|
Put your thoughts on paper, partake of monthly workshops, and demonstrate that you won’t bleed to death under an assault of friendly criticism and you’re likely to become a Great Rift Writer. See our calendar for upcoming workshops, or contact our designated receiver of emails for more details.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
GRW Monthly Workshop
Send email to lynna.howard@mac.com if you need more information. Workshops are from 7 to 9 PM on the 4th Wednesday of every month, with some exceptions near holidays.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
GRW WORKSHOP, at 7:00 PM
Place: University of Idaho--Bonneville County Extension Office Conference Room
2925 Rollandet, in Idaho Falls
Homework assignment for 06/25/2008:
Choose one of the "Seven Deadly Virtues" or "Seven Saving Vices" below as inspiration for a poem. We've listed more than seven, and you can add your own if you like. Our goal is to choose 14 poems (7 from each category) and publish a chapbook. The overall theme is to celebrate life, living authentically and being true to the human experience. Credit (or blame) for this homework idea goes to Bill Peters.
Seven Deadly Virtues
Cleanliness
Certainty
Perfection
Temperance
Idealism
Political Correctness
Environmentalism
Abstinance
Planning Ahead
Objectivity
Autonomy
Deference
Perseverance
Selflessness
Humility
Patience
Tolerance
Responsibility
Working Hard
Propriety
Benevolence
Piety
Bravery
Looking on the Bright Side
Caution
Seven Saving Vices
Procrastination
Squandering Time
Irreverence
Sloth
Lust
Swearing
Intemperance
Impracticality
Irratiional Exuberance
Winging It or Improvisation
Impatience
Failure
Obsession
Impulsiveness
Impudence
Complacency
Lolly Gagging
Being or Getting Dirty
Childishness
Crotchety-ness
Wildness
Try to avoid:
1. Writing directly about moderation in all things
2.
Too much exposition
3. Lack of concrete detail and attention to the senses
Ideally, each person will write at least one Deadly Virtue and one Saving Vice poem, but do what is good for your own art.
Go forth and write! Prose poems welcome. Squander time, and call it well-spent.
Bring at least six copies of work you want to share. Depending on the number of writers at the workshop, we will have about 10 to 20 minutes per person. If you have longer poems or prose pieces you want to workshop, you should chose an excerpt to present to the group. Writers can bring longer works for members to take home, but don't expect the entire piece to be covered in one workshop. Please include your name, phone number, and email address on each piece.
Future GRW Workshop Dates, 2008
July 23
August 27
September 24
October 22
November 19
All workshops are from 7:00 PM to 9 PM
University of Idaho--Bonneville County Extension Office
Upstairs
Conference Room
2925 Rollandet, in Idaho Falls
Other Events
May 8, 2008
Water Appreciation Week Poetry Contest
Great Rift Writers presents awards for poetry written by local students.
Tautphaus Park, Idaho Falls
May 22, 2008
Lynna and Leland Howard present Art Meets Adventure™ at BYUI, in Rexburg, Idaho. The presentation is part of an Art Seminar series at the college. 6 PM to 7:30 PM in the Smith building.
Photo of aspen grove above is by Leland Howard, ©2007
Contact us: Send email to lynna.howard@mac.com if you would like to attend an upcoming workshop or other event. |
Image at right is a painting of Bill Peters, one of the founding members of Great Rift Writers.
Poet, William J. Peters, born in Kellogg, Idaho is the fourth generation in his family to work for the Bunker Hill Company, one of the largest mining employers in the Silver Valley of the Coeur d’ Alenes. He taught 9th grade English for 25 years in Idaho Falls. He now invests his time in writing and working part-time in a bookstore. His first chapbook, Miner Moments, was published in 2004.
Image at left is of Leslie Ovard.
Poet and essayist, Leslie Park Ovard of Idaho Falls, studied creative writing at Lewis-Clark State College and has a Masters of English degree from Idaho State University.
Leslie's works have appeared in Talking River Review, Rendezvous and Connections.
Leslie is a Fishtrap writing conference fellow, and Great Rift Writers founding member. Leslie was the first "teacher" of the community college course in Idaho Falls that brought Great Rift Writers together. She is currently a Journal Article Specialist and Proposal Development Specialist for the Knowledge and Information Services at Idaho National Laboratory.
 Image at right is of Lynna Howard, a founding member of Great Rift Writers.
