Blog Archives

The News in Southwest Minnesota and "Sticky Stories"

11/27/2011

These are busy days for all us teachers as the end of the semester approaches, so I'm keeping this post short.

I've added one of my published poems, "The News from Southwest Minnesota" to the Poem Gallery page on my website. It appeared in Farming Words: The Harvest of Literature at a Prairie College edited by Bill Holm and David Pichaske and published by the SMSU Foundation. The poem sprouted from a disturbing news article about a fatal accident I'd read about in the Marshall Independent.

If you're searching for a good prompt for a poem, story or essay, the newspaper--print or online-- is a great place to start. What story bothers you, grabs your attention, keeps you awake and wondering at night? A writer friend of mine likes to use "sticky words" as prompts, so why not use "sticky news stories"? Start writing about it, and see where it takes you. When I started writing about the Buddhist monk's accident, I had no idea where the poem was going and was surprised when the words came to me. Surprise yourself, surprise your reader.

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A Modern-day Pilgrim's Journey to Giving Thanks

11/24/2011

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Happy Thanksgiving! The pilgrims celebrated to give thanks for their survival after a brutal winter and for a bountiful harvest. This holiday gives me many reasons to be grateful after surviving life's challenges and embracing abundance.

On Thanksgiving Day 1982 in Indianapolis at the home of my Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Tom Jeffers, with my large Irish-American Catholic clan gathered, Jim Zarzana, the love of my life, and I announced our engagement. It hadn't been an easy road for either of us to reach that "YES!" moment, each of us having learned many hard lessons from earlier relationships by the ages of 27 and 33. Our wedding's theme, "In the Fullness of Time," indicated the long, winding path that brought us to that moment. Right after our vows and first kiss as husband and wife in Sacred Heart Church at the University of Notre Dame, we surprised family and friends by connecting our right hand palms in a resounding, perfect high-five, something we'd been practicing privately for months but were unsure we'd actually pull off. But the moment came, and just as each couple makes a wedding their own, all our elation at finding each other, putting aside our fears, and saying "I do!" burst through in that high-five moment. At our wedding, the centerpieces were cornucopia-shaped baskets spilling with bright mesh bags bursting with Jordan almonds. This tradition from my husband's Sicilian ancestry reminds new couples that life is both sweet like the sugary coating and hard like the nut inside.

Today 28 years later, Jim and I will be feasting at the home of our friend Susan McLean with other dear friends and SMSU colleagues in Marshall, Minnesota with lively banter, laughter and stories around our table. Along the way, we've had to move literally and figuratively out of our comfort zones. We've received pink slips and, as writers, lots of rejection letters, but we've also been blessed with good work we love, our teaching and our writing, travel abroad with our students through SMSU's Global Studies Program, good health, and a wonderful faith community in Marshall.

On Thanksgiving Day 1985, 10 days overdue with our first child, I felt my permanent status would be walking blimp. We'd been invited to the home of good friends, but I worried my water might break right on their brand-new white dining room carpet. Thankfully, it broke at home while I was taking an afternoon nap. Finally! Jim and I packed and drove to the hospital. Elaine May Zarzana, arrived 8 hours later on November 29, 1985 at 12:24 a.m., 7 lbs., 5 oz., with a thick cap of black hair. With Jim by my side through it all, including cutting the umbilical cord, I was elated, couldn't sleep, just wanted to stare at our beautiful new daughter, to call and wake everyone in my family and tell them the good news. No one takes a birth for granted, but since we had a miscarriage with our first conception, we were especially grateful for our healthy girl. Now in a couple days, Elaine will turn 26. She has blessed our married life abundantly. We were both from big families--I have five siblings, Jim has three--and we planned to have three of our own children and adopt two. But life had other plans. Because we had a second miscarriage in 1988 and were unable to conceive again even after medical procedures, Elaine is our only child. But as one of her childhood friends once proclaimed, "Having Elaine must be like having 10 kids!" Yes, with dear friends of Elaine's who've been like "daughters and sons of our heart," our family has grown and expanded in ways we never imagined. And wherever Elaine goes, she has the gift of creating a sense of family and community. Currently working in Marshall at New Horizons Crisis Center as the Relationship Series Director, she's travels throughout southwest Minnesota teaching high school freshman how to become more knowledgeable about their own bodies and to embrace their sexuality in healthy ways. In a society that struggles mightily with unhealthy attitudes about sex, we're grateful Elaine has this opportunity to use her gifts and her passion for teaching teens as well as to connect with other people statewide in this field.

Synchronicity weaves through my days like a bright thread, and last week I experienced one of those moments. Elaine and I had driven up to the Twin Cities because she was serving on the statewide annual conference planning committee for Teenwise. On the way up, she asked me, "What's new?" I told her about the SMSU FOCUS piece that features the English Department, including Jim and myself. I also told her about a writer friend from grad school at Minnesota State University, Mankato who had a new book and was going to do a reading at SMSU as a visiting writer in the spring semester. On the way back to Marshall, Elaine said, "You know your writer friend who's reading at SMSU? She might be the keynote speaker at the Teenwise annual conference." As mother and daughter, I felt like we were on parallel paths, both following our passion for teaching, writing, and creating in different, life-giving ways.

