iScribe Interview Special - Poet-at-Law

Name: Kate Stone

Major(s): English/Writing & Rhetoric

Year of Graduation: December 2009

Position: Featured writer (Spring 2010)

Click here to read about Kate's time as Editor-in-Chief

What is so intriguing about your poetry is that you encompass so many topics, from serious academic conversations to portraits of modern young womanhood that would make Carrie Bradshaw proud. Your body of work shows that you are indeed a complex person with a wide range of interests. Do you prefer to keep those interests separate in your work, or do you find that there is a relationship between the two?

I like for those interests to mingle as much as possible. I want my poetry to everything: To back pack across Europe with a rosary and a porcelain tea cup; flirt with all the boys; set off bottle rockets at midnight; sip bourbon and talk dirty at noon; wear five inch stilettos and a cowboy hat; collect Canivale masks; and order a bacon double cheeseburger with fries and a chocolate shake when everyone else is having salad... to name a few.

I think the relationships between the various topics in my work naturally find one another. I just can't seem to keep Virgina Woolf or D.H. Lawrence out of my life, especially because poetry can act as an evaluative tool in our lives, whether we intend for it to or not. I write about what I do, what I know, and apply the lessons I've picked up along the way. The result is personal verse, with other writers' voices, opinions, lives woven in.

I love how this question is written. The first two words of the second sentence, "Your body," following a statement about how my writing functions is fabulously intuitive. My body is just as involved in my poetic process as my mind: My body needs to feel it. If I'm writing and sitting still, something's not right; if I hit five lines that I just can't help but move my hips to, I know I'm really on to something. If nothing else, my poems need to dance. Preferably on tables and platforms.

We've missed having you at the Scribe, but were thrilled to receive your submissions. How have you been keeping busy this semester? What lies ahead after the summer?

I had the pleasure of heading down to Louisville, Kentucky in early March for the Conference of College Composition and Communication, where I chaired a panel and attended some really fascinating presentations. In addition to all things professional and academic, I also had the opportunity to let my hair down and really experience Kentucky: I rode a mechanical bull (and would every day for the rest of my life if I could!), became a Maker's Mark fanatic, ate my weight in Hot Browns and buzzed all the way home on my Sweet Tea-induced caffeine high. If you ever have a chance to get down there, I strongly suggest stopping by Fourth Street Live: Any tourist-ridden, architecturally-hip, outdoor collection of bars serving until 4AM in the bible belt complete with bouncers in cowboy boots is worth a visit in my book.

In addition to the occasional trip, I've been working as a model this spring and like the challenge of learning the ins and outs of a new business. I'm particularly enjoying the experience because I get the opportunity to embody the larger-than-life persona(s) I construct in my poetry in front of the camera; similarly to how I do so in my poems, the modeling enables me to be an -est version of myself and that's a feeling everyone loves every now and again. By this I mean I get to unleash the extremes of my personality, run with them, and I believe its in these parts of ourselves we find the truly interesting, whether that be fierce writing or great photographs or a fabulous new recipe for cupcakes. Sometimes you need to let the leash off for a while, trash around, be larger than life and find something fantastic in the mess you've made.

Law school is on the horizon after summer. I'd be lying if I said I'm not wary of the undeniably daunting years that are ahead, but I'm far more energized by the thought than I am concerned. I hear 1L is brutal; I'm ready to find something fantastic in that.

One of the pieces we have the honor of featuring this semester was previously published in Chronogram magazine. How does the real-world submission process compare to the Scribe? Was your previous experience with the Scribe helpful in preparing you to send your work elsewhere?

Submitting to The Independent Scribe is very much like submitting to publications outside of the URI community, with one exception: iScribe is particularly good about providing writers with feedback. Working on an editorial board provided me with tons of insight with regard to what editors look for; the experience is invaluable when it comes to submission preparation. At the end of the day though, submitting to anyone only takes a handful of characteristics: Solid writing you believe in, sincere professionalism, and nerve.

Is there one topic you are dying to sink your teeth into? Is there one you would never dare touch?

I'd estimate that approximately 80% of my poetry is inspired by people, including a number of pieces featured in The Independent Scribe. It's always the quiet ones I end up penning; I want to crack into their heads, know what they're thinking in all that silence. I imagine it must be something important, something scandalous, naughty, private, of national importance. Eventually I get impatient and fill the silence with poems. These pieces usually evolved into something larger than just a meditation about the individual, but may begin in this manner. No, I don't usually tell people which poem they prompted and yes, you've probably prompted one or two.

I'm also dying to write a poem about the Pine Barrens back home in New Jersey. I drive through them every time I go to the shore since I was a kid, but I've never tackled them for some reason. I love all the charred bark and silky paper Birch trees. I've a few lines jotted down in my phone, but nothing major yet.

The topics I'm hesitant to tackle today may be the one's I'm all over tomorrow. For the most part, I see my writing as a testament to my belief in writing what "you're not supposed to," or what other's won't dare to touch. If we don't tackle those topics in poetry, where will we ever open them up?

iScribe Interview Special - What's New, Pussycat?

Name: Gillian Ramos
Major(s): English/Political Science
Year of Graduation: 2010
Position: President (2009-2010); featured writer (Spring 2010)

Congratulations on winning the Nancy Potter short story contest this year! Many have claimed "I never win anything!" Is this the first of many wins to come, or is snagging awards old hat in the world of Gillian Ramos?

Thank you! This is the first win, and I hope it's not the last. I started mailing out stories (this one, and "Glass") in February, and the responses have been trickling in.

So far, I'm 3 for 3 in the "no thanks" column, but I don't mind. It really is about the experience rather than the outcome - without the support I've gotten from the friends I made through the Scribe, I never would have done any mailings, or even entered the department contest!

Tell us a bit about your short story, "Pater Noster." Where did it originate, in thought and in reality?

"Pater Noster" came out of a semester's research on the religious right. It began in the summer of 2009 with the murder of Dr. George Tiller, by Scott Roeder, a well-known anti-abortion activist, self-proclaimed sovereign citizen, and Christian extremist; a man by the name of Frank Schaeffer was all over my news network of choice, talking about the extremism coming out of the religious communities across the country. It turns out, Frank Schaeffer and his family were the pioneers of what we know today as the religious right.

I read Schaeffer's memoir, Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back, and it blew my mind. Clearly, no one could foresee that the nexus of politics and religion would take a turn for the violent, as it did in the case of Dr. Tiller's death.

Seeing Frank Schaeffer talk so candidly about feeling like he's contributed to this mess, and wants nothing more than to repair the damage he helped create in the 1980s was so moving, and I knew there simply had to be a story in there somewhere.

And then the summer took a turn for the purely weird - a pair of political sex scandals (John Ensign's strange mix of business and pleasure & Mark Sanford's hike along the Appalachian Trail). This brought me to Jeff Sharlet's The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, which delves into the long entanglement between the Republican Party, big business, and religious fundamentalism.

The large scale of bad behavior and hypocrisy on the institutional level was fascinating, but somewhat unweildy for a short fiction approach. I found more personal narratives to better suit my needs in terms of finding an intimate, manageable story. I read Jesusland, a memoir by Julia Scheer, and Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, an investigative piece by Kathryn Joyce. These two books simply broke my heart.

