Outside reading/art assignment: The Wiz

Over Thanksgiving, me and my family went to our local community center and watched a adapted version of the Wizard of Oz called The Wiz. In summary, Dorothy, who is a twenty-four-year-old kindergarten teacher born, raised, and still working in Harlem, is celebrating Thanksgiving with her extended family, but she doesn't seem to be thankful for much in life. She lives a self-imposed sheltered life; she is shy and unfulfilled. Things change for her when she is caught in a snowstorm while chasing after her dog, Toto. They are transported to the mysterious Land of Oz, where she is informed that the only possible way to find her way back home is through the assistance of the powerful wizard in the Emerald City. As she goes searching for him, she befriends some creatures who are facing problems in life just like her. In their quest to find and get help from the wizard, they also face Evillene, the equally evil sister of Evermean, the wicked witch whom Dorothy inadvertently killed when she arrived in Oz, and who may be their biggest obstacle in achieving their goals. My favorite character throughout the whole play was Lionel the cowardly lion. not only was the actor's lines superb, but the sound that he made when he shrieked was to die for when Toto barked at him. The lighting might not have been that great but for a community based show the props/scenes were incredible. I cannot not wait until next year's production.

Please Come to My Chapbook Release Party!

If you are still around and need a break from studying, I'd love for you to join me!

(& No, sorry. No extra credit for this one! Just lots of extra credit in my heart. ;) )

The Chocolate Cake Reading Series Invites You to Celebrate the Release of 

 

A Woman Traces the Shoreline

 

a prose poem cycle

 

by

 

Sheila Squillante

 

Thursday, December 15th

7:30 PM 

ION

 

poetry reading, chapbook signing and, of course, chocolate cake!

 

*First ten purchases of $25 worth of ION merchandise includes copy of the chapbook! Support local business!

 

Sheila Squillante is a poet and essayist living in State College, PA. Her poetry chapbook, A Woman Traces the Shoreline, will be released in December, 2011 by Dancing Girl Press. She is also the author of Another Beginning, an artist's book collaboration with her husband, Paul Bilger, forthcoming from Kattywompus Press in 2012.  Her work has appeared widely in print and online journals like Brevity, No Tell Motel, quarrtsiluni, MiPoesias, Phoebe, Cream City Review, TYPO, Quarterly West, Literary Mama, Glamour Magazine and elsewhere.  She has been the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and nominations for the Pushcart Prize, Best American Essays, Dzanc's Best of the Web and Sundress Publication's Best of the Net anthologies. She teaches writing at Penn State.

Elizabeth Kadetsky Reading Dec. 7

LAST CHANCE FOR OUTSIDE READING!

Wednesday, December 7, 12:10 p.m.


Palmer Museum of Art's

The Art of Poetry

Elizabeth Kadetsky, visiting assistant professor of creative writing, Department of English

New York-based author Elizabeth Kadetsky published First There is a Mountain: A Yoga Romance in 2004 and since then has written both creative fiction and nonfiction, garnering awards from the Thurber House, Ragdale Foundation, Project Censored, FAIR, EMMA, and others.

The Final Two Blog Journal Responses

Okay gang, here they are:

#9: Self Evaluation

Here we are at the end of our time together, and I'd like you to reflect on your personal experience in English 15S. THIS IS NOT A COURSE EVALUATION. (You'll get to do that in a minute...) Here, I want to talk about YOU. What did you learn this semester? About writing? About Penn State? About the arts near and far and your relationship to them. This is a place to reflect on your process and progress, and I'd like you to do that specifically and thoughtfully, but in no more than 1000 words. DUE: Monday, December 12th by 5pm.

#10: SRTEs (Course Evaluation)

Please go fill these out in ANGEL. Once you have, please create a post which says, "Hey, Ms. S--I just filled out my SRTE form. Thanks! Love, Student." DUE: Monday December 12th by midnight.

Alternate to Outside Reading Responses

For those of you who are still looking to fulfill your outside reading requirements, please visit this online journal, qarrtsiluni, and poke around. They feature printed and recorded poetry, video experiments and visual art of other kinds.

Please find FIVE pieces of work to respond fully to. Include the links to the pieces in your blog post response. 500-1000 words total.

Stuart Dybek to Read, Dec. 1

The Mary E. Rolling Reading Series 

with support from the Joseph L. Grucci Poetry Endowment,

the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, the University Libraries,

the Department of English, and the College of the Liberal Arts

presents:

Stuart Dybek

Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011

7:30 p.m.

Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library

Stuart Dybek is the author of three books of fiction: I Sailed With Magellan, The Coast of Chicago, and Childhood and Other Neighborhoods. His fiction, poetry, and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Poetry, Tin House, and have been widely anthologized, including in both Best American Fiction and Best American Poetry. Among Dybek’s numerous awards are a MacArthur Prize, the Rea Award, PEN/Malamud Prize, a Lannan Award, a Whiting Writers Award, several O. Henry Prizes, the Nelson Algren Prize, and fellowships from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation.