Fifteen Albums

AWP Chicago is now just a memory, but a very good memory. I came back thinking about AWP Denver and that I'd love to participate in Denver in some way. Our faculty reading and the memorial for O'Connor were enjoyable. The presentation I enjoyed most was the one given by "Women of a Certain Age":

Women of a Certain Age.
(Janet Burroway, Rosellen Brown, Hilma Wolitzer, Sandra Gilbert, Hilda Raz, Carole Simmons Oles) Six women writers over sixty, who are teachers and/or editors as well, share the long perspective. They will discuss how the publishing industry has changed over the course of their careers, how the relation between writing and feminism has affected them, how ambition has changed, how ambition persists, how they have handled disappointment, how they would do it differently, how differently they perceive life for young writers today.

It was encouraging to see women continuing to write and make themselves visible after the age of 60. Why do we write? Who are we writing for? These are two questions they sought to answer.

I got tagged at Facebook to list fifteen albums that are important to me:

Think of 15 albums, CDs, LPs (if you're over 40) that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dug into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the wazoo, literally socked you in the gut, is what I mean. Then when you finish, tag 15 others, including moi. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it!

1. Soundtrack from the movie Donnie Darko
2. Moondance, Van Morrison
3. Honeyman, Tim Buckley
4. Pink Moon, Nick Drake
5. Aqualung, Jethro Tull
6. The Rising, Bruce Springsteen
7. Modern Times, Bob Dylan
8. Tea for the Tillerman, Cat Stevens
9. Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin
10. A Momentary Lapse of Reason, Pink Floyd
11. Three Ragas, Ravi Shankar
12. Chronical, Creedence Clearwater
13. Boys for Pele, Tori Amos
14. Teaser and the Firecat, Cat Stevens
15. No One is Really Beautiful, Jude

AWP in Chicago

I am in Chicago. It is that time when students and teachers of writing come together and talk about writing. It is the AWP (Association of Writers and Writer's Programs) conference. Look here for details about the conference.

This is only my second AWP conference. My first was also in Chicago. Next year it will be in Denver. Next, Washington D.C. The first year, I was an observer; this year I'll be on a panel called "The Bowling Green Five." We, the Bowling Green Five, are the core members of the Creative Writing program, and each of us will talk about a favorite writing assignment we give our students and then illustrate the assignment by reading something from our own work. We present tomorrow afternoon.

Today I went to three presentations. They were impressive and caused me to change my idea about my own presentation a dozen times. But I have gone all the way back to the beginning and will be doing what I originally planned. After the presentation, I'm charged with sharing something about Philip F. O'Connor at an evening reception. He was my teacher and mentor when I was a graduate student.

I'll write as soon as I can about how it goes.