Without getting into it too much, I found the portrayal of marriage and father-daughter relationships in Quiverfull to be the base from which everything in my story would extend. When a daughter marries into a new family, she is essentially taken out of her birth family, literally having nothing to do with her parents. She is 100% her husband's "problem."

As for the story itself, "Pater Noster" is better known as the Lord's Prayer, which really lays out the tenets of Christianity and the expectation that we have to treat people the way we expect to be treated, and will turn to God for guidance and salvation. This prayer can become perverted and used as a way for people to try and absolve themselves of all responsibility, which I touch in my story. It's not so much about the specific sin, but the multitude of sins and secrets people commit in their daily lives - even the most upstanding members of society.

I chose to go this route, rather than writing about parents and children as a family unit, mostly because I couldn't stomach having to navigate the kind of abuse found in Jesusland without feeling like I was competing with, or borrowing too heavily from, Scheer's life story.

And yes, I do recommend reading any or all of these books.

What is your revision process like? Is "Pater Noster" in its final version, or will you continue to edit and tweak, even post-publication? Why or why not? Is this representative of your revision process as a whole, or specific to this text?

"Pater Noster" is a done deal. When I finish a story, that's it. I have to walk away from it, even if there are things I wish I could tweak. I know I'm done when I start thinking, "Okay, I know it's not perfect, but how much can I tinker with it before totally wrecking it?"

I would rather find a few small imperfections than find out a story is overwrought and beyond repair.

This is pretty much my process every time. I tend to edit as I go, being especially careful about details when I get to them, almost like recording a movie as it plays in my head. I can visualize a few major scenes clearly and then fill in the rest when the time comes.

To speak generally, you're a prose writer for the most part. Ever try your hand at verse? How long ago, and what were your thoughts? We hope you're feeling daring enough to share some!

I've only ever attempted poetry when it was required of me in survey-style creative writing courses. It's not something I would ever attempt on my own - it really is better left to the experts.

Do you ever feel like you have a fabulous idea for a short story, but it is stuck in your head for one reason or another? What is stuck in your head these days?

I've had ideas stuck in my head for weeks at a time, which is no fun. Sometimes I simply don't have the time to pursue that idea, and sometimes it's just a little kernel of an idea that I have no real intention of fleshing out. I do this a lot on the bus, especially if someone is on the phone and I can only follow half their conversation. I'll make up the other half as a way to amuse myself.

Lately, I've been thinking about doing something different. Still short fiction, but something not as dark as my usual fare. Maybe something more like a fairy tale?

Speaking of things rattling around up there, what have you been reading recently? Any particularly intriguing passages or texts you'd like to alert our readership to?
Right now, I'm reading Ian McEwan's Atonement. I saw the movie when it came out, and absolutely loved it. My plan for the summer is to devour all things British. When I finish this one, I've got Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited lined up, and then it's all Jane Austen all the time.

There's a passage in Atonement that I simply adore. To set the scene, McEwan is introducing his protagonist, Briony Tallis. Briony is a young writer who is positively detail-obsessed, never mind detail-oriented. Emphasis is mine.

"She was on course now, and had found satisfaction on other levels; writing stories not only involved secrecy, it also gave her all the pleasures of miniaturization. A world could be made in five pages, and one that was more pleasing than a model farm. The childhood of a spoiled prince could be framed within half a page, a moonlit dash through sleepy villages was one rhythmically emphatic sentence, falling in love could be achieved in a single word - a glance. The pages of a recently finished story seemed to vibrate in her hand with all the life they contained."

Isn't that just a delicious passage?

I also found an editorial in the April 15th New York Times that really touched on something I adore. Verlyn Klinkenborg is talking about the e-reader trend, and how these devices are great for certain purposes, but nothing will ever replace real books. This is my favorite line:

"A paper book aids my concentration by offering to do nothing else but lie open in front of me."

As I said in my interview last semester, I love books as objects - how they feel in my hands, how the paper smells - and reading a real book is a beautiful, incomparable experience.

I've been listening to Joanna Newsom almost exclusively for a couple of months now. I bought a book of essays and other writings about her music, and have begun to appreciate her brilliance on a completely different level. Once you get past the fact that her voice is, well, I'll call it unique, it turns out that the language she uses in her songs is pretty amazing. She resurrects words and sentence structures that fell out of fashion ages ago, and still manages to make it feel elegant and modern.

Right now, my favorite song is "Sadie," from 2004's Milk-Eyed Mender.

When do you do the bulk of your writing? Where do you usually settle down to write? (Which isn't to imply you may not pace around your backyard balancing your laptop on one hand, furiously typing with the other)

I do most of my writing in bed. I do have a desk, and my laptop usually lives on my desk, but I tend to get the most done sitting on my bed, propped up against some pillows. More often than not, I'll also have a cat stretched across my ankles, so I'm definitely committed to that position.

This is also how I prefer to do most of my reading, though I seem to get a lot of reading done on the bus.

I tend not to write longhand, mostly because it can be so hard to keep up with my thoughts. But this summer, I plan on keeping handwritten reading journals when I get to Jane Austen. I bought these neat little notebooks at Target with wild Liberty of London patterns on the cover. Austen predates the Liberty fabrics considerably, but the covers are just so fantastically cheery - I simply must use them!

iScribe Interview Series - Attempting the Improbable

Name: Nick McKnight
Major: Fine Arts
Year of Graduation: 2011
Position: Featured writer (Fall 2009); cover artist (Fall 2009)

It been said (too many times) that "You can't judge a book by it's cover", but this might not be the case of the Fall 2009 edition of The Independent Scribe. Though I'm no art buff, I feel that your painting "Bridge (extended)" conveys the variety and vibrant nature of the writers and artists in the issue, yourself included. Do you have anything to say about this painting that you would like others to hear?

The painting hangs right next to my bed at home and I see it every day. I love it. I mean, I love all of my work, but I feel that its vibrant tone was intended, especially since I made it in the gloomy days of winter. Hopefully it will find a beautiful home someday.

You also contributed the poem "1 Day, 2 Gowns & 3 Reasons", a unique and poignant look at a marriage ceremony through the bride's perspective (please correct me if I'm wrong!). Was this piece inspired by a particular marriage you've attended, the general idea of it, or something else entirely?

It’s actually a funny story: I attended school in Baltimore and while I was there, I was in one of the buildings waiting for a friend and the architect who designed the building was getting married in the building. I just started writing and I thought of that marriage as well as other couples in Baltimore, many of whom are homosexual or transgendered. Although I’m not, I thought it’d be a nice exercise to write about the scrutiny and verbal abuse and all of the bullshit (can I say that?) they go through while just trying to be happy.

Looking through your blog, I've seen that you've been very active as an artist. Can you give an estimate of how many pieces you have created so far in your career?

Ooof. All together? Finished pieces? It’s difficult to tell. If I had to say, maybe a little less than 200.

Can you pick a favorite, or most important piece out of this catalog?

I’m not sure, I don’t have the book on hand.

From some periphery browsing, it is apparent that there is great variety in your work: your self-portrait as your icon, still-lifes, abstracts, collages - you even find time to write poetry! Is there any sort of art form that you feel you could not attempt, or that is the most difficult for you?

