Newsy Happenings

Travel Report

Some of the MFA poets have just returned from the Dodge Poetry Festival where they had what sounds like a fabulous time. Charity Gingerich reports that she “took 15 pages of Dodge notes” and we’re happy to post one of her photos here: of Lisa Beans, Danielle Ryle, and Christina Rothenbeck at The Strand. Lisa wrote to say “Dodge PoetryFestival = awesome. My favorite was probably Mark Strand’s craft talk… everything he said you can take to the bank.” How’s that for an endorsement? And Mark Strand (no relation to the store), in case you don’t know, is the Robert Redford of poetry: famously good-looking and getting better with age. But that’s neither here nor there, and we’re certainly not the type to get distracted by such things. Hence, no photo here. (Google him.) In any case, we trust that the girls wore WVU gear everywhere they went (though, curiously, not in this photo...) and continued to spread the word about how amazing and underrated we are. Right, girls? Please send pics of the four of you in your fringe-y Mountaineer get-ups.

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Seen on the Street

This past Tuesday your humble blogger saw grad student Micah Holmes (2^nd year MFA) walking down High Street in the vicinity of Mark Brazaitis’ house. Just what was Mr. Holmes doing, my dog and I wanted to know. Up to trouble? Nope. On his way to the library! To do Old English-y things, we're pretty sure! And on a very sunny day, no less! Impressive.

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Professors Say the Darnedest Things

“Every bad girl collaborative needs a girl who will pretend to be a goody two shoes,” said Professor Catherine Gouge to, ahem, yours truly during the, ahem, department meeting.

Now, just why was she saying such a troublesome thing and why to me—? I have absolutely no idea. She’s just like that.

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From the Signs of Nature department…

Not sure exactly what this has to do with literature, but the Farmers’ Almanac is a text, so… the prediction is for harsh winter. And how do we know this, you might ask. Good question. Some of the signs include “thicker than normal corn husks,” “woodpeckers sharing a tree,” “raccoons with thick tails and bright bands,” “mice eating ravenously in the home,” “spiders spinning larger than usual webs,” “unusual abundance of acorns” and squirrels madly collecting up said-acorns, and my two favorites, “pigs gathering sticks” (who knew and for what purpose?) and “the early arrival of the Snowy owl.”

O, how I wish I had a snowy owl as a friend! Maybe top-notch bird-girl and WVU alum and now instructor Katie Fallon could introduce me—?

In the meantime, Tenants, be on the lookout for stick-gathering pigs, and if you see any, please post a comment here and let them (the pigs) know that stick houses are not the way to go. And enjoy the fall colors. The trees seem, just this week, to have decided to get over their funk and give us a little turning after all.