Today the sun is shining in Marshall, our first snow has already melted off, and the air is crisp and clear. Overnight, we brined our 19.5-pound Heritage Grove Farm Bronze turkey in a spicy brown bath of broth, "flipped the bird" this morning from breast to back, will wrangle it into the oven this afternoon, load it in our car, and drive over to our friend Susan's home.

The journey to this Thanksgiving Day has been filled with God's "amazing grace," a song I've been drawn to play lately on our piano. I wish you a Thanksgiving filled with many reasons to give thanks and to stay wide open to God's amazing grace.

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"...Paradise will be a kind of library."

11/20/2011

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Writer Jorge Luis Borges wrote, "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library." I agree wholeheartedly.

Last week the doors swung open to a brand new library in Marshall, Minnesota. Bright, spacious, and--though quiet--teeming with life. A kind of paradise, judging from the beaming faces of patrrons, young and old. As part of the library's grand opening, SMSU History Professor Emeritus and writer Joseph Amato gave a fascinating talk on the "ordinary versus the extraordinary" as viewed through the historical lens of daily life. Refreshments included nn 8-foot long cake in the shape of an open book, complete with a book mark, which you can view at the Marshall Independent story, "This open house takes the cake."

Another Independent story you may want to read, "New library is more than a building, speakers say," gives the full scope of the library open house.

Having spent many delicious hours in libraries in my childhood through graduate school and now at SMSU's McFarland Library, I'm thrilled to have a new public library in town complete with a cozy fireplace, study rooms and all the latest technology.

Now for some more great quotes by writers about libraries:

"I attempted briefly to consecrate myself in the public library, believing every crack in my soul could be chinked with a book."
-Barbara Kingsolver, "The Poisonwood Bible"

"I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library." -Jane Austen, "Pride & Prejudice"

"The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man." -T.S. Eliot

Reading obviously relates to libraries, and my husband, Jim Zarzana, posted on his website's "The Eclectic Blog" on 11/11/11 an essay titled “All Children Left Behind: The Decline of Reading in Our Lifetime." I encourage you to read it and join in the conversation by leaving a comment.

What is the library like in your town? What do you think the libraries of the future will be like? How important have libraries been in your life? Do you have a favorite library? Do you have a favorite poem, story or essay about a library? I'd love to hear your comments and stories!

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Shakespeare's Twelfth Night & Reality TV at SMSU

11/5/2011

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Last night my husband Jim and I joined some friends to see SMSU's production of Shakespeare's ever-popular Twelfth Night. The play has a light tone, is accessible, and we recommend it highly. Tomorrow, Sunday, Nov. 6, is the last show, a matinee at 2 p.m. Get thee to the SMSU Theatre for high-quality acting and lots of great laughs.

The 50's style costumes are terrific (bravo, Sheila Tabaka!), and the beachfront set is beautiful (bravo, Ray Oster!).
In the Director's Note, Nadine Purvis Schmidt writes, "One thing that struck me in preparing for this production is how modern the play feels. With their colorful personalities, conflicts, pranks, and confusing love lives, many of the characters in Twelfth Night would be right at home on today's reality TV shows. The way scenes flow and are structured reminds me of film and television--scenes shift quickly and often, there are few extended monologues and there is much interaction between characters who come and go and reappear."

Shipwrecks, survivors, gender-bending, comic sub-plots are all part of the fun. And nobody beats Will Shakespeare for snappy word-play, great dialogue, and the ability to capture our full humanity from the foolish to the arrogant to the noble. As writers we need to "fill the well," expose ourselves to the best writing whether that's in print, on the screen or on the stage. And you can't do better than Shakespeare on that score.

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The News in Southwest Minnesota and "Sticky Stories"

A Modern-day Pilgrim's Journey to Giving Thanks

"...Paradise will be a kind of library."

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night & Reality TV at SMSU

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The News in Southwest Minnesota and "Sticky Stories"

A Modern-day Pilgrim's Journey to Giving Thanks

"...Paradise will be a kind of library."

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night & Reality TV at SMSU

Author

Archives

BlogrollArts BeatA Year of Being HereBearded VeganBecky's BlogBetter World BooksBirth Breasts and BeyondCarrie EtterChristine Stewart-NunezDana YostHeroic Yes! ProductionsJames A. ZarzanaLanding on Cloudy WaterNicole HelgetNo Ideas But in ThingsStory GuruThe Marsco SagaWrite Right

Categories

Blogroll
Arts Beat
A Year of Being Here
Bearded Vegan
Becky's Blog
Better World Books
Birth Breasts and Beyond
Carrie Etter
Christine Stewart-Nunez
Dana Yost
Heroic Yes! Productions
James A. Zarzana
Landing on Cloudy Water
Nicole Helget
No Ideas But in Things
Story Guru
The Marsco Saga
Write Right