Now there’s a question! Bring it on! I try not to stay in a comfort zone while working. I even have a body of work that I’m making now with sculptures (wax, resin, molds and junk). I think attempting the impossible or “improbable” is what artists should strive for, poets and writers especially. There’s not much difference between poetry and visual art either. With both, I’ve submitted poetry and art to contests and failed or didn’t get accepted more than you’ve said the word “hello,” but I still do it again and again.

We at The Independent Scribe don't get to talk about visual art nearly as much as writing, so do you have any artists who influence your work?

We would truly be here for hours. But here’s a few artists and poets:

Artists:

• Cy Twombly
• Jenny Saville
• Lisa Hamilton
• Eric Fischl
• Grace Hartigan

Writers/Performance Poets:

• Kerouac
• Buddy Wakefield
• Anis Mojgani
• Andrea Gibson\
• Anne Sexton

Overall, how has your experience with The Independent Scribe been?

Well, I’ve only been at URI since the fall because I transferred from Baltimore back to RI, but The Scribe last semester was pretty great! It was well put together, the team did a fantastic job and there’s a great deal of talent and hard work in those books, writers and artists. I’m honored to be a part of The Independent Scribe and I respect the hard work and enthusiasm all of you have to do this every semester! See you in the fall!

iScribe Interview Series - Curiouser and Curiouser

Name: Aran Valente
Major: Political Science
Year of Graduation: 2010
Position: Featured writer (Spring 2010)


Saguaro Blossoms" was probably one of the most challenging pieces we've ever read. It opened up a debate that really bordered on uncomfortable, but we all agreed that it was an important conversation to have. Was that kind of discussion your goal as a writer, or were you looking to tell a story and let the reader come away with whatever they were able to glean from the piece?

I meant the story to be challenging in that it presented an antithesis to a popularly unilateral argument about ethnic relations and emigration issues in the United States. In terms of debate, at the time I was writing it I didn't think a group of people would be reading it at once so I never considered a discussion at the end of the reading. That being said, I am glad that a debate occurred because I think that only by talking about controversial issues can people identify underlying problems and begin to move towards solutions that work to the benefit of everyone and not just whatever group has the power to write the laws of society at that time.

Are there elements to the story that had to be left out? Any background information on the characters or social climate, or even a resolution beyond your conclusion?

The story behind the story is still going on, though civil and human rights lawsuits have been filed against some construction contractors and some unions have been formed. At the time I came up with the story, I was working as a union organizer for the Arizona American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO) though my family and I currently affiliate with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). A lot of the dialogue and Roberto's thoughts were taken from comments strikers and construction workers made about civil and human rights' abuse on the job. I purposefully decided to leave out union organizers and put them in the background because I thought it would have been too much of a subjective stance on the issue. A lot of the story was designed around expressing the disappointment of people who painfully discovered the paradox first hand of having their basic rights as human beings ignored by a country founded on equality.

Is "Saguaro Blossoms" part of a larger work? How do you envision the entire piece unfolding - will it be a short story collection? A continuous novel with added characters and events? An expansion of this particular story to encompass more of these particular characters' experiences?

It could be part of a larger work but it’s difficult for me to say at this point. I don’t think I’ve had enough experience to write a novel yet but maybe a series of short stories. There is a longer version of the story but I think this vignette is the best so far.

Now, the big question - why? What made this story so compelling that you absolutely had to share it?

While union organizing, we were often given false locations for delegating by corporate contractors and would drive for sometimes up to six hours to a location that didn’t even exist yet (which wasn’t uncommon during the housing boom at that time). Everyone would groan collectively when they came to yet another highway barrier and saw only barren desert beyond. On the bright side, I got to have lots of conversations with the other organizers and strikers to pass the time.

On one of these long drives I was staring out the window at all the palm trees going by and thinking about how they were bought for the area and how people were trying to change an arid desert into a tropical metropolis. I thought about using a palm tree to symbolize a sense of alienation from the society people were working to improve a country that rejected them and decided to have symbols in the story be put in the context of common Arizona sights. I wanted to design a story that would expose the politics people faced who were overlooked by society and do it in a way that showed more accurate depictions of Latino/a American and in particular, Mexicans, and Mexican-American day-laborers than was normally seen in the media. I took a class on radical writers from the Black Arts Movement of the '60s and wanted to use universal social concepts expressed in the class’s texts to show how people from a different cultural community who face a similar adversity would express their discontent and fight for their peoples’ freedom. I also thought of structuring the story in a similar fashion to Jack London’s, To Build a Fire, in that external factors would be shown that inhibited peoples’ ability to function in a society. The main difference would be that in To Build a Fire all the factors were from nature and in "Saguaro Blossoms" they were made by people.

I’m not sure that I absolutely had to share that story or that it was especially different than other stories or articles on labor exploitation written in the South West or America. Members of the Latino/a and Latino/a American community and marginalized groups in general have been writing about exploitation such as this for generations. All I did was put it in a contemporary context from what I had heard, seen, and researched while organizing during the summer time. Without the testimonies of visionary strikers and Construction Workers who found their voices and shared their experiences no one would ever even know problems such as this were going on in America or at the most would have a very narrow minded view of them. In this way, I think there could some problematic aspects to the story because I have not had the experience first hand that I wrote about in the text. I don’t think that people should come away feeling that they’ve had “the undocumented experience” or “the Mexican experience” but that they’ve read a story to make them more aware of political issues surrounding racism, labor abuse, and documentation. My hope is that stories such as this will make people curious about the subjects presented and interested in educating themselves with a more holistic stance on emigration and labor policies. I also hope that readers will come away with an interest in stories by Mexican and Mexican American authors, journalists, etc. or people who are aware of adversities that members of Mexican and Mexican American communities face. I don’t want my story to be thought of as a permanent social signifier but rather an interface for political identity and cultural expression.

What other events and experiences do you hope to capture in the future?

Well, it’s hard to predict the future. I am curious to see how the recession has affected labor relations in Arizona currently and compare and contrast with my former experiences there.

What 5 writers or other works (entire books, stories, articles, movies, etc.) stand out as favorites, be it the most influential in your own work or simply for enjoyment?

Stories that influenced my writing in Saguaro Blossoms include:

Poems by Sonia Sanchez
Poems by Amiri Baraka during his transition period
Etheridge Knight’s poem: The Bones of My Father
Jack London’s To Build a Fire
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man

Reading through past editions of the Scribe, what piece(s) made you think,"Wow, I would love to live in the world this writer has created!"

Well, I enjoyed reading "Glass" by Gillian Ramos and "To Train Up a Child" by Samuel Aboh. I wouldn’t want to live in the world Glass depicts though. It sounds pretty disturbing.

[ed. note - "Glass" appears in the Fall 2008 edition; "To Train Up a Child" appears in the Spring 2009 edition]

iScribe Interview Series - To the Ace

Name: Rob LeBlanc
Major: English, Ph.D.
Year of Graduation: 2010
Position: Featured writer (Fall 2009)

If you were going to go to a diner that was based on the works of one author, which author would it be and why?

I guess it would probably be Breece D’J Pancake.

Do you prefer writing poetry? Do you prefer to read poetry or prose?

