Dictate II

The second installment of Dictate (our open-mic series) took place Tuesday evening, and naturally everyone had a lot of fun again.

The lovely people who read their poetry and prose were: Stacie Nellor (pictured above), Franciscus Alex Rebro, Anna Becker, Nick Crosby, Erin Johnson, Jessica Delfanti, Alyse Speyer, Brittany Farmer, Sean Rys, Mitch Shira, and me (Britta Gustafson). I may have forgotten somebody or misspelled a name, so let me know if you have a correction.

We're planning to hold the next one on February 12 with something of a "love" theme. It may not be in the Old Little Theatre this time, so watch for the Facebook event.

Update February 7, 2008: Actually, we're going to skip February 12 and instead hold one big Dictate event on February 28 in the Old Little Theater. It works out better that way.

Because we all can use a little more cash

Here are this month's writing contests:

1. Sylvia K. Burak Scholarship 2008 — Submit a previously unpublished 600- to 800-word personal essay in English on the experience that most changed your life. Award is $500 and a year's subscription to The Writer. Deadline is March 1st.
   
2. The Writer's 2008 Short-Story Contest (Mystery) — Submit two copies of your mystery short story. Award is $1,000, first place; $300, second place; $200, third place. Deadline postmarked June 30. Entry fee is $10.
   
3. Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction 2008 — Award is $1000 and publication in Colorado Review. Deadline is March 15. Entry fee is $10.
   
4. Linguistic Depravity Crime/Mystery — Genre novella contest of 17,500 to 40,000 words. Award is $300, first place; $200, second place; $100, third place. Deadline is Feburary 28, midnight. Reading fee is $25.
5. Pilgrimage Magazine — Nonfiction and poetry entries with themes. Eligible for a writing reward. For the themes shadow/light, deadline is March 1. For 1960s, the deadline is July 1. For deep democracy, the deadline is October 1.
6. Potomac Review — Annual Poetry Contest. Send up to three unpublished poems. All entrants receive a one-year subscription. Award is $250, first prize; $150, second prize. Reading fee is $20.
7. Writing It Real — Winter personal experience essay contest up to ten-pages double spaced on any subject. Award is $150, first prize; $75, second prize; $50, third prize. The reading period is January 15 to April 1 (so send it whenever during this time frame) and the reading fee is $15.

Good luck with your entries! :)

Book review by Stacie

Shirley Jackson is perhaps better known for her short story "The Lottery" and The Haunting of Hill House (made into an astonishingly bad movie in 1999). We Have Always Lived in the Castle was her final novel and I find something so alluring about being drawn into the strange world the Blackwoods. On the outskirts of a small New England town Mary lives with her older sister Constance and bedridden uncle in a sprawling mansion estate. The opening gives a good sense for the distinct, haunting calmness of the narrator's voice:

My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.

Turning through the story, you slowly learn how the other members of the family died and watch as the tension between the small town and the isolated Blackwood estate grows. Look for the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition to see Thomas Otts' fittingly eerie black and white cover art.

Spiffing up Building 494

Since we care about our friendly, creaky old building and we spend a lot of time in it, there are rumors that various people may descend on CCS in a couple weeks, armed with cleaning supplies and new decorations.

You can help decide what these decorations will look like. Possible options, with suggestions welcome:

1. More graphical wall decals, which would be like the blue and black birds already around CCS. (Janie voted for the Keith Haring decals in particular.)
2. A bunch of blue tile decals arranged in interesting patterns on walls.
3. An appropriate poster or two, maybe in the lounge.
4. A giant crossword puzzle, suggested by Stacie, maybe in the computer lab.
5. Fancy light switch plates, also suggested by Stacie.

This is important because the appearance of our building affects how people feel about CCS: is it grungy or delightful? So, if you're interested in helping clean or decorate, come to meetings! Or just let one of us know somehow.

Dictate! pictures

Tonight's Dictate! kickoff was great: entertaining readings by Literature and English students and Barry Spacks, music by Amy Arani, a good-sized crowd in the Old Little Theatre, and plenty of muffins and grape juice. The series will continue with an open-mic night in two weeks.

Here are pictures from before the main event. I blame my non-fancy camera for any possible blurriness you may notice.

Alyse Speyer, Erin Johnson, Lindsay Pullin, a mostly-hidden Stacie Nellor, and Nick Crosby.

Un-leader Mitch Shira practicing on the growing crowd.

The poet of honor, the podium-mover, and the featured musician.

Hello everybody!

This glorious blog will include:

• Meeting notes
• Event announcements
• Pictures of those events
• Bits and pieces of student work
• Constructive essays and opinions
• Videos of Mitch on the grass

So, it functions like a newsletter — a way of communicating internal stuff to each other and to the outside world — but it's better. This will help fulfill our goal of sharing information with each other, and hopefully it'll help everyone else understand us better too.