The Great Myth of Being Cool

BOCES is offering a Freedom Writers inspired workshop on Friday, April 25th. Here are the flyers in case you are interested. Click to enlarge. Here's the registration form.

Eric Gansworth Art Opening, Book Signing

Friday, February 29, 2008 at 5 p.m.


BUFFALO, NY − Canisius College will host an art show opening, book reading and reception for Eric Gansworth, professor of English and Lowery Writer-in-Residence, on Friday, February 29, 2008 at 5 p.m. in front of the Peter and Mary Lou Vogt Gallery of the Andrew L. Bouwhuis Library.


The event, which is free and open to the public, will celebrate the publication of Gansworth’stwo new books: Sovereign Bones, an anthology of New Native American writing, and A HalfLife of Cardio-Pulmonary Function, a collection of poems and paintings. Gansworth will readfrom his works, followed by an audience question and answer period, book signing and reception. The art show, featuring Gansworth’s original paintings, will run from February 29 – March 28 during regular library hours. For library hours, visit the Web site here or call (716) 888-2900.

Gansworth, an enrolled member of the Onondaga Nation, was born and raised on the Tuscarora Indian Nation in Lewiston, NY. He has published seven books, including Mending Skins, which won a 2006 PEN Oakland Award. Gansworth’s books are available at Talking Leaves Bookstores and from Amazon at www.amazon.com.

The reading and art reception is co-sponsored by ArtsCanisius; the College of Arts and Sciences; Keith Burich, PhD, professor of history; The Department of English and Talking Leaves Books. For more information, contact The Canisius College Fine Arts Office at (716) 888-2536 or visit the Web site here.

Urban Epiphany 2008

We received word from Celia White, a local poet who has presented to our Teen Writing Camps, about a poetry marathon she is helping run. Here's the info:

You are invited to read at Urban Epiphany 2008, our seventh year. This Western New York poetry marathon invites all poets! Please forward this message to others.

The reading will take place Sunday, April 27, 2008, from 3-8 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 695 Elmwood Avenue (at West Ferry). Suggested donation is $5 (covers the hall and incidental costs). We also welcome donations to help cover video and audio recording. We also welcome help at 2:30 to set up chairs, and help putting the chairs away after we finish.

As usual, our goal is to have every poet read for 2 minutes.This is approximately two pages of poetry. Please time your reading if you are unsure how long this is. I got a number of complaints last year about readers going long, but I do so hate to yellow card people, so please cooperate on this.

While we always keep a few slots each hour open for unscheduled poets, we like to schedule as much of the day as we can. Please reply with your preferred hour (between 3 and 8 pm) and we will do our best to accommodate all requests.

All publicity is welcome! Also, see the blog below for updates and reader info.

Depew, John Green, and the Power of Web 2.0

I know you've probably seen this story, but in case you haven't, a parent and a few community members addressed the school board attempting to prevent an English class from reading John Green's Looking for Alaska. The Buffalo news article can be found here and their blog inviting comments can be found here.

Perhaps the coolest part of the story is that the author himself was notified of the situation and decide to create a vlog (video blog) response regarding the situation. Here's the video:



Talk about Web 2.0 removing classroom walls. Wonder what would happen if we exhumed Mark Twain and gave him a iMac with an iSight camera and Youtube.

Comments?

- Joel