I prefer to write poetry, but I prefer to read prose, especially short stories. My favorite experience as a TA for the English Department was teaching ENG 243, The Short Story, in the spring of 2008.

What do you do for fun…besides writing?

Mostly reading and watching viral videos. I don’t have a lot of free time lately. My fiancée and I went to some sort of cheese shop in Tiverton recently; that was fun.

What is the most inspirational line of poetry you’ve ever read?

I would have to cite this lengthy line from Thomas Merton’s poem #9 in his 1968 collection Cables to the Ace :

“I am doubted, therefore I am. Does this mean that if I insist on making
everybody doubt me more, I will become more real? It is enough to doubt them
back. By this mutual service we make one another complete. A metaphysic of
universal suspicion!” (These words were once heard, uttered by a lonely,
disembodied voice, seemingly in a cloud. No one was impressed by them and they
were immediately forgotten.)

iScribe Interview Series - Paradoxically Elusive Nature

Name: Max Orsini
Major: English
Year of Graduation: 2011, PhD
Position: Featured writer (Spring 2010)

Your featured piece in spring’s edition, “On a Painter and Her Art,” was quite the visual piece. Do you have any experiences in the artistic field? Do you feel that written words have the same sensory effect as visual art?

I, like most people I presume, sketched quiet a bit as a kid growning up in Brooklyn and Jersey. I have always, even as a child had an nterest in the way visual art challenges the boundaries of a frame, the way that certain artists, like Picasso most notably, toy with the idea of disfiguration. I've always felt drawn to distorted faces of a certain sort, diverted vanishing lines of a kind; yet, paradoxically, my whole artsistic sensibility from childhood to the present has been governed by an overriding "idea of order," by the idea of still life and what I recently hear someone call the simple but monumental significance of plain and ordinary objects. I'm not a visual artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I do have a kind of underlying devotion to the power of the crystal image in poetry. I like poems, paintings and even imagistic songs that possess and elicit a kind of dark transparency, a kind of night-blue clairvoyance, a sort of Atlantic-silver light.

Music, literature, and visual art all have the incredible ability to convey one’s thoughts and ideas, while also serving as effective methods of emotional ventilation. What is your most favored form of expression and why?

Actually, along with writing poetry, one of my passions in singing and song-writing. I've been writing music for more than twelve years and even more paramount than my belief in the visual landscape of a poem is my out and out faith that a poem is a "dream song" to play with a phrase from Berryman. I feel that poems "tap" into an inante music in the subconscious, a kind of clamorous whisper that goes on under the current of our lives that resembles an inate music. I really enjoy writing music, but my poems and songs are two very distinct entities. They rush forth from a similar source, but they form two very separate streams in my life.

Do you believe that an artist’s (covering the spectrum from writers to musicians) best work comes from periods of strong emotion? Why or why not?

It's funny that you ask this question about periods of turmoil producing exciting work. I've thought a great deal about this question and though I've always met it with a kind of resistence, I have to say that Blake was right when he said that "without contraries there is no progression." For about the last year or so I've written in response to certain circumstances in my own life and these circumstances have challenged my writing. They've challenged my notion of how to live, actually. I suppose the benefit of emotional trial is intense introspection, but there comes with this the fine line of excessive introspection and a kind of loss of the outside, which, can become a detriment to the connectivity between speaker and listener in a poem or series of poems. Professor Cappello has given me sound advice regarding this matter. She's implored me to try and have a conversation with other poets in my writing, maybe not directly, but to use the personal as a means of contributing to a dialogue that other poets are having on similar pesronal concerns that are always inherently political.

What is your source of inspiration? What brings your pen to paper?

My main source of inspiration is the paradoxically elusive nature of inspiration itself to be honest. It's always fleeting and changing. Usually, given a certain slant of light, or after I've read enough beautiful poems by Mary Oliver, or James Wright, or Anne Sexton, or Wallace Stevens or Sylvia Plath or Elizabeth Bishop, or Wordsworth or Shakespeare, something will form in my mind, like an ocean of waves with rippling meanings and then I will simply have to write because the beauty and the sorrow and the irony and the lucidity are overwhelming. I think this is probably the case for most people. I'm still pretty traditional in terms of my influences. There are many fine poets writing today, but I take much of my own music, my own metrical advice from older or deceased poets.

There was a crazy thunderstorm that freakishly switched people’s minds from their bodies. As a result, college students for one day now inhabit writers’ bodies. Whose body do you inhabit? Describe your day-in-a-life situation.

Right now, Mary Oliver. For beauty, for wisdom, for dark lucidity, for faith in the convictions of the natural world, for short, clipped, quick breathed phrases, for imagery, for love, Mary Oliver.

Tell us about your educational and career plans. Do you see yourself publishing to the national audience in the near future?

At this moment, I teach senior English and Creative Writing at a local private school and am working on my PhD in English. I plan to teach at a college that values writing and art one day.

Say that you built your house from the ground up using literary pieces—what works are lining your bedroom windows? How do these affect you view?

At the foundational level of my imagined literary home, I would line the walls with a fair blend of Romantic poems and Modernist poems to please both the eye and the ear of those inhabiting.

What inspired you to submit to the Scribe? Any intention of submitting again in the future?

I believe it was a fellow Grad Student who brought the Scribe to my attention. I've enjoyed submitting my work to the last two spring issues and I hope to contribute to this great journal again in the fall.

iScribe Interview Series - Redefining Universal Languages

Name: Joe LiVolsi
Major(s): Mechanical engineering/German language & literature
Year of Graduation: 2010
Position: Featured writer (Fall 2009)

First of all, congratulations on getting published! Have you been published previous to “House of Hosts”?

Thanks! I was "published" once, but it turned out to be a scam...if you ever get an offer from Elder & Leemauer Publishers, or something, don't take it. Essentially, then, no: I haven't been published.

Talking about the actual piece, we were quite impressed with the consistency of the rhyme, meter, and overall entertainment of “House of Hosts.” You mentioned something about the inspiration for it at the Fall launch - can you share this origin of creativity once more?

Thanks for that, as well. I have to say, I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out, myself. The driving force behind writing a poem of that length and with that focus was John Mansfield's "The Hounds of Hell," which is a nineteen-page piece (at least, in the format I've seen). The rhyme and meter of that one is relatively simple, though; mine was a product more of happenstance: the rhyme needed to be like that for there to be a rhyme, and the meter fell together in a pattern that was made necessary by a mistake. Once it was set, though, it was reasonably easy to keep up (although material was sometimes troublesome).

How were your experiences with The Independent Scribe, both in submitting and reading at the Fall launch?

Oh, it was great fun; both reading, and submitting. I enjoyed working closely with the editorial board, and they were very enthusiastic and accommodating. Reading at the Fall Launch was very enjoyable. I've never showcased anything I've written before, and it was a great experience.

Aside from your inspiration for writing this piece, are there any other writers or genres that you feel are worth mentioning as influences on your writing?

James Russell Lowell, hands down. He didn't inspire anything about this poem in particular (I don't think), but he has inspired others, and a portion of his "The Present Crisis" was the first poem I memorized of my own free will. That piece in its entirety is an absolute monster, but the rhyme and meter are amazing. More than that, my only muses are jealousy of someone else's poem, my girlfriend, or maybe something in nature.