Lynna was born in New Mexico, lived in Idaho for several years, migrated to Alaska as a teenager, and settled in Idaho in 1995. She focuses on technical writing in the winter, and adventure travel writing in the summer. Lynna has three published books and is working on a fourth. Her book "Montana and Idaho's Continental Divide Trail" won a National Outdoor Book Award in 2000. Her most recently published poem was "Immigrant" which appeared in the 2008 issue of "Alehouse," a literary journal published in San Francisco.
Lynna's Published Books | Lynna Howard's homepage
Amanda Jackson is a member of Great Rift Writers, and the mother of a baby girl. From a small town in Wyoming, Amanda moved to Idaho Falls to expand her mind and push preconstructed boundaries. Pushing limitations is a work in progress.
Marla Trible, a founding member of Great Rift Writers.
For the past eight years, MARLA TRIBLE and Thomas, her spouse of 38 years, have resided at Volehollow, their acreage on the western outskirts of Idaho Falls. Here they tend to their gardens, youthful wildlife habitat, aged windbreaks and attendant critters. An Okie, schooled in Texas and Alaska, Marla has degrees in Mathematics and Geophysics. She has lived in seven states and been paid as a scientist, programmer, educator, editor and writer. Since retiring, she has focused on improving her skills with poetry and photography, while remaining active in Audubon, the Idaho Master Gardening Program and statewide weed and water issues.
Debu Majumdar is a member of Great Rift Writers, and the author of "From the Ganges to the Snake River: An East Indian in the American West" published by Caxton Press of Caldwell, Idaho.
 Image at left is of Judy Scheer, a founding member of Great Rift Writers.
Judy was invited to read her poem "Trump of God" at the International Society of Poets conference in Orlando in March, 2004. ISP even gave her money, 500 bucks—big money in the poetry universe. But you gotta love the "exquisite personalized Outstanding Achievement in Poetry Silver Award Cup" and Judy's Disney World heat rash more than the money. For more info about the ISP conference: http://poetry.com/poetscorner. Judy lives and works in Payette, Idaho, where she is also raising two above average children. Judy's self-described genre is the "way more angst than is normal" category. Judy's hobbies include worrying, feeling inadequate, obsessing on the unobtainable, and writing poems that would make her mother blush. Her poem "Punk Rock Girl" won an award from the magazine "Black Rock & Sage." To purchase T-shirts featuring "Punk Rock Girl" and other poems, see
http://www.cafepress.com/thinking_ts
Stefanie Davies is a member of Great Rift Writers. She works at the university in Pocatello, Idaho, and has a distinctive laugh everyone loves to hear.
Image at right is of Susan Seefeldt, a member of Great Rift Writers.
Susan McMinn Seefeldt writes poetry under the pen name of Susan McMartin, a tribute to her much loved 97-year-old grandmother. Susan grew up in West Texas, majored in Botany at university, married her best friend and Peace Corps returnee, Steve, then moved to North Idaho and the Palouse for 15 years. After a two-year sojourn in New Zealand, Susan and her family moved to Idaho Falls, and then to Fairbanks, Alaska. Susan and Steve, a range ecologist, have been married for 21 years, and have three daughters.
She has had two articles published in the award-winning journal "Home Education Magazine," and was a regular columnist for the New Zealand home schooling journal "Between Times" written for teens and their parents.
In addition to sharpening her skills as a poet with her fellow Great Rift Writers, Susan is working towards a degree in Library Science so that she can (a) start earning a paycheck again, and (b) "be the nice librarian" (according to two young friends who complained to her about a recent encounter with the other kind).
David Arlo Moss is a member of Great Rift Writers. He recently rejoined the workshops after serving a tour of duty in Iraq. His poetry sample, "Bear Butte," is posted on the GRW Poetry page. David and his family recently moved to Alaska.
Kathy Sanders is a founding member of Great Rift Writers, and was one of the original hosts of Open Mic Nights at Barnes & Noble in Idaho Falls. Several years ago, Kathy moved to Astoria, Oregon with her husband, Steve. She escaped her crop dust allergies and experienced hurricane-force winds in the bargain. She recently self-published the chapbook "From Cross to Crown" which can be found in several Christian bookstores in Oregon and Washington. Visit her blog at www.roughcutdiamonds.blogspot.com (a Christian blog site), or send email to kfsanders99@hotmail.com. An excerpt from Kathy's poetry appears on the Great Rift Writers poetry website page. |
