This past weekend my roommate and I drove to one of our friend’s home for her little sister’s Confirmation. It was a long drive—a little under two hours—and required that we cut through the twist of highways that surround Hartford.  After successfully navigating through our state’s capital and exhausting all topics of conversation, we turned the radio on.  And we changed the channel. And we changed the channel. And we changed the channel again. Honestly, I drove from Hartford to my friend’s home with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the radio dial.

There was nothing to listen to—not a single radio station that could keep our interest for more than three songs. Even worse there was nothing to listen to that actually meant something. I am not a music snob—I do indulge in Ke$ha quite frequently—but I do feel strongly that music has to have some quality or timeliness that will make it relevant in forty years.  Music needs to say something differently or use sound in a new way, it needs to define a period of time and not just be sound used to fill up long car rides.

Flipping through the radio stations, all the music sounded the same—it all seemed to depend on heavy beats and auto-tone. Even worse the majority of the songs seemed to sample from other songs. While this can be effective tool to build something new, none of the songs seemed to do justice to the original. The worst case of this seems to me to be the sampling of Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McDgDlnDX0Y) in Jason Derulo’s “Watcha Say” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBI3lc18k8Q). While Imogen’s song experiments with language and sound, Jason’s doesn’t seem to break any new ground or take the original to a new level. There is nothing wrong with sampling, a lot of great nods its head to other songs—jazz in particular often plays off of other works. We sample all the time in poetry; we just call it allusions. However, when the new work does not develop the idea any further that is called plagiarism.

Music is poetry—and the most accessible form of poetry. I am not asking for radio stations to only play Bob Dylan (though being mildly Dylan obsessed I would much appreciate this.) I am asking that DJs give artists the opportunity to be artists. Music and poetry should be about innovation, both with language and sound. The radio should be a forum for ideas and experimentation. I want to turn on the radio and feel something besides my car vibrating from the heavy bass—I want to feel poetry.

Here are some suggestions for music that is doing things a little differently (well, in my opinion):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btjhdHX8pMo (City and Colour)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6e7Tg6rSgI (K’naan)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACswvRfbHK0 (The Decemberists)

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I’m going to start sounding redundant, I realize. And like a major kiss ass.

For that, I apologize. But I assure you: my recent and repetitive enshrining of Regina Barreca is entirely circumstantial. Really, it is. Have I mentioned she’s my professor this semester? This probably doesn’t make you believe me any more, now does it.

Oh, well. At the risk of sounding Barreca-obsessed (which exists as a scientifically-proven condition, just read the press), I wanted to tell you all a little bit more about what she’s written. Though this time, it’s not only because it’s knock-your-socks-off good (which it is), but because it’s oh-so-pertinent to all of us involved in the Creative Writing Program and the LRR.

These articles talk about budding writers, and the reality (or lack thereof) that surrounds the publishing world for them.

Doesn’t it sometimes all feel so romantic? Getting published? Seeing your name in print for the first time? Slaving away in an isolated cabin, perfecting your creative genius while sipping tea, turning everything that pours out of your mind into deft, flowing metaphors that will one day (depending on how much tea you sip and metaphors you craft) get you featured in the New Yorker?

It feels at times as though there is this dreamy cloud surrounding the idea of being a writer, or maybe one day a Writer. And while the cloud is nice, and comfortable, and fluffy like clouds tend to be, I think there should be a healthy balance of realism. Which is where Regina comes in.

Barreca writes honestly and with an often-neglected perspective on the publishing world. To give you a taste:

“What else do I wish my colleagues — especially the hundreds of very young colleagues — at AWP were able to discuss with more honesty? How about the fact that it would be easier to land a starring role in Cirque du Soleil — one of the ones where you leap to the ceiling from a standing position on your tiptoes, do a triple somersault, and land gracefully balanced on one elbow — than to get an unsolicited short story or poem into The New Yorker? How about accepting the fact that the odds show we’d have a better chance of making it to the finale of Dancing With the Stars than of getting even the most tender, early, lovingly penned poetry published in The Paris Review? And everyone, at a very early age, should be informed with as much kindness as possible, that while hand-making your own paper from assorted wildflowers culled from national wildlife and writing your own poetry on it in beautiful calligraphy, sewing the binding with colored silk thread, and selling copies to your family, friends, and members of your writing group is adorable, it probably will not help your chances of getting a deal with a press.”