This piece was a part of very unique makeup of the Fall issue of The Independent Scribe. This variety was not only limited to the style pieces, but also to the writers and their backgrounds/majors. So I have to ask, what’s more fun, being a poet or an engineer?

At this point, being an engineer is anything but fun. I expect the payoff to make all the pain worth it, though. I enjoy building things--always have--and the engineering path is the one that's going to get me where I want to be. That, and it pays well.

As hard it is to look at a piece other than your own work in this publication, how do you feel The Independent Scribe as a whole turned out, and if you can, can you name some other pieces that you personally enjoyed?

To be perfectly honest, I haven't had much chance to look at the book since I got it, last semester: senior year's tough on an engineer. I really enjoyed the essay/short story by one contributor about her time in Spain: I spent six months in Germany, myself, and I was able to identify with a lot of what she said. There was also a piece about a robot, and I think it had something to do with a bluebird, but memory fails me...no offense is meant to the author, of course.

[ed. note - the essay and poem in question are Katherine McAllister's "Grenada" and Dylan Thompson's "Madrigal," respectively]

As it happens, this is your last semester as a senior. What are your plans after college, and how much of them are related to writing?

Writing has always been a hobby, nothing more, and I have a solid job lined up after I graduate that deals specifically with engineering. Although I feel compelled to say that writing is an integral part of any and every facet of real life, and nobody--in any major--should make the mistake of underestimating the expression of language--in any way--just because his scholarly focus is something more scientific. Math and music may be the universal languages, but if you can't read, write, or speak English properly, you won't go far.

iScribe Interview Series - Likes: Cyberpunk; Dislikes: Tootsie Rolls

Name: Marc Curtin
Major(s): English
Year of Graduation: 2012
Position: Featured writer (Spring 2010); Scribe member

You're one of the few writers who has seen both sides of how the Scribe works. As both a featured writer and a participating member, what are your thoughts on how the Scribe operates?
When I first heard about the Scribe, I assumed it would be some sort of faceless corporation, a group of people meeting behind closed doors , mechanically separating pieces into “in” and “out” piles. After coming to my very first meeting, I realized that that image couldn’t be further from the truth. I feel like the Scribe is unique in that we really care about the people who submit to us. We talk at length about the majority of the submissions we receive, and even if we feel that a particular piece doesn’t work for us, we try to find good things to say about it, or parts that can be saved. If a work needs revision, we give the writer ideas about the direction in which we would like to see his or her work go in order to make it publishable. I’m not going to name names, but there were several pieces this semester that needed two or more revisions before we could definitely say “yes,” and I’m glad that we took the time to work with these writers. As for my own work, I am indebted to my fellow editors for their insightful criticism and attention to detail. To be in the same room while people discuss your work is pretty nerve-wracking, but I chose to do it anyway, and I feel like my work and my understanding was greatly enhanced as a result.

Have you done any submitting outside of the Scribe? Is it something you would consider for the future?

Nope, this spring’s edition of the Scribe will be my first appearance in print. I would definitely consider submitting to journals and magazines and whatnot in the future, though – maybe when I have a little less reading to do.

Now that you've been a member for a semester, what do you hope to see in the group's future, whether it's next semester or a couple of years down the road?

More submissions! And more exposure – lots more. Many URI students haven’t even heard of the Scribe, and that’s sad, because aside from English department contests there are very few outlets for URI writers to gain recognition and get their work out there. The more submissions we get, the bigger future editions of the Scribe will be, and the more seriously we will be taken as a literary publication.

How would you describe your writing process? Do you draw inspiration from specific things, or do ideas pop into your head at random - or is there some other secret method to your madness?

My writing process is, in a word, chaotic. I tend to write in short bursts, usually late at night – much to the dismay of my parents when I was still living at home (apparently not everyone enjoys the clack-clack-clack sound the keyboard makes when you’re typing. Weird, right?). As for inspiration, I keep a notebook of random things people say that I think are interesting, or particular lines or images that I think about when I’m daydreaming (which is often). Sometimes I’ll write a whole story just so I can use one particular line. I guess that means my stories tend to be more image- or dialogue-driven than plot-driven, but hey, I’m happy with that.

What is the most embarrassing/cheesiest thing on your bookshelf?

I guess that’d be the big pink polka-dotted piggybank thing full of tootsie rolls. I don’t even like tootsie rolls. I swear.

Is there one particular writer who you cannot get enough of? What makes this writer so meaningful to you?

I love, love, love William Gibson. The style of his novels is nothing short of poetic, from cover to cover, and his vision of the future is at times scarily prescient. Gibson literally coined the term “cyberspace,” and this metaphor for the flow of data along a global network serves as the basis for similar representations throughout literature and film. To me, to read Gibson is to be on the bleeding edge of where technology meets human life, an experience which is both exciting and scary at the same time.

A crazy super-villain has broken into your house and stolen all of your books! But he's feeling charitable, and will let you take back only three of them. Which three do you choose, and why?

First, I’d save Neuromancer, by my aforementioned buddy Gibson, because it was the book that got me into Gibson and cyberpunk literature in general (and also because reading it saved me from going crazy on an 18 hour flight). Enough about him though, I don’t want to bore you to death.

Next, I’d save The Snows of Kilimanjaro, which is a collection of short stories by Ernest Hemingway, another one of my favorite writers. I’ve always loved Hemingway’s style; he draws you in with a simple dialect, and then WHAM! – you realize the significance and meaning of the story. “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” found in the collection, is a perfect example of this, and is one of my favorite short stories. Not that the other ones are too shabby, though. What I love about short stories, and Hemingway’s in particular, is that each of them creates a world of their own, like a novel, but their form forces them to be more impactful. In a sense, you get more “story” per page, and having a collection of short stories is like having several different books.

Finally, I’d save How to Rule the World: A Handbook for the Aspiring Dictator, by Andre de Guillame, because leaving a book like that in the hands of a crazy super-villain is downright irresponsible. Besides, I might need it someday – for, um, research. Yeah, that’s it.

Part two - little does the crazy super-villain know, you've actually got your own super-powers. You lock him up and punish him to read three of your least favorite books for all eternity. Which three, and why?

Oh boy, there are so many books I absolutely hate that it’s hard to narrow down. I suppose first on the list would be Gilead, by Marilynn Robinson, which I was assigned to read over the summer before junior year of high school. I barely got through the first three chapters – it was that boring. And I’m the kind of person that likes boring. Heck, when I tell people that I love Hemingway, the most common response is “How could you? He’s so boring!” I even enjoyed seeing The Good Shepherd for christ’s sake. But yeah, it was that bad. And she won a Pulitzer Prize for it. Go figure.

Next on the list is Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe. I appreciate the effort, Mr. Achebe, but seriously, there is only so much talk about yams I can take before I have to abandon a book.

