Simplicity = Happiness (guest post)

When asked to write several blogs as the current Inkberry intern, I decided I would write once a month.  Well, it is now over a month since I last posted, so here I am again.

Things are going well, here at Inkberry.  There’s quite a lot going on around here this month as well!  On top of our usual, poetry group, critique group, and WordPlay, we are also sponsoring a reading at the North dams Public Library, and have joined up to sponsor with MCLA at a reading taking place at Gallery 51.  Also, at the end of the month, Inkberry is collaborating with the First Congregational Church in Williamstown, the Willimas College Chaplin’s Office, and the Queer Life Coordinator, to have a Psalm writing workshop.

Though my duties as Intern, rarely change, I almost always have plenty to keep myself busy.  My computer skills are also rather favored here.  I think, thus far, my favorite intern “duty” would be creating the advertising flyers.  I think it’s my favorite, because not only do I get to use my writing and editing skills, but I also get to use my own creative liberties (even though the flyers follow a particular format).

With only about a month left of school, I’m enjoying the feeling of having a real job, as the current economy has made it clear that it might be awhile before I have this experience again.

Ultimately, I think I would love to be a novel editor, just so long as I always have nature and animals in my life.  If I had to chose between happiness and a million dollars, I’d chose happiness, as all a million dollars can do is buy more stuff.

Jobs, and Words, and Cows– Oh My! (guest post)

Normally, I am usually more of a blog “stalker” than a blog writer, but that’s not to say I’ve never contemplated it. So, I present to you, my first official attempt at blogging, as Nicole Pervere, the newest Inkberry intern.

First of all, I am absolutely enthralled to be experiencing what it’s like to have a “real” job. I love the independence that Inkberry gives me to work at my own pace, and to not have my hand held every step of the way. I like that I am able to learn from any mistakes I might make, instead of being in fear of doing something even slightly wrong. For this reason I really enjoy working for the Inkberry staff.

I’ve just realized that this is an awfully formal sounding blog, and I am not a terribly formal person. (At least I’ve already warned you that I’m not an experienced blogger!) Anyway, the horrible work experience I alluded to above, is from a job that I have been working at for far too long. I usually work at said job (I won’t name any names) when I go home if I’m feeling desperate for money, otherwise, I’ll take painstaking measures to avoid it.

When I’m not dreading working while home, I like reading and writing (which I don’t do nearly enough of anymore!), spending time with friends, and animals (yes, animals; I love them all), and believe it or not, I’m a pretty avid videogame player, and from time to time, I’m not too bad at it either!

I love nature and the outdoors, and could never give up the country life. In my future I see myself having a couple dogs, and couple (orange!) cats, some chickens for fresh eggs, ducks because they’re just so cute, and a vegetable garden for fresh veggies all summer! As for a future job, well, that’s pretty much still undetermined, but I do really enjoy editing other people’s writing.

I also love baking, and eating what I bake, and eating what I’m baking in the process of making it. Luckily, I don’t bake too often! Once I learn to cook decently well, I think I’ll make a pretty good wife someday! But for now, you can find me here, diligently typing at the keyboard, or, practicing the current love of my life, yoga!

Or, you might find me hanging out with this cow!

A taste of poetry with Robert Ronnow (guest post from Leanne Jewett)

The first meeting of Inkberry’s guided poetry discussion group was held at Inkberry the first Monday in February. Though a number of poems were prepared for possible discussion, the first two poems of similar theme proved stimulating enough to carry the group through the full meeting. For an expanded overview of the evening and links to the poetry that will be discussed at our next meeting, which will happen at Inkberry on March 2, 7:00 pm, visit Poet Robert Ronnow’s website: ronnowpoetry.com/Inkberrypoemssf.

– Leanne Jewett

January inkmail

The January 2009 issue of inkmail is now online at the Inkberry website. It’s written by Sharon Wyrrick, and it’s all about The Write Stuff:

The Write Stuff program could not exist without the volunteer mentors who are each paired with one or two Conte students. Currently, 36 seventh graders at Conte work every week with a mentor. This allows the relationship to develop over the course of the entire school year…

Read it here.

December inkmail

The December edition of inkmail has gone live on the Inkberry website! Here’s a taste, from our list of nifty things we’ve done in the year now ending:

·    The Write Stuff, our collaboration with Conte Middle School in North Adams and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, has evolved to offer one-on-one tutoring and mentoring of students.

·    Our reading series has featured National Book Award Finalist Jim Shepard with poet Trudy Ames, Pushcart Prize winning Poet Carol Frost with guest poets Abbot Cutler and Peter Filkins, noted historical author Susan Quinn, and Science Fiction/Fantasy Author Paul Park.

·    Our WordPlay series has featured authors such as sports and fiction writer Derek Gentile and noted J.R.R. Tolkien scholars Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull.

·    Inkberry workshops have given the local community a chance to work on poetry with Derek Mong, light verse with humorist Seth Brown, and short play and skit writing with Kelly Newby of Main Street Stage.

·    Our Community Critique Group continues to offer ongoing peer critique and support to local writers…

Read the whole thing here: December 2008 inkmail.

