2010/2011 SPLAB @ Doe Bay Schedule

1. October 17 – Michael McClure – 7:30PM Reading

October 18 – Film: Abstract Alchemist of Flesh. 7:30PM showing, with post-film discussion.

Michael McClure is a poet, playwright, songwriter, and novelist who initially gained fame as one of the five poets who read at the legendary San Francisco Six Gallery reading in 1955, where Allen Ginsberg first read Howl. Author of 16 books of poetry, McClure has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Obie Award for Best Play, an NEA grant, the Alfred Jarry Award, and a Rockefeller grant for playwriting. His play The Beard provoked numerous censorship battles. In Los Angeles, the cast was arrested after each performance for fourteen nights in a row. Later, The Beard received two Obies in New York, and it has played a role in U.S. censorship and free speech battles since 1966 when it won its first lawsuit.

McClure has worked extensively with Doors’ keyboardist Ray Manzarek, and they have collaborated on several CD’s. Third Mind, a film of Michael and Ray’s conversations and performances, premiered on the Sundance Channel. McClure’s songs include “Mercedes Benz,” popularized by Janis Joplin. His journalism has been featured in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, the L.A. Times and San Francisco Chronicle.

Michael McClure’s upcoming book is Of Indigo and Saffron from UC Press, and his most recent is Mysteriosos and other poems from New Directions.

A few photos from Michael’s visit.

2. October 31 – Sam Hamill – 7PM Reading.

Sam Hamill is the author of more than forty books, including fifteen volumes of original poetry (most recently Measured by Stone and Almost Paradise: New & Selected Poems & Translations); four collections of literary essays, including A Poet’s Work and Avocations: On Poetry & Poets; and some of the most distinguished translations of ancient Chinese and Japanese classics of the last half-century.

He co-founded, and for thirty-two years was editor at, Copper Canyon Press. He taught in prisons for fourteen years and has worked extensively with battered women and children. An outspoken political pacifist, in 2003, declining an invitation to the White House, he founded Poets Against War, compiling the largest single-theme poetry anthology in history.

He has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Mellon Fund, and the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission. His work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He lives in Anacortes, Washington, with his wife, the painter, Gray Foster.

November 14 – Barbara Ludwig (Female Nomad & Friends: Tales of Breaking Free and Breaking Bread Around the World) – 7P Reading plus Open Mic. Emcee Aaron Talwar.

November 15 – Film: Slumdog Millionaire. 7P Screening.

Former San Juan Island resident, Barbara Ludwig, AKA Blue Bus Barb, has been a traveler without an agenda since the early 80’s. A storyteller in the oral tradition. She now finds her work included amongst the work of 41 other authors in a travel cookbook anthology published by Random House. “Female Nomad and Friends” includes stories and recipes that show our common connections and humanity. All royalties are being donated to a vocational training program in New Delhi, India to benefit children of the slums.

4. November 21 – Judith Roche – 7P Reading plus Open Mic. Emcee Maryna Ajaja.

21 Workshop: The Poetics of Place: A River Runs Through Us

1-4P. Suggested Donation for workshop.

Judith Roche is the author of three poetry collections, most recently, Wisdom of the Body, an American Book Award winner, has published widely in various journals and magazines, and has poems installed on several Seattle area public art projects. She has written extensively about our Northwest native salmon and edited First Fish, First People, Salmon Tales of the North Pacific Rim (also and American Book Award winner). As Literary Arts Director for One Reel she produced the Bumbershoot Bookfair and Literary Program for over twenty years. She was Distinguished Northwest Writer-in-Residence at Seattle University in 2007, taught at Cornish College of the Arts in 2009 and currently teaches at Hugo House Literary Center.

Judith Roche Workshop – The Poetics of Place: A River Runs Through Us

“Wendell Berry says, “If you don’t know where you are you don’t know who you are.” Not sure how entirely true this is in an existential way, but it has some truth to it. We are rooted in place– and in displacement– even if we are just passing through. But how to get to the life of a place, beyond the static and expected observations? Through readings- Snyder, Berry, Oliver, others­– and targeted exercises– we’ll approach writing about home, land, identity and­­­­ place, whether landscape of our minds, a remembered one, or a very physical and present one. This program is being presented as part of Humanities Washington’s Inquiring Mind series.