Last but certainly not least is William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. I may get a lot of flak for this, but really, I just don’t get it. I’ve read it twice, written a couple papers on it, and I like to think that I understand what Faulkner is doing in theory, but it really is not an enjoyable read. Maybe the whole stream-of-consciousness thing just isn’t for me, I don’t know.

iScribe Interview Series - Finding Himself a City

Name: Eric Slade

Major: Studio art

Year of Graduation: 2009

Position: Featured artist (Fall 2009; Spring 2010, cover)

Have you always enjoyed creating art? What first piqued your interest in art?
I’ve enjoyed creating art for as long as I remember, but talent alone won’t get you anywhere if you’re not continually pushed to test its limits and see the possibilities that can open up. An enthusiastic, motivational art teacher early on in one’s education can make all the difference in the world, and I was fortunate enough to have a fantastic example of one of those in middle school. So I guess I have her to thank for the state of my bank account right now. I could have been an engineer…

What was your inspiration for your artwork that was published in the Fall 2009 issue?
I studied abroad in Florence during Fall of 2008, and during that time I took a break to spend a week traveling solo by train through France, Germany, and Switzerland. That image evoked all of the exhaustion and, at times, loneliness, that can be effects of such a long foreign journey. I then printed the same linocut image on multiple train tickets that I had saved.

You designed the newest logo for the Scribe — explain your design.
This logo was based on the classic image of the '50s “nuclear family” gathered together around the television. The Scribe seeks to promote writing and literacy, so I thought this slight alteration, with the same family gathered around a book, would be an amusing take on the idea. It’s a simple graphic that encapsulates the most important things we need to encourage literacy – replacing TV time with reading time, and, for kids, reading with the family. We need to get enthusiastic about books again, in the same way that people are for "Lost."

Are you currently working on any new artwork?
At last count I had 23 ideas for new art projects written up in my sketchbook. I’ll be happy if I get around to one or two of them. One thing I am excited about is that I just bought a 10-yard roll of drawing paper and covered a whole one of my bedroom walls with it. I’m not sure what I’ll use it for, whether to doodle ideas or to actually make one massive drawing, but the possibilities it opens up have my imagination swimming.

What is life post-URI graduation? What are your plans?
I don’t actually make any money from my art, so I’ve been teaching this past year in order to get by. Since my hopes to go to grad school this Fall fell through, the new plan is, to quote David Byrne, to “find a city, find myself a city to live in.” It would be nice to live in a place where people buy art, since they certainly aren’t doing it in New Hampshire. Not that anyone wants art anyway; they want decoration to hang on their bathroom walls. And that’s why we have Christmas Tree Shops and Thomas Kinkade.

Oh, and of course I hope to continue submitting to The Scribe as long as they care to keep taking my e-mails.

[ed. note - we're always happy to take your emails!]

iScribe Interview Series - It'll Be Awesome. Trust Her.

Name: Morgan Turano
Major(s): Chemistry (MS)
Year of Graduation: 2011
Position: Featured writer (Fall 2009, Spring 2010)

Tell us a bit about your education and work experiences. How do you see these experiences connect to writing as an art; how do they impact your writing, specifically?
I have a B.A. and M.A. in English & Creative Writing, a B.S. in Biochemistry & Forensics, and right now I’m working on an M.S. in Chemistry. As for work experiences, I’ve been a manager at a movie theatre, taught kindergarten,worked in a laboratory, and right now I’m an editorial intern at a local newspaper and I’m a Physical Chemistry T.A. Everything I do adds experiences I can draw from when I write. I meet new people, learn new things, go on wacky adventures, and it all rounds out my writing.

You have both a poem and a prose piece in the Fall 2009 edition of The Independent Scribe. Which genre do you prefer? What inspired you to write these two, different pieces? Do you see them having unique functions based solely on genre, or do they function uniquely for different reasons?
Prose, definitely. Specifically short fiction. Very short fiction. Microfiction. In fact, I prefer to think of both pieces as short fiction, even though the "Ode" is undeniably poetry. "7 O’clock News" was inspired by a radio newscast I heard while still half asleep, and the Ode was written when Iwas reading a collection of Neruda for the hundredth time for fun while reading a forensic text for work. I think the styles of the pieces are well suited to the subject matter, but I don’t think the styles alone define the pieces' functionality.

If you could wear any writer like a giant body suit from head to toe for a day, who would it be? Why? Would you act like them and trick everyone into thinking you're actually him/her, or act completely different? Why?
That’s kind of weird and creepy, so I’d have to go with Stephen King. I think he’d appreciate it the most. We could both probably write about it afterward, and his version would make me hide under my bed for a week I’m sure.

What do you like to do outside of writing and academics? Have any exciting hobbies?
Wait, there’s something outside of writing and academics? Are you sure?

If you were to design and build a home based on a literary work, what would your home be like? Look like, smell like, feel like? Why do you chose this text as your architectural inspiration?
My first instinct is a house based on The Old Man and the Sea; basically I just like the ocean. It’d be white and have huge windows and be on stilts on a cliff, and have cathedral ceilings. My second choice would be the house from the Haunting of Hill House, but I would not live in it. It’d be great for Halloween, though.

Is there any piece of fiction you just can't stand? Why?I wish to God people would stop telling me how awesome The Lovely Bones is. Don’t get me wrong, maybe it’s great, but as long as everyone is telling me about it, I have no reason to read it.

If you were to teach a creative writing course at URI, what would the course be like?
It would be awesome. You’d wish you were in my class. Trust me.

What is your favorite part about being involved with The Independent Scribe?Being a part of the writing culture. It is great to go into a room once a week and be able to talk with students who are interested in literature and writing. Working with the everyone on The Independent Scribe is a great experience, and I really do enjoy every minute of it.

iScribe Interview Series - Taking the Heat, Staying in the Kitchen, Tackling Topics Close to Home

Name: Samuel D. Aboh, Jr.
Major(s): English
Year of Graduation: 2010
Position: Featured writer (Fall 2009)

Coming from so far away, how did you end up at URI?
Because Brown did not accept me and Bryant came to seem boring.

How much of your political past plays into your writing?
A lot! Coming from Africa I have seen a lot of corruption, a lot of which has to do with our own countries’ leaders but also from foreign influences as well. I never had a voice as a child but my conscience has become something of a nag as an adult and so a lot of what I have seen and endured politically - civil war, shabby and corrupt elections, etc plays into my writing. I write so that I can also nag and beat at someone else’s conscience.

Is there anything about "How to Make Palava" specifically that you'd like to share?
Indeed! Don’t get me wrong, I love my African people, but so much of what is going on in Africa today is the fault of the African himself (even though we would like to blame others, foreign corporation and powers and such )- we (I say “we” because I am African) are not each other’s keepers. We seldom stop to think about the welfare of each other, which blinds us to how much influence we can have if someday we can unite as one - if someday we can think about how to serve our fellow neighbors (we are neighbors for Christ’s sake - Africa is what, 53 countries strong?) instead of trying to fulfill our own personal agendas. It is the greed and vainglory our African leaders; the strife and conflict that surrounds every African, the indifference we harbor when we see things going wrong but don’t care to do anything (simply because it not affecting one country yet) about it even though we share he same continent, that drove me to write this poem.

The word "palava" has many different usages, as we see in your poem feature in this edition of The Independent Scribe. Are all of these definitions common, or is one more prevalent than the others?
Yes. To use palava to refer to trouble or some sort of problem or disruption is more prevalent where I come from. Palava could happen in the market place when women fight over space to sell their food stock, when people fight about the last drop of water in the well, the nosy neighbor refuses to mind his/her own business, etc.