Seth Brown & WordPlay in the Beacon

Congratulations to Seth Brown, whose WordPlay reading got rave reviews in the MCLA Beacon! The reviewer, Mark Burridge, praised Seth’s reading from his latest project, From God to Verse (a rendering of the entire Torah into rhyming couplets) as well as his fabulous freestyle abilities.

You can read the article here: Seth Brown Plays With Words at Inkberry/Papyri Reading

October and November inkmails

The two most recent issues of inkmail have belatedly been added to the Inkberry website! Go and enjoy the October 2008 inkmail and the November 2008 inkmail. Of particular note is this announcement, which I’ll reprint here too:

Jill Gilbreth, Instructor at MCLA and former Executive Director of Inkberry has been honored by BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2008, edited by Salman Rushdie. Her story “When the Stars Begin to Fall” was published in the Fall 2007 issue of Ploughshares and has been included in the list of the “100 Other Distinguished Stories of the Year,” along with Inkberry Advisory Board member Jim Shepard.

Congratulations to Jill and Jim!

PSA: events page updated

The events page at the Inkberry website has been updated with info on our next few events: readings by Jennifer Trainer Thompson (author of many excellent cookbooks), poet Robert Ronnow, and novelist Juliane Hiam. Check it out.

September inkmail

Greetings Friends,

I spotted orange leaves littering lawns this morning as I drove to work and caught myself heaving a sigh of relief. Whether it is nostalgia for new notebooks and the lure of meeting a world of new authors in high school English or the promise of a future weekend in front of a roaring fire with a good book, there is something about fall that comforts me like no other season.

This month, we have two big events planned, as well as a wonderful playwriting workshop. Please read through for all the important bits.

-Amy Stevens, for the Inkberry Board

August inkmail

Greetings Friends,

What have you been reading this summer? So far, this has been a summer filled with books about food. I drooled over Mario Batali’s Babbo Cookbook, devoured Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, made a meal of Alan Richman’s Fork it Over, savored David Kamp’s The United States of Arugula, had Dan Koeppel’s Banana: the Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World for dessert, and washed it all down with Evan McHugh’s Pint-sized Ireland: in Search of the Perfect Guinness.

– Tom Bernard, Inkberry Board Member.

Enjoy whatever books remain on your summer reading list, while at Inkberry we’re looking towards September.

This fall, the Williamstown Milne Public Library and the House of Local History are joining forces on a Halloween event of historic proportions at the Eastlawn Cemetery and Sherman Burbank Chapel in Williamstown.  The dates of the event are Friday, October 31st, from 7-9 pm, and Saturday, November 1st, from 6-9 pm.

The planning committee for this event is looking for talented writers to join the team and create a “script” for their Haunted Graveyard Tour.  Actual historic research on the area, events, and “inhabitants” has been conducted by the House of Local History and will be provided to the writers for inspiration.  The tour should last approximately 20 minutes and would consist of 3-4 longer stops at certain graves - featuring frightening graveyard soliloquies or actual reenactments - and then some quick historic scares in between stops.  Groups of 10 people would walk the tour, and the tour would repeat with each group.

In addition to the graveyard tour, there is a 30-minute “theatre of the macabre” play being performed in the Sherman Burbank Chapel, created by Main Street Stage of North Adams, and there will be outdoor tents housing Halloween crafts, food, and one showing classic horror films, courtesy of Images Cinema in Williamstown.

For more information, contact linda@inkberry.org or call 664-0775.

Upcoming

Saturday, August 9th from 7pm-9pm
Inkberry & Papyri Books present: WordPlay featuring Michelle LaFlamme-Childs, Papyri Books, 45 Eagle Street, North Adams. An open mic will follow Colen’s presentation. Gail Burns is host. The event, as usual, is free and open to the public. Call 664.0775

North Adams native Michelle Laflamme-Childs is a poet, essayist, and arts administrator currently living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She holds degrees from the University of Massachusetts and St. John’s College, and having fled the corporate world in 2006, is now the Administrative Director of the Santa Fe Art Institute.

Laflamme-Childs has just completed a stint at the prestigious Napa Valley Writers’ Conference and has recently published a chapbook entitled Love and Lovers. Having written poems secretly for over 25 years, she has only opted to share them with the world at large within the last year, and has had poems optioned by a variety of regional arts & culture magazines. Laflamme-Childs has been reading publicly around Northern and Central New Mexico and is currently working on a book length manuscript entitled Chiaroscuro.

Haiku contest winners!

At long last, here are the winners of the haiku contest we posted about last month! The winners each received tickets to a Steeplecats game. Our thanks to everyone who entered!

And the winners are…

Andrew Beaudoin, age 10:

Deep fly ball to left.
He’s going back, to the track,
At the wall…SEE YA!!!

Werner Gundersheimer:

Slathered with mustard
my hot dog falls to the ground.
Guess my team will lose.

Bill Mattia:

Scattered caps and gloves
Another bench clearing brawl
Caused by a bad pitch

Bill Miller:

Obligatory
More so than helmets or cleats
Expectorations

Paul Smachetti:

The ball on a hop
fielded cleanly at second,
the double play turned.

