Forthcoming Poems (SOFTBLOW) & Winter Break!

I found out tonight that I had four new poems accepted by the online journal SOFTBLOW. They are scheduled for February.

It's winter break! Feelin' good.

4 New Poems Out & That Time of the Year

I have four new poems in the new issue of The Jet Fuel Review.

Happy beginning of the holiday season!

Forthcoming Poems (The Jet Fuel Review)

I found out this morning that I had four new poems accepted by The Jet Fuel Review.

The upcoming issue is scheduled to be released on November 29.

Vagabondage Press Interview

I was interviewed by The Battered Suitcase and Vagabondage Press and the interview came out today. (The interview took place in December 2010.) You can read it here.

Rubbertop Review Submissions

Rubbertop Review is open for submissions of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.

Guidelines available here.

Update (01/21/12): 
The next issue of Rubbertop Review that will feature interviews with songwriter Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys and Iowa Prize winner Josh Rolnick is going to have an "Ohio Connections" contributors theme. If you have an Ohio connection of some kind or know a writer with an Ohio connection of some kind the editors want to see your work. No need for you to live in Ohio or for the work to be about Ohio. You just need to have an Ohio connection (you decide what that is). February 1 deadline fast approaching! Happy submissions!

Ingenuity Fest Photos

Ingenuity Fest

I'll be reading with Nick Sturm, Mike Krutel, and Sam Snodgrass at Ingenuity Fest in Cleveland on Sunday, September 18th.

The reading is at 1 pm. We'll be reading in the Wandering Cave space. More information is available here and here.

Akron!

I arrived in Akron this weekend and I'm still unpacking at my new place.

In July, I was asked to read at Malone University with Michael Goroff and Eliese Goldbach in January. I'll post more on that later.

Feels like fall.

Update (08/21/11):

Everyone has been incredibly welcoming so far.

I went to the Akron Art Museum yesterday. I really liked it and it's free(!) for University of Akron students.

Looks like I'll be reading in Cleveland in September at Ingenuity Fest.

New Poem Out (& Happy 4th!)

I have a new poem in Clutching at Straws.

Happy 4th everyone!

A Poetry Acceptance and an Art Show

I found out yesterday that a new poem of mine is forthcoming in the online journal Clutching at Straws. I'll post a link to it when it comes out.

On Friday I went to an art show at cometogetherstudios in Bloomington, Illinois. I got to see some great pieces and explore their amazing new space.

Kanopy Dance

This afternoon was the Kanopy School for Contemporary Dance and Choreography end of the year concert at Overture Center for the Arts. I was very proud of my students.

I’m wrapping up six years with Kanopy Dance and I want to say thank you to everyone involved with the company and the school, especially Lisa Thurrell and Robert Cleary.

Here are some photos from today.

 

May 14th & 15th, 2011

May 12th & 13th, 2011

Review Release and Other Spring Things

I edited the 2011 Edgewood Review which just came out today. The journal features poetry, fiction, and photography by Edgewood College students and alumni. Copies are currently available at Avol's Books, Michelangelo's Coffee House, Madison Public Library (Central Library), and in most buildings on the Edgewood campus.

Here are some photos...

I found out that I'll be receiving a Bauer Scholarship at Akron next year. Very excited!

Is it spring? I'm not sure. There's snow on the ground in Madison...

Next Year

I was recently admitted into some grad school programs for poetry, and today I accepted at the University of Akron and the NEOMFA Program (Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing).

I'll be starting in the fall and will be fully funded. I'll have an assistantship that waives tuition and provides a small stipend that will continue through my time there.

Shortly after accepting, I was offered a position to be a poetry editor next year for Rubbertop Review which I accepted.

I'm very excited!

3 New Poems Out...and stuff...

I have three new poems in Camroc Press Review.

I've had a busy week so far and I can't believe it's only Wednesday. I need to stay focused. I currently feel like this.

New Poem, New Season (Almost)

I have a new poem in the online journal Pure Francis. It just came out today. You can check out Pure Francis here.

I have three new poems coming out in another online journal one month from now. I'll post the link when those poems come out.

I'm ready for spring break. One week to go...

Peaches...

I'm looking forward to reading at Tongue and Ink this weekend. It will be nice to get out of town.

Carrie Lorig wrote a two part article for Dane 101 about the various reading series in Madison, including Back Porch Reading. You can read it here.