5. December 12 – Jarret Middleton – 7P plus Open Mic. Emcee Greg Bem.

JARRET MIDDLETON is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Dark Coast Press, an independent literary publisher in Seattle. He is the author of An Dantomine Eerly, a surreal debut novel that follows the last thoughts and memories of the Irish-American poet Dallin as he passes into death. John Olson said, “[An Dantomine Eerly] sounds as if Charles Bukowski had suddenly been possessed by the spirit of Matthew Arnold. As if Dover Beach suddenly became Venice Beach, and the acerbic barfly a quixotic scholar gypsy . . . Middleton’s language is chimerical.” Jarret began ADE on a typewriter in a house with no electricity on Monhegan Island, eighteen miles off the coast of Maine. He wrote and completed the book over the next four years while working horrific jobs, traveling, and living in New Hampshire, New York City, and Philadelphia. He is currently writing fiction while outlining a second novel. He was born in Boston, grew up in New Hampshire, and lives in Seattle. More info available at www.jarretmiddleton.com and www.darkcoastpress.com

6. February 6 – Hedgebrook Writers Showcase. Linda Clifton and Madeline Ostrander. – 7P plus Open Mic. Emcee Meredith Nelson.

February 6 Workshops:

Linda Clifton facilitates A POETRY WALKABOUT 10A-12N. (Fee: Suggested donation.)

Linda Clifton, Seattle, Washington, former K-12 Director of the Puget Sound Writing Project at the University of Washington, holds a Ph.D. in medieval literature. An experienced teacher and independent editor, Clifton founded Crab Creek Review and was a guest editor for Hedgebrook Journal. Her poetry has appeared in a number of little magazines including Drash and Calyx, and in Shadowmarks from award-winning Blue Begonia Press. Her chapbook, Painting the Face of G-d, explores the relationship between making art and connecting with the spiritual. Read samples of her work at www.clifton-consulting.com

10A-12N: A POETRY WALKABOUT – Linda Clifton Workshop

Eagles, guitars, water and woods–Doe Bay gives us 33 waterfront acres for a walkabout and inspiration. In this two hour participatory workshop we will explore in our journals, walk about together to observe this moment, come back to share words and craft them into poems.

Madeline Ostrander is a writer and editor, who brings the sensibilities of an environmental activist and ecologist to bear on the stories she tells about people, landscape, and the possibility for change. She is the senior editor for YES! Magazine, a national, independent magazine offering solutions to critical challenges our world faces. She holds a Master’s degree in environmental science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was a writer-in-residence at Hedgebrook writers center on Whidbey Island and has received an Outstanding Young Alumni Award from Illinois State University. Her writing has appeared in YES! Magazine, High Country News, The Sun Magazine, LINQ (Literature in North Queensland), and the anthology Thomas Pynchon: Reading from the Margins. Her activist work was cited in Bill McKibben’s book, Fight Global Warming Now.

2-4P – Writing the Radical Personal Essay – Madeline Ostrander

When was the last time you read a story that made you want to change course, speak up, rethink your life, or take action? In this workshop, we’ll talk about how stories can function both as political pieces and as art. We discuss how writers like Terry Tempest Williams, Bill McKibben, Gloria Steinem, Sandra Steingraber, and Rebecca Solnit weave together story, experience, and conviction to move their readers to action or to challenge political ideas. We’ll practice mining our own personal stories and experiences in order to explain, reinforce, and humanize our convictions. We’ll talk about how to write about our feelings and opinions with authenticity. We’ll also draw on lessons from Louise Dunlap’s book, Undoing the Silence, which explores how to overcome the barriers that make us reluctant to speak out.

7. February 20 – Anastacia Tolbert – 7P plus Open Mic. Emcee Alex Bleecker.

Feb 20 workshop – 1-4P. (Fee: Suggested donation.)