Daniel Spinella:

Wakefield calls the tune.
“Hoedown with Knuckleball.”
The batter beats time.

Honorable Mention:

Gene Conklin
Linda Delisle
Patrick Kelly
James Montgomery
Enid Shields

June inkmail

The June issue of inkmail, written by Inkberry board member Amy Stevens, has been published on our website. Here’s a taste:

It is now summer in the Berkshires, and while some may think this is the season for plays and concerts, I only have eyes for baseball. I’ve just cracked open Summerland by Michael Chabon (author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay). Summerland is Chabon’s first novel for young adults, and features a young man named Ethan, who may be the worst little league player ever. Yet he is recruited to help save the world from extinction in a text that blends the line between reality and fantasty on a small ballfield on Clam Island.

If your mind has been wandering to ballfields, you might want to consider entering our next contest…

Read the whole thing here.

Oh, and while you’re at it, consider taking our online survey, designed to help us learn what you’d like Inkberry to be and to do! A randomly selected respondent will receive a $20 gift certificate to Papyri Books. To receive a prize, you must include your name and contact information at the end of the survey. Otherwise, this information is not required, and you can submit the survey anonymously.

Here’s the link to the survey.

Thanks for being a part of Inkberry!

Upcoming Events

Saturday, June 14th from 7pm-9pm
Inkberry & Papyri Books present: WordPlay featuring Leith Colen , Papyri Books, 45 Eagle Street, North Adams. An open mic will follow Colen’s presentation. Gail Burns is host. The event, as usual, is free and open to the public. Call 664.0775

After Wordplay, swing on by The Main Street Stage for the return of The Red Room on Saturday, June 14. Doors open at 8 PM for life drawing, with models and art materials provided. There will also be mingling and light refreshments. 9 PM marks the beginning of the variety show. The Red Room is featured on Saturdays in June and Mondays in July and August, featuring local musicians, writers, dancers, magicians and more. Contact Kelli at 664.664-7745 for more information. Red Room contains adult themes and language.

Inkberry co-founder at Best American Poetry

In early June I had the pleasure of serving as a guest-blogger at the Best American Poetry blog. (If you’re not already reading the BAP blog, allow me to recommend it; it’s as smart, wry, and multifaceted as one might imagine.)

I posted three poems over the course of my week there. Two of them are sestinas, both because I’m on a sestina kick lately and because I happen to know that the fine fellow who founded the BAP phenomenon is a fan of the form. Here are links to all three poems:

Introduction

Voice (Naso)

Sestina Featuring Six Words Commonly Used On This Blog

It was a delight to lend my words to the Best American Poetry folks for a while. Thanks for the invitation, gang!

–Rachel Barenblat

Timeless tradition / Endless summers in the park / Everyone homers

Reprinted from The North Adams Transcript, with permission.

Baseball isn’t just for jocks and jugheads but for everyone, even the literary-minded. “America’s pastime” has long inspired writers — not only day-to-day journalists but novelists such as John R. Tunis, Jackson Scholz and the legendary Ring Lardner.

Aside from “Casey at the Bat,” by Ernest Thayer, one seldom hears about great baseball poems, yet there are many out there, as a visit to www.baseball-almanac/poems will attest. Among poets who have written about baseball are William Carlos Williams, Walt Whitman, Ogden Nash, Richard Armour and the ever-famous A. Nonymous.

Today, the local non-profit literary organization Inkberry, the Transcript and the North Adams SteepleCats are sending out a call to local poets (and anyone else who might be interested) to get inspired by this summer game so many of us love, whether we cheer for the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Mets or our local collegiate, high school, Babe Ruth or Little League teams.

The three organizations are sponsoring a Baseball Haiku contest, commencing immediately. The top three winners (and more if the poetry warrants) will receive free tickets to a SteepleCats home game at Joe Wolfe Field this summer. They will also have their poems published in the Transcript.
What is a haiku? It’s a form of poetry invented by the Japanese that anyone of any age can write. In English, haikus are traditionally composed of three lines: The first has five syllables, the second seven syllables and the third five syllables. The writers don’t even have to worry about punctuation. The poem that begins this article is an example of a baseball haiku (although not necessarily a good one).

Entering the contest is easy: Just send your haiku (or haikus) via e-mail to linda@inkberry.org or by regular mail to Inkberry, 115 State St., Building 1, North Adams MA 01247. All ages are welcome.

Winners will be announced in early July. Please include your name, address, phone number and e-mail address with your entry. The deadline is Wednesday, July 2, at 5 p.m.

Write your poem today
Get inspired by baseball lore
No one will strike out.

April inkmail

The April edition of inkmail features a farewell from Inkberry’s two interns:

Holly and Sondra: We both heard about the internship through last year’s Workshop Facilitator intern, Sarah Russell, and it appealed to our interest in the literary world. We started out not knowing what to expect, but over the past year, we have each found our places in our own literary niche…

Read the whole April issue of inkmail here.