I really like the Takenobu version of the song "Shady Grove." I like most of his songs so far.

Madison, Wisconsin Protest Photos

This evening I heard the Rev. Jesse Jackson speak on the square. Here are some photos I took earlier this evening...

Mad City Poets at Tongue and Ink

I'm going to be reading in the Mad City Poets reading at Illinois Wesleyan University's Tongue and Ink Conference on Saturday, February 26th. You can read more about the conference here.

Poetry and Ponytails

On Friday I found out I had a new poem accepted for publication by the online journal Pure Francis.

I have a reading coming up in late February in Illinois and I have some other projects going on as well. I'll try to blog more soon.

Today I watched Bob Fosse's "The Rich Man's Frug" from the film version of the musical Sweet Charity. I've been watching this piece for years and I never get tired of it. I still think the girl with the long, dark ponytail is one of the coolest people ever.

I finally created an online photo album with a few pictures which you can see here. I'll try to keep adding photos to it.

My Evaluation of "2nd Skin" for the Madison Arts Commission

In December, I was asked to evaluate 2nd Skin, a dance concert, for the Madison Arts Commission. I thought I would share part of my evaluation here...

            I recently attended 2^nd Skin, a dance concert performed by Ella Rosewood Dance. I saw the Saturday show on December 11^th which was performed at Music Hall for a small but attentive audience. I hope the audience for this young company continues to grow.

            The concert consisted of six solos performed by Ella Rosewood. Each piece was created by a different choreographer. Rosewood commissioned five choreographers to create solos for her and choreographed one of the pieces herself.

I thought it was a wise move to open with the work Ms. Rosewood created, allowing the veteran choreographers’ work to be the focus of the concert. Rosewood’s piece, Shadows of Incandescence, required athleticism and technique yet it never resorted to predictable dance class choreography. The dancer, dressed in a fitted, legless, flesh colored costume, threw her body across the stage and to the floor, finding quirky gestures along the way. Turns and balances, which happened around a light fixture prop center stage, were all given new twists.

I enjoyed getting to see choreography by Florida State professor Tim Glenn and New York based Beth Soll as I had not yet had the chance to see their choreography before.

In Beth Soll’s Knowing/Not Knowing, I was taken with a reoccurring movement that expressed both power and vulnerability. Standing in profile to the audience, Rosewood stood on her downstage leg with her upstage leg in a parallel coupe. With her arms outstretched to her sides, she turned her head slowly from looking straight forward to looking out at the audience.

In Tim Glenn’s Silk by Night, it was memorable when, leaning back in the downstage right corner of the stage, Rosewood smoothly freed one of her legs from a string of white fabric. There was a projection screen used for this piece and I enjoyed how more than one of the pieces in this concert incorporated technology.            

In Luc Vanier’s Farewell Beautiful World, Rosewood danced with a computer screen and comically stated “I’m separating myself . . . from myself.”

Throughout the various pieces, I noticed how the lighting enhanced the overall movement. However, there were many times when I would have liked to see more light on Rosewood’s face so that I didn’t lose her facial expressions.   

            Li Chiao-Ping’s Rust/Rise/Reset was another great vehicle for Rosewood’s athleticism. The majority of the movement of the piece takes place on a mattress-like surface, yet the movement is incredibly intense.

I thought Janet Lilly’s Regret was a great piece to close the show with. In an oversized white dress resembling a night gown, Rosewood seemed to lovingly attack Lilly’s movement and it felt as if she was referencing the pieces she had previously performed that evening. While the piece was titled Regret it ended the concert on a hopeful note.

It can be hard to perform a one-person show without it coming off as self indulgent, but this concert never felt that way to me. The educational outreach component of this project helped with this. Rosewood worked with seven schools in Dane county through interactive performance workshops. I hope that Ella Rosewood Dance continues its outreach work. I can imagine Rosewood doing terrific work with young students.

My guess is that Rosewood is hungry to have more dancers in her new company. Every piece in 2^nd Skin was well crafted and performed. A problem with a concert of this type (solo show) is that it lacks the element of surprise. Each piece offered exciting moments, but having six solos in a row made the concert feel somewhat formulaic. However, this kind of concert requires extreme stamina and to see a dancer fulfill this is an accomplishment in itself.