Anastacia Tolbert is a writer, Cave Canem Fellow, 8th grade teacher and Resident Writer at Seattle Girls’ School. She is the recipient of the 2004 San Diego Journalism Press Club Award for the article “War Torn.” She is writer, co-director, and co-producer of GOTBREAST? Documentary (2007): a documentary about the views of women regarding breast and body image. Her poetry, fiction and nonfiction have been published widely. She is a member of many writing communities including Hedgebrook women’s writers and EDGE professional writing fellows.

Naked Poetry – A Workshop with Anastacia Tolbert

Oftentimes our most profound thoughts are poetic and earth shattering—and buried beneath the script that tells us, “I don’t think this is dressed up enough for public consumption.” In Naked Poetry, a workshop for people who wear clothes, we will debunk the oh-no-I-can’t-share this myth by writing about topics that make us uncomfortable, squirm in our seats and forget we ware wearing clothes. After we’ve gotten brave enough to write these poems be will practice the “flip” technique and rearrange lines using the theory of last line first. Come and be nude, challenged and flipped off. It’ll be worth it.

February 21 – Film: GOTBREAST? (A 2007 documentary about views of women and their body image/breast.) 7PM Screening.

8. March 6 – Greg Watson Reading/Workshop: Si’i’ahb – Noble People: Key words in Puget Sound Salish and the power they carry – 7P plus Open Mic. Emcee Paul Nelson.

Greg Watson has lived in King County for 33 years, working the last ten as a teacher in alternative high school programs on and off the Muckleshoot Reservation. He has a longstanding connection with Native American people and cultures in the Puget Sound area as a friend, a student of the late Vi Hilbert, and as a museum professional. His many obsessions include carving, Puget Sound Salish (Lushootseed/Whulshootseed) literature, and the work of Anthropological pioneer Arthur C. Ballard (1876-1962).

Greg Watson’s performance at 7PM will be a workshop: Si’i’ahb – Noble People: Key words in Puget Sound Salish and the power they carry. It will happen in the Doe Bay Cafe.

This session is not a class to learn language or spirituality, but a chance to consider how even a few words can carry strong and subtle cultural messages that we can incorporate into creative writing. We will explore Whulshootseed words like Si’i’ahb, es’istuh (same as), directional terms and nouns with multiple meanings (like shugwthl, which means road and door), along with their pronunciations and un-exact spellings with the English alphabet. Hearing Salish literature in translation and some time with the Whulshootsed dictionary are near certainties.

9. March 20 – George Bowering – 7:30PM plus Open Mic. Emcee Paul Nelson.

George Bowering is a poet/novelist from British Columbia. He was Canada’s first Parliamentary Poet Laureate, 2002-2004.

His latest poetry book is the 375-page My Darling Nellie Grey, a series of 12 chapbooks . His latest novel is billed as a memoir. Pin Boy is about the lovelife of a teenager who has to figure out what to do with three female persons, one being a highschool teacher. Fall 2010 saw a new edition of his anti-Western Caprice. He lives in Vancouver with his wife Jean Baird.

10. April 10 – Elizabeth Austen, 7PM. Emcee Kristen Young + Open Mic.

Elizabeth Austen spent her teens and twenties working in the theatre and writing poems. Her first full-length collection will be published by Blue Begonia Press in spring, 2011.

A dynamic performer, she has been featured at the Skagit River Poetry Festival, Richard Hugo House Literary Series, Bumbershoot and elsewhere. For 10 years Elizabeth has produced literary programming for KUOW, 94.9, one of Seattle’s NPR affiliates, introducing recordings of Pacific Northwest literary events and interviewing local and national poets. She served as the Washington “roadshow” poet for 2007, giving readings and workshops in rural areas around the state.

April 10 Workshop, 1-4P:

Beyond the Page: Poems Aloud, Poems Alive (Fee: Suggested donation.)

What does it take to make poems come alive in performance? Commitment, practice… and some skills that poet, performer and public radio producer Elizabeth Austen will teach in this interactive workshop.

Performing poems for an audience doesn’t come naturally to everyone, but it can be learned, and the exploration can help you become a better reader and writer. The process involves becoming intimate with the poem—fortunately, it turns out that this is most pleasurable work and extremely useful for revision. This three-hour workshop will provide concrete tools to improve your reading skills and public presence. We’ll explore the physical nature of language, and practice embodying the poem – backing it up with breath, voice and body. Applicable to all styles of poetry. Bring your own poems or poems by another.

