Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to go to a poetry reading after school. It was part of a new memorial in honor of Jake Adam York, a poet I have so much respect for. I wrote a post all about him HERE. What I didn't know but found out at the poetry reading was that Jake Adam York is the one who actually set up the Creative Writing program at my school. That's one of the biggest reasons I have stayed at my school is that program and the way that it's structured here, differently than all other campuses. How cool that this man that I respect so much is the one who made it possible?
So, this was the first reading. Part of the memorial was the writer had to be writing about aspects of history or social issues. Eduardo c. Corral sure fit that bracket. He writes about borders. The Mexico America border. The borders of love. The borders of language. The borders of identity. It really reminded me a lot of my class last semester about Migration and all the struggles I got to hear about the Dream activists. His work put those struggles into beautiful language.
It was really cool hearing him read his work. He gave us background on each poem and told stories and jokes. Most of his jokes revolved around his nephew wanting to take his book to school for show and tell, or his niece telling him he wasn't whatever he said in his poems. He replied with, You can lie in poetry! Well, sort of.
He talked about how it took him nine and a half years to write his books. How as a writer, doubt never really goes away, and that's alright. As long as doubt is writing shotgun with you, but doesn't have it's hands on the wheel. That when you get into trouble.
I met a lot of new people and just talked with them. I felt reassured in my choice of major and life. This is what I love. These are the people who love it as well. I love discussing literature, words, writing with people. I may not be the most eloquent speaker or writer, especially on this blog, but that is what I truly love.
At the reading, a teacher I have for one of my honors classes was there. She didn't know I was an English major and told me I should apply for this scholarship because not a lot of people had applied. I'd heard of it but didn't meet all the requirements because of my brief thoughts that I was going to do Public Health, so I hadn't applied in the first place. She said she'd write me a note though and make an exception. It was such a great night! The girl sitting next to me was like, wow! I've never had a teacher tell me to apply for a scholarship before, that's really cool. So, I'm going to be getting everything together for that this week as well.
Go English!
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| Eduardo C. Corral |
It was really cool hearing him read his work. He gave us background on each poem and told stories and jokes. Most of his jokes revolved around his nephew wanting to take his book to school for show and tell, or his niece telling him he wasn't whatever he said in his poems. He replied with, You can lie in poetry! Well, sort of.
He talked about how it took him nine and a half years to write his books. How as a writer, doubt never really goes away, and that's alright. As long as doubt is writing shotgun with you, but doesn't have it's hands on the wheel. That when you get into trouble.
I met a lot of new people and just talked with them. I felt reassured in my choice of major and life. This is what I love. These are the people who love it as well. I love discussing literature, words, writing with people. I may not be the most eloquent speaker or writer, especially on this blog, but that is what I truly love.
At the reading, a teacher I have for one of my honors classes was there. She didn't know I was an English major and told me I should apply for this scholarship because not a lot of people had applied. I'd heard of it but didn't meet all the requirements because of my brief thoughts that I was going to do Public Health, so I hadn't applied in the first place. She said she'd write me a note though and make an exception. It was such a great night! The girl sitting next to me was like, wow! I've never had a teacher tell me to apply for a scholarship before, that's really cool. So, I'm going to be getting everything together for that this week as well.
Go English!
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