth of free community enrichment programs like the Piper Online Book Club. Includes a one-year Piper Center Membership.

SUPPORTING SUBSCRIBER | $100 cumulative donation per year / $9 per month Supporting Subscribers provide funding directly to Piper Center publication initiatives, such as Marginalia. Includes a one-year Piper Center Membership.

MEMBER | $35 non-charitable purchase Members receive 10% off the Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference, 10% off Piper Writer’s Studio Workshops, and 10% off purchases at Changing Hands Bookstore.

YES, I WOULD LIKE TO BECOME A 2007-2008 PIPER FRIEND IN THE FOLLOWING CATEGORY

❏ Patron of the Arts: $______to create a named fellowship for a deserving MFA student in Creative Writing ❏ Champion of the Arts ❏ Arts Advocate ❏ Supporting Subscriber ❏ Member (non-charitable)

NAME ______

STREET/PO BOX ______

CITY/STATE/ZIP

PHONE ______E-MAIL (Funds will be deposited with the ASU Foundation, a separate non-profit organization that exists to benefit Arizona State University. Campaign code: LCWGP8. Donations are charitable where indicated.) ❏ Please charge my credit card: ❏ VISA ❏ DISCOVER ❏ MASTERCARD ❏ AMERICAN EXPRESS

CARD NUMBER ______EXP. DATE ______

SIGNATURE ______

❏ Please find my check enclosed. (Please make checks payable to: THE ASU FOUNDATION.)

RETURN TO THE VIRGINIA G. PIPER CENTER FOR CREATIVE WRITING Piper Friends | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences | PO Box 875002 | Arizona State University | Tempe AZ 85287-5002 UPCOMING EVENTS

UPCOMING EVENTS MARVIN BELL ROSS LECKIE February 14, 2008 at 7:30 pm Poetry reading by Visiting Canadian Fulbright Chair University Club, South Room March 27, 2008 at 7:30 pm This event is free and open to the public. University Club, ASU Tempe Campus This event is free and open to the public. 2008 DESERT NIGHTS, RISING STARS CONFERENCE February 20– 23, 2008, ASU Tempe Campus ASU MFA FACULTY READING Featuring poet Norman Dubie and others CONFERENCE READINGS April 3, 2008 at 7:30 pm Jim Daniels & Dinty W. Moore, February 20 This event is free and open to the public. Denise Duhamel & Rick Moody, February 21 Michael A. Stackpole & Orson Scott Card, February 22 PIPER SCHOLARS READING AND AWARDS Louise Glück, February 23 April 24, 2008 at 7:30 pm This event is free and open to the public. All conference readings begin at 7:30 pm in Old Main’s Carson Ballroom. Tickets can be purchased for $10.

MOREINFORMATION visitwww.asu.edu/piper call480.965.6018 [email protected]

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES PO BOX 875002 TEMPE, AZ 85287-5002