11. April 24 – Doe Bay Invitational Poetry Slam, Greg B, others. – 7:30P.

12. May 1 – Kelly Lydick, 7:30P, plus Open Mic.

Kelly Lydick is a writer, photographer and editor who holds an M.A. in Writing and Consciousness from the New College of California (now California Institute of Integral Studies).

Her writing has appeared in Switched-on Gutenberg, ditch: poetry that matters, shady side review, SwankSpeak! and Java Magazine among others. Her fiction piece Love is a Piece of Gravel Lodged in the Brain was nominated for the 2011 Dzanc Books “Best of the Web” and her work on the theme “Silhouettes” has been featured on KQED’s The Writers’ Block. She is the author of the chapbook We Once Were (Pure Carbon Publishing, AZ) and the experimental work, Mastering the Dream (Second Story Books, CA).

In late 2010, Kelly also became a certified Gateway Dreaming ™ Coach, and looks forward to helping others utilize writing and the depth and power of their dreams for transformation in waking life. Her website is: www.kellylydick.com.

Sunday, May 1, 10A workshop:

Symbol, Sign, and Subconscious Signifier: Writing the Dream Time

Do you ever wonder what your dreams are trying to tell you? And how they inform your creative process? Are the symbols of language and dreams arbitrary? Allegorical? Archetypal?

Bring 1-3 dreams to workshop and let’s explore the personal dream landscape and the language you can use to describe it. The goal of this workshop will be to look deeper at the symbolism of dreams and learn how to use this information to compose meaningful, creative written work.

We’ll begin with a guided meditation working with sacred geometry, color and the chakras to open up the flow of creativity. We’ll look specifically at individual dreams, primarily from a Jungian perspective, and begin to construct creative work that reflects the deeper meaning of these dreams.

Then, we’ll also look at the specific elements of symbolism, color, character structure and narrative voice, and incorporate free writing and group exercises into our craft. By the end of this workshop, you’ll have drafted a creative piece (poetry or fiction, your choice!) that expresses and reveals the symbolism of your personal dream landscape.

This workshop will last approximately 2.5-3 hours.

Suggested Donation $20.

13. May 8 – Dominick DellaSala – Temperate and Boreal

Rainforests of the World 7:30P plus Open Mic. Emcee Paul Nelson.

May 9 – Film: A Wild American Forest – (PBS documentary).

Dr. Dominick A. DellaSala is President and Chief Scientist of the Geos Institute in Ashland, Oregon and President of the Society for Conservation Biology, North America Section. He is an internationally renowned author of over 150 technical papers including the forthcoming book – Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World (Island Press, 2011). Dominick has given plenary and keynote talks ranging from academic conferences to the United Nations (Earth Summit II). He has appeared in National Geographic, Science Digest, Science Magazine, Time Magazine, Audubon Magazine, High Country News, Terrain Magazine, NY Times, LA Times, Jim Lehrer NewsHour, CNN, MSNBC, “Living on Earth (NPR),” and TV (including several conservation films). He has testified in numerous congressional hearings in defense of the Endangered Species Act, roadless area conservation, national monument designations, and climate change legislation among others. For his efforts to help foster national roadless areas conservation and support designation of new national monuments, he received conservation leadership awards from the World Wildlife Fund in 2000 and 2004, the Wilburforce Foundation in 2006, and was twice nominated for an international conservation award for his work as a whistleblower while on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service spotted owl recovery team. Dr. DellaSala co-founded the Geos Institute in July 2006.

Temperate rainforests are biogeographically unique. Compared
to their tropical counterparts, temperate rainforests are rarer
and are found disproportionately along coastlines. Because
most temperate rainforests are marked by the intersection of
marine, terrestrial, and freshwater systems, these rich ecotones
are among the most productive regions on Earth. DellaSala and his contributors tell a compelling story of the importance of temperate and boreal rainforests that includes some surprises (e.g., South Africa, Iran, Turkey, Japan, Russia). This volume provides a comprehensive reference from which to build a collective vision of their future.

Edited by Dominick A. DellaSala
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