Do you have any other creative outlets? Do you write prose as well, or solely poetry?
Indeed. I am currently working on a book, a memoir of some sort to chronicle my life from civil war - Liberia to Ghana, to America. I have tried writing songs, since I am a singer as well, but let’s just say that it needs more work.

After you graduate, do you plan on continuing to write?
Yes, I plan to continue to do just that.

What was your first introduction, formal or otherwise, to poetry?
My first introduction to poetry was when I took an ENG 205 course, about one year ago. I really loved the course. I always left the class with a smile on my face and hungry for more.

I'm sure you know by now that everyone who hears you speak is entranced by your accent. Given that, it has to be asked-- can we expect to hear you read at the November launch event?
Yes, I would Love to read. Will I be reading just one or can I bring other poems I have written?

Is there any methodology to your writing? Is there a particular place you need to be in, physical or otherwise?
I am very nocturnal. Ideas seem to rush to me at the early hours of the morning. I like to lie quietly in bed with my note pad on my computer desk and every now and then, when I receive a vision I will rush over to the desk and write it down. It is such a thrill.

If you had to pick just one literary figure to accompany you to a week-long retreat, who would it be? Why?
John Milton, were he alive. He is simply marvelous. I would also like Morgan Freeman to accompany me. Yes, I know he is not a literary figure, but I thought I’d add that in just in case you guys are in the business of making dreams come true, like Oprah.

iScribe Interview Series - You Want to Like How it Feels

Name: Mollie Bergeron
Major(s): English
Year of Graduation: December 2009
Position: Layout Manager, Featured writer (Fall 2009)

If you could spend one afternoon getting to know 1 of the published writers featured in the upcoming edition of The Independent Scribe, who would it be? What would you do?
Lars Nelson and I would spend the afternoon together. We would make toast, for sure (stay tuned for the upcoming edition of the Scribe for that reference).

What program do you use to layout the publication? What are its vices? Virtues?
I use Adobe InDesign CS4. As for virtues, it allows a standard file format to send out for printing, which is great. It also offers a wide array of fonts, strokes—check out the Spring 2009 Table of Contents! - along with other nifty features.

Its biggest, most terrible vice is that it does not wrap text. So, when putting all of the text into the program, it’s a guessing game as to where the page will cut off… this often involves word-by-word insertion to make things “easier.” Also, after putting in page numbers manually so as to avoid numbers showing up unwanted, I become terrified of gridlines for weeks.

How long does it take to layout a 100-page publication? Where did you go through this process?
Surprisingly, this edition came together rather quickly—altogether getting everything into InDesign took about forty hours of squinting at a computer screen. After spending hours losing our minds in various rooms of the Memorial Union, we (our lovely Editor in Chief, Kate Stone, and fantastic President Gillian Ramos) finished the tedious process over bagels at Kate’s house… to the lovely soundtrack of Wanda Syke’s standup.

After that I put in about ten hours of reading, reading, and re-reading the “finished” manuscript, making edits and hoping to catch any and all typos/ misplaced text.

To anticipate the question, yes, I do wear glasses.

In addition to layout director, several of your poems, including "Violence & Nudity" are featured in the upcoming edition. How did you come to title this poem specifically?
After being unhappy with my previous title, it came down to Googlemachine. The first interesting, semi-inappropriate, and fitting collection of words included “violence” and “nudity.” The poem is about the violence of having someone torn out of your life, and how bare and alone that leaves you, so though seemingly irrational, there is a definite connection to the poem.

There is a rumor that the Scribe encourages people to "pet their paper." Why don't you tell us a bit about this.
Oh, absolutely. You have to pet your paper. If you’re reading this, I’m assuming there has to be paper somewhere around you. Go touch it. Now! This came about when we received copious cover stock options from our publishing contact, Bob Oscarson at Signature Printing. After narrowing down the hundreds of options, each Scribe member was instructed to pet the paper upon entering the room. When you hold a book, you want to like how it feels. Any good bibliophile knows what I’m talking about… it’s not only the words that matter; it’s the texture, the color, the weight. The entire object matters. Next time you pick up your favorite book, pet your paper. I bet you will find that it is a phenomenal sheet of paper.

Do you have a favorite text or visual piece in the Fall 2009 edition? If so, which and why?
My favorite visual piece is definitely our cover. We received a lot of great artwork, but I just can’t get over the way the publication looks! Last year’s edition was wonderful as well, and we have Eric Slade to thank for our black and white lithograph on the cover, but something about the vibrant color is just great. It stretches across the full cover, which is something we haven’t done before, and I think it really showcases what a big change we’ve gone through this semester in opening up to various departments around campus.

As for a favorite text piece… I think it would have to depend on genre. I mean, how do you choose between the linguistic analysis of Patricia Weisenseel’s critical essay and the haunting lines of Laura Tetreault’s poetry and the scandal of Dylan Thompson starting a piece with “anywhere but between the legs?” I just can’t do it! The entire edition is full of amazing writers.
What poets have you been reading recently, and in what ways have they influenced your process and/or poetry?

Lately, I have only had time to read what I’ve been assigned in class. Luckily, this means I’ve been reading a lot of avant garde poets with Professor extraordinaire Peter Covino. Specifically, in his class we just finished reading Donald Revell’s selected works Pennyweight Windows. Excitingly, Revell just came to URI recently to give a poetry reading. It was dazzling and hysterical and sad and fantastic all over.

Avant garde has given me a new perspective on poetry. I’ve never been one to stick to a form, but I tend to cut myself off and write short pieces, or constrained lines. I’m learning to lose the prose aspect of my poetry. In terms of process, every day is process. I think it’s about expressing what you really mean rather than what someone expects you to mean.

You know many of the writers in the URI community. Who are your favorites to talk to? Drink with? Vent to? Etc. Feel free to list in fun categories.
Oh god, all of them. I love that the writing community is small enough that it is actually a community. Even those writers who I don’t know all too well I have had a class or two with. I enjoy talking to nearly anyone, so long as they are not hostile, but I guess to narrow it down a bit I’ll say (in alphabetical order by first name) Bryan Smith, Dylan Thompson, Gillian Ramos, Kate Stone, Laura Tetreault, Marisa O’Gara, etc. etc. …Several of those names also fall into the “favorites to drink with” category.

The Independent Scribe is moving in a new direction with regard to what texts it considers, calls for and publishes. How do you feel about this progression?
I love it! I’m so glad to see all sorts of writing in this edition of the Scribe. We have poets, critical essayists, art, travel writing, we have it all. We have also grown departmentally—apart from the traditional English majors and Writing & Rhetoric majors (they’re still here, don’t worry!), the Scribe has been lucky enough to include several Visual Arts majors, Biology majors, an Engineering poet; the variety is astonishing. Hopefully more and more students will become interested in the Scribe and either submit or get involved… hint hint!

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at the Scribe event? What are these events like? What was it in the past? How will this year’s be different and/or the same?
I think that all of us are hoping that Samuel Aboh will be able to come and read! Keeping my fingers crossed that Joe LiVolsi will be able to make it as well—his poem “House of Hosts” is set up wonderfully with a nearly consistent meter, which should make for a good read. I’m also looking forward to hear Dylan Thompson read an exerpt from the aforementioned “Thérapie” aloud.

