Speaker Series & Workshop Events Abound as February Ends and March Begins
“Was it light?
Was it light within?
Was it light within light?
Stillness becoming alive,
Yet still?”
– Theodore Roethke, “The Lost Son”
This week’s passage is pulled from the final section of “The Lost Son,” titled, “It was beginning winter.” Roethke describes beginning winter as “an in-between time,” and anyone with us here in Michigan could probably agree that “ending winter” is a similarly in-between time. With the snow, melt, rain, and re-freeze cycle that taunts us sometimes through March underway, we all anxiously await the (true) arrival of spring, that “stillness becoming alive” – the time when “a lively understandable spirit…will come again.” For now, we must hold on to that “light within” and take Roethke’s advice: “Be still. / Wait.”
Fortunately, while we wait for warmer weather, we’ve got a couple of events this week for you to enjoy from the comfort of your home and a whole lot more coming up.
Jump to a section in this post:
Upcoming this Week
Virtual Speaker Series Event – A Gathering of Voices from the Heart of Cascadia
featuring Holly Hughes, Rena Priest, and more
At 7pm this Tuesday, March 1, Holly Hughes and Rena Priest will close out the Place and Landscape segment of our 2022 Virtual Speaker Series with a talk titled A Gathering of Voices from the Heart of Cascadia. They will share about their experiences with The MADRONA Project – a periodical anthology of work by and about writers from the Pacific Northwest – and contributors Jessica Gigot, Alicia Hokanson, Sandra Jane Polzin, Claudia Castro Luna, and Carolyn Servid will read some of their work.
Some words on The MADRONA Project:
“Hold this book in your hands, and you’re holding a gathering: Women who farm, fish, make art and write are all together inside.”
– Diane Urbani de la Paz of Peninsula Daily New
“In a time of drastic examples of climate change, in the face of predictions of … damage to come, it gives me heart. … These poems and prose pieces exhort us again and again: ‘We’ve stayed calm for too long,’ and ‘It’s time to move quickly.’… [The natural life] that’s so worth saving calls to us from every page.”
– Bethany Reid, author of the 2012 Gell Poetry Prize-winning collection sparrow + more
The MADRONA Project explores both the value of the natural world surrounding us and the value of recognizing each other within our corners of the world. In an LA Review of Books essay titled “Toward a Wider View of ‘Nature Writing,’” writer Catherine Buni reinforces the importance of work like The MADRONA Project, which collects and uplifts a diverse array of voices connected by place:
“Reading, and in particular reading widely — i.e., “multicultural learning experiences” — encourages creative thinking, exposes and breaks down barriers between “self” and “other” and between “nature” and “culture.” Reading makes us more empathic and more aware of others’ experiences, desires, and needs. Sometimes it inspires us to act on behalf of others, or the earth, or both.“
Give Holly Hughes, Rena Priest, and contributors to The MADRONA Project a chance to inspire you this Tuesday, and you just might end up feeling more connected with the world and people around you. Register today and join us March 1 at 7pm on Zoom.
Register for A Gathering of Voices from the Heart of Cascadia »
Poetry Workshop – All About Careers: How What We Do Reflects Who We Are
with Jared Morningstar
At 7pm this Thursday, March 3, Jared Morningstar will kick off our virtual poetry workshop series. His workshop, All About Careers: How What We Do Reflects Who We Are, will explore ways in which work can be a source of inspiration, rather than a daily grind. In a world where jobs take up increasing portions of our lives, this workshop will give you tools and ideas that may act as an antidote to burnout; a writerly eye can help make even the most menial tasks feel meaningful.
As a former student of Morningstar’s, I can say from experience that to attend one of his workshops is a special privilege. Over the years he has nurtured class after class of high schoolers through their journey as writers, from just starting to winning regional and national awards. So please consider starting or continuing your writer’s journey with Jared Morningstar’s poetry workshop – you won’t regret it!
Register today – space is limited.
Looking Ahead
New Speaker Series Segment: Health and Wellness
moderated by Carol Barrett
You’ve got a lot to look forward to in the upcoming Health and Wellness series, moderated by interdisciplinary scholar, educator, and writer Carol Barrett. This series is inspired by Theodore Roethke’s struggles with mental illness and, as biographer Rosemary Sullivan describes, his ability to persevere and “see in his experience a potential insight into other thresholds of consciousness.” Speakers in this series meditate on how the creative life interacts with our physical and mental wellbeing, as well as how we might find a better balance between working and caring for ourselves.
Our Health and Wellness series moderator, Carol Barrett, coordinates the Creative Writing Certificate Program at Union Institute & University and teaches doctoral studies in Interdisciplinary Studies (Union Institute & University) and Psychology (Saybrook University). In addition to awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Mental Health, Carol has published in the fields of literature, psychology, gerontology, thanatology, women’s studies, medicine, religious studies, education, and art therapy. On top of all of those amazing accomplishments, she has published poems in over 35 anthologies, two collections of her own poetry (Calling in the Bonesand Drawing Lessons), and one collection of creative nonfiction (Pansies). In conjunction with her roles as the moderator of and a speaker for this series, Carol is also running two poetry writing workshops on March 29 and April 12, which you can register for now.
Learn more about the Health and Wellness Virtual Speaker Series »
First Health and Wellness Speaker Event: Stimulating the Satori Moment in Poems
featuring Tess Gallagher
Next Tuesday, March 8, at 7pm, Tess Gallagher will open the Health and Wellness segment of our 2022 Virtual Speaker Series with her talk Stimulating the Satori Moment in Poems. As Gallagher puts it, “satori concentrates on the ‘acquiring of a new point of view in our dealings with life and the world,’” and poetry utilizing a satori moment can “wake us up and startle us into a new awareness.” Join us next Tuesday, March 8, on Zoom as Tess Gallagher opens our minds and calms our hearts with the revitalizing power of the satori moment.
Register for Stimulating the Satori Moment in Poems »
Second Poetry Workshop Offering Another Chance to Talk, Think, and Write
with Jared Morningstar
This coming Thursday, March 10, at 7pm you’ll have one more chance to work on some poetry with Jared Morningstar in a workshop titled Art Breeds Art: How We Can Find Creative Inspiration from Other Artists and Their Works. Movies, paintings, books, and more aren’t just there to be viewed or read – they can inspire you, too!
Register for the Mar. 10 Poetry Workshop »
Special Thanks & Additional Info
We are excited to share that the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center, one of our Saginaw Chapbook Project partners, has launched a new video series through their blog and their YouTube channel. Every Thursday, they will release a new video to educate and inspire you through a brief exploration of things like letterpress, bookbinding, and papermaking. Learn more about how they engage with a variety of book arts disciplines at their home base in Kalamazoo. Keep an eye on their class schedule for more opportunities to get involved both in-person and online!
Visit the websites of Holly Hughes and Rena Priest for more information about this week’s speakers.
Purchase the most recent issue of The MADRONA Project at Small Press Distribution.
Visit Morningstar’s page on GoodReads for links to purchase his poetry and story collections, American Fries and American Reality, as well as his advice for aspiring writers and more.
Thanks to generous support from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, Arts Midwest, the Ohio Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts, our events are free and open to the public through May 31, 2022.
Kellie Rankey holds a BA in Creative Writing from SVSU, where they currently remain a student. Their work has appeared inThe Normal School,Tiny Molecules, and theMichigan Sociological Review, and is forthcoming from Wrongdoing Magazine.
