Latest kudos

Everyone, click HERE:

http://www.class.uidaho.edu/english/CW/MFA_Missive,_March_April_08.pdf

...for the latest list of MFA kudos. Lots of stuff. Click to see.

Congrats to everyone mentioned! (Now go click the link to see who got mentioned.)

St. Patrick's Day FUNDRAISER

That's right, kids - the O.N.E.S. are having a fundraiser this upcoming St. Pat's Day.

Where? At the Plantation bar. 2012 S Main St., Moscow, ID.

When? The 17th of March 2008, silly. Fun begins at 7 p.m. SHARP.

What?

• Beer pong tourney w/prizes
• Dirty limerick contest w/prizes
• Raffles
• Green beer
• Live music
• Vast amounts of fun, with all proceeds going to a good cause

MORE INFO TO COME SOON, but it's set and it's planned and it's going to happen so be there.

Kudos, the Palouse, SYMPOSIUM!

First, the symposium info:

2nd-year fiction writers Rob Campbell and Anne Pries will be reading at Ron McFarland's fine home at 7 p.m. on Saturday, the 9th of February. U of I people, check your email for more info!

And for anyone who wants a better look at where we live (prospective U of I MFA-types, I'm talking directly to you at this point), check out the great photographs at www.alisonmeyerphotography.com to see the local landscape through the lens of a talented photographer.

Then, the latest kudo list, thanks as always to Brandon Schrand, coordinator:

The new year is starting off in grand style with the latest happenings in the MFA Program.

Among Faculty:

Joy Passanante’s essay, “Visitations,” is now out in the current issue of SHENANDOAH and is available for purchase at Bookpeople of Moscow and the UI Bookstore.

Among Alums:

Justin Jainchill (MFA Fiction ’07) has had his story, “Shift,” accepted by PING-PONG, the stylish literary journal sponsored and published by the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, CA.

Lindsay Wilson (MFA Poetry ’06) has had had two poems— “Unlocking the Night” and “On Some Criticism of the Local and Specific”—accepted by the BLUE EARTH REVIEW published out of Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Among Students:

Andrew Millar (Fiction) has had his short story, “Help Desired,” accepted at THE RED CLAY REVIEW, published out of Kennesaw State University.

Laura Powers (Poetry) has had her poem, “Displaced,” accepted at INKWELL out of Manhattanville College, New York.

Jerry Mathes (Fiction) has had an essay, “Ahead of the Flaming Front,” picked up by HIGH DESERT JOURNAL out Bend, Oregon.

Congrats to all!

Picture update #2: Karaoke

Part of the reason why this blog exists is to show people (our friends in other programs, prospective MFA students at the U of I, etc.) what we DO out here in Moscow, Idaho. One of the things we do is sing karaoke. Exciting, yes! In this set of pictures, 3rd-year MFA candidate Todd Imus and his pals from the program went out to the local cowboy bar to celebrate his recent birthday.

What ensued was thus...

Todd and MFA coordinator Brandon Schrand singing Black Sabbath:

Virginia Shank (3rd-year poet) and Kelly Blikre (3rd-year fiction-eer) singing Nancy Sinatra:

Some of those along for the ride, Rob Campbell (2nd-year fiction) and Deb Ricks (1st-year nonfiction):

2nd-year fiction writer Anne Pries and Todd Imus singing Cyndi Lauper's gem "Time After Time":

And finally, the guy who said, "Hey, be sure to put these pictures on the blog, huh?" (Mr. Robert "I'm not singing karaoke, are you crazy?" Wrigley) and the guy with the birthday:

So, what's there to do in Idaho? Well, here's one of the answers.

Picture update #1: symposium

Russell Richardson and Kim Verhines both read at the final symposium last semester. We took pictures. Here are the pictures for you, Constant Reader.

Here's Kim, flanked by her husband, getting ready to give forth some great nonfiction:

Here's Russell, doing the same: (FYI - The camera's flash makes Russell look eleven shades paler than he normally is.)

And here's Russell and 1st-year fiction candidate Alan Dodd, discussing Russell's reading immediately following:

The break is over. Yea verily, the break was good.

Just a quick post with the latest U of I MFA kudos - a more detailed post with very exciting pictures of events and people will be coming soon, as will the info regarding the next symposium.

Let's let Brandon Schrand, our erstwhile MFA director, take it away with the mighty list he created:



Kudos Among Faculty:

Award-Winning Fiction Writer and NEA Grant Recipient, Daniel Orozco, has been interviewed by the National Endowment for the Arts for their “NEA Spotlight” segment.

Among Alums:

Andrea Mason (Nonfiction ‘03) had her essay, “Marcel des Grottes,” listed as a finalist in the So to Speak Literary Nonfiction Contest hosted at
George Mason University.

Jennifer Hirt (Nonfiction ’04) will be contributing two short essays to a forthcoming web-based research project, What Made History in 2007, run by ABC-CLIO, a major research organization. Her essays are on the antiwar movement and the increase in open-source software.

Joe Wilkins (Poetry ‘06) has had his poem, "Respite" accepted at Meadow, the literary magazine at Truckee Community College in Reno, Nevada. His poem, “Names on the Land,” has been accepted at Redactions: Poetry and Poetics out of Brockport, NY. The Briar Cliff Review, out of Sioux City, IA has accepted his poem, "A Roadside Diner in Iowa." Boxcar Poetry Review, the monthly online poetry journal, has recently nominated Joe’s poem, "North Carolina by Greyhound: First Christmas After the Funeral" for a Pushcart Prize.
And finally, his poem "As I Step Over a Puddle at the End of Winter, I Think of a Dead Ohio Poet" just came out in the anthology From the Other World: Poems in Memory of James Wright.

Among Students:

Jerry Mathes (Fiction) has had his poetry chapbook, “Fall in the Borderland,” listed as a top-ten finalist and it will be published by Finishing Line Press.

Anesa Miller (Fiction) will see her essay "To Boldly Go," appear in the 2008 issue of OUT OF LINE, an independent anthology of literature, culture and politics out of Columbus, Ohio. Her poem, "Your Chinese Motorcycle" will appear in an upcoming issue of BLUE UNICORN, an independent poetry journal out of Kensington, California. And finally, her one-act play "Buskers" was listed as a finalist in the THIRD COAST drama contest; THIRD COAST is the literary magazine published out of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.

Steven Coughlin (Poetry) has had his poem, The History of Longing,” accepted at The New Ohio Review, out of Ohio University.

Brittney Carman (Nonfiction) has had her essay, “How Birds are Drawn to Headlights, How Girls, Even in Sunlight, Disappear," accepted at The Black Warrior Review, published out of the University of Alabama.

Kimbery Verhines has two essays forthcoming: “The Blue Hour Before Sunrise” has been accepted by Shenandoah, out of Washington & Lee University; and her essay, “Dry Line,” will be included in Borne on Air, an anthology edited by UI’s Mary Clearman Blew and Phil Druker.

Virginia Shank (Poetry) has had her poem, “The Frigidaires of Idaho”—which is also a short stop motion film (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLWGnZo_YvU) by Virginia—accepted at the Oregon Literary Review; and Permafrost, out of University of Alaska Fairbanks, has picked up her poem, “After the Breakup.”

Symposium Saturday!

Here's the latest info, thanks to a flyer created by David Bowie, better known in the program as S. Onak:

Yep, Kim and Russell are reading - 7 p.m., 1423 Alpowa Ave., Moscow, ID. Be there or lament forever.