I’m posting the links below. Do go read these, even it is from your isolated cabin, while sipping tea. Here’s to a healthy balance in expectations. And to getting published one day, of course.

Part 1, and Part 2

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Anyone who wants to have some fun, hands-on marketing experience should definitely try creating perspective text. John Allie and I gave a whack at a guerilla art project with no real name as a way to promote the Long River Review’s 2010 release party. The art form was created by Axel Peemöller, a German graphic designer, who used the power of perspective to paint directions in a parking garage, like “Up,” that seem to hang in mid-air. Peemöller seems to get his inspiration for these practical optical illusions from M.C. Escher, the Dutch graphic artist famous for his mathematically calculated art such as Drawing Hands (1948) or Relativity (1953) that use the quirks of perception.

John and I decided to use colored tape to achieve the same effect found in Peemöller’s parking garage (mostly because painting public property might have been considered vandalism and would have required Professor Pelizzon to bail us out of jail or at least pay our criminal fines). We also decided to create our message on a bus stop, hoping it would attract more attention in such a high traffic area.

So, one person is needed to hold up a piece of transparent paper with one eye closed in order to see the message, or in our case the LRR logo, appear on the bus stop. Taking direction, the other person then begins to tape the message down on the ground, and onto the bus stop according to the perspective. It took about 2 hours to complete the entire design, and closing one eye for that long tends to give one a twitch. Unfortunately, I proved to have weak perspective skills, and had a hard time directing John, especially as the sun was dipping into dusk and finally into the night. Taping the design was quite a bizarre experience because you can’t see the message unless you stand at the right angle. The result is the illusion that someone tried to randomly gift-wrap the bus stop in blue tape.

The event attracted numerous passerby, who seemed just as curious to find out the end result as we were. It turned out to be a fantastic publicity stunt as people waiting for the bus or walking by watched our progress and asked to learn more about our cause. We told people about the Long River Review as we worked and most people were outright amazed, entertained, and walked away knowing more about UConn’s literary journal. So, if you want a fun, effective way to promote an event, cause or organization perspective text guerilla art is definitely the way to go. To see pictures of Peemöller’s parking garage experiment go to http://www.autoblog.com/2008/08/04/parking-garage-signage-depends-on-your-perspective/ and to see our home-made version for LRR go to its facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2232280068&ref=ts.

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It was interesting to hear this reading, which was much different from the Frank Delaney reading. Both authors, I’ve never read before so it was interesting to get a taste for each for the first time through these readings. Susan Morrow begins with a reading of “The Names of Things”. This was a very different feel in comparison to other nonfiction writing that I have heard. It was like a poem, but it was a story. Since this was a memoir, it makes sense why it was so perfectly detailed. Each line in her book was like an artist painting a beautiful landscape picture. She would also not only speak like a painter, but also like a scientist in the way she would describe nature. It was so interesting to see the thought process of that painter and scientist mix. For me, this reading was less of my taste in comparison to Frank Delaney.  He not only grabbed my attention through his reading, I felt that his writing was easier to be attentive to.  In my opinion, I enjoy reading that has more action and motive. I felt that Susan’s readings were more of an artistic, scientific, and poetic base. I would suggest her writing to anyone who enjoys reading with that style. I, however, prefer a lot of action, fantasy, and motives that keep my pages turning and make me grab for more.  But of course, I personally would have a lot of trouble even attempting to write the way Susan writes. She is clearly extremely talented in her unique observance, language, and style. I honestly wonder if she paints, because her eyes and mind are of a beautiful art piece.

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