If you were to create a cocktail inspired by one of the pieces published in the Fall 2009 Scribe, which text would inspire you and why? What ingredients would be in the beverage? What would you call it?
Seeing as "House of Hosts" has a creepy-crawly-Halloween-y feel to it, I am going to go in that direction. It would consist of Vampire (brand) Blood Vodka (type), blood orange slices for both flavor and brilliant attractiveness, and a bit of seltzer water for bubbles… cauldron-esque, no?

iScribe Interview Series - Loudly, Slowly, With Feeling

Name: Linda Langlois
Major(s): English (MA)
Year of Graduation: TBA
Position: Featured Writer (Fall 2009, Spring 2010)

Tell us a bit about yourself: Your life, your experiences, and all that has contributed to your development as a person and fabulous writer.
I started first grade at 5 years old and that was the last time I was ever younger than my peers. I’m a late-bloomer, in graduate school when I should be in a retirement home. I have nieces and nephews who have babies older than my child. I had my only child at 40 and she and I are in separate (graduate) schools together.

My first honeymoon was spent on the back of a motorcycle touring England, Scotland and Wales for 6 weeks. The marriage didn’t last but the wanderlust did. And always, I wrote.

We've had the pleasure of reading much of your poetry, and particularly love a particular poem written about your husband and your car breaking down in the rain. What does your family think about your writing? How participatory are they in your process or overall content?
My husband and daughter are very encouraging and supportive though in different ways. My daughter is more of a reader than my husband and tends to be more critical of my approach to topics.

Who have you been reading recently? Tell us about your thoughts on the reading and the writer.
I am reading The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, first as an audio book till it had too many blank spaces. I was intrigued by the title and I love it. I read several books at once, depending on my mood and how long I can stay awake but do not always finish them. I am still trying to get through Night by Elie Wiesel but need a special mood for that. I gave up on Eat, Pray, Love.

I love people stories about the war (WWII) and, no, I was not alive then. I am excited abut the Reading Across Rhode Island selection coming up, about the German occupation of the Channel Islands and a book club the local women created as an excuse to the Germans to get-tog.

A little birdie told us you plant to read at the Launch Event. How do you feel about reading your poetry? What advice do you have for other writers with regard to putting a voice to their work?
I am scared to death to read aloud but think to myself, if not now, when? The advice I have for others and am trying to learn myself is how much I enjoy hearing a person read their work Loudly, Slowly and with Feeling. These three things make “Readings” so enjoyable.

If you could spend one evening with any writer, alive or dead, who would it be and why? What would you do together? Where would you go? Would wine, arrests or headlining new stories be involved?
Oh definitely wine…so I think, F .Scott Fitzgerald. Or maybe Kate Stone. And we’d definitely travel to new places if only in our minds and we’d laugh and laugh and laugh.

At what time of day do you write most? Why do you think this is so?
I do most of my writing while I’m walking (usually the beach) or driving, especially when I’m “stuck.” I have words, phrases, thoughts written everywhere, mostly the backs of envelopes. I have notes from years and years ago that I come across at odd moments and think, Oh yeah, I never did finish that thought. I daydream all the time and this produces my best writing. I’m constantly running scenarios through my head and writing them down. I never sit down at the computer to “write.”

Tell us a bit about any recent projects you're currently working on. We love knowing you're producing more wonderful writings!
Well, I spent my summer with DH Lawrence in Taormina which was certainly more enjoyable than the rainy summer we had here in South County. Of course his wife was there but we ignored her. I had two lovely rejection letters, one from a British professor who said he was “intrigued with my idea.” I’ve been working on some memoir pieces but my main goal is to find a home for DH.

iScribe Interview Series - A-Poet at 3 AM

Name: Mercer Smith
Major(s): English
Year of Graduation: 2010
Position: Featured writer (Fall 2009)

When did you first start writing? Which creative genre held you interest first? Which do you find most compelling today and why?
I first started writing, really writing, when I was in the 8th grade. It was first based upon a prompt that my 8th grade professor had given me to write about "What I was made of." Most people in the class took the essayistic approach to attempt to write exactly, and literally what they were made of. I, on the other hand, decided to write a poem. From that day on the poetic genre has held my interest most strongly. Recently, however, I have begun to branch out into Creative Essayistic Non-Fiction, and I have been finding that amusing, and fascinating to write. I do believe that both poetry and essays have aspects that are intermingling which is what made my progress from one to the other (and vice versa) so easy.

How did you decide to become involved with The Independent Scribe?
I decided to become involved in The Independent Scribe because most of the students in my majors whose opinions I valued most were involved. I was interested in furthering my own experience as a writer as well as being able to see what kind of writing the students of URI were capable of.

Tell us a bit about your invention and revision processes. What details are you willing to share about the process of writing?
I am definitely more of a "swooper" when it comes to writing. I have to wait until an idea is right upon me. For example, my iPhone is filled with notes about poems or stories, or even great lines that I came up with. Most of the margins of my journals have small scribbles of words or lines that I find inspiring. Poetry and writing to me are not something that I can sit down and intentionally write, because when I try to do that the lines come out overwrought and exhausted. As for revision, that is something that I usually wait a few days and then go back to, or shoot the piece of writing over to someone who hasn't read it before. I find the best way to revise something is to look at it with completely clear eyes. There is no way that I will be able to fix something if first I haven't cleared my head of what I was writing about to start with.

What is your favorite aspect of publication, whether that be being published or working on a journal?
I enjoy both aspects honestly. I love the pride that comes with being published, but I also enjoy the pride that we see in other people that we are publishing as well as our own pride at putting out a great publication.

iScribe Interview Series - Holly of Arts and Sciences

Name: Holly Tran
Major(s): Biology
Year of Graduation: 2013
Position: Featured artist (Fall 2009), Scribe member

Rumor has it you're a poet and a photographer. How did you get involved in these mediums? Do you see a connection between photography and poetry?
I was always an avid reader. As a child, you would frequently find me under the covers with my face in a book. For those nights when my mom declared it bedtime, I would stuff the unfinished adventure under my pillow, where it laid as my companion to accompany me into dreamland. I started writing short stories early in middle school—most of which remain unfinished. From my recollection, my first surge into the poetry medium occurred in the sixth grade when my teacher introduced the unit. For some reason, I already had background knowledge on his lecture of the week—rhyme scheme. That feeling of comprehension served as motivation, encouraging me to explore the ability to express in the form of poetry. My acquaintance with poetry grew into a solid relationship. I found gratification in being able to expose my thoughts in ambiguous metaphors. I found immediate relief in being able to subdue my internal torment by the mere act of assembling succinct lines. To me, these words that came together were more than letters—they were powerful emotions materialized upon paper.

My first notable involvement with photography occurred in high school. Being denied of the drawing course to fulfill my fine arts requirement, I chose to go with my alternate choice of photography. This semester course introduced me to the SLR camera—a simple device that had the capability to produce the most striking black and white images. I started to see everyday surroundings in a new light. Art was everywhere. I had found a medium that could visually evoke emotions. I had found a way to make the world stop in time. I had found a way to give voices to objects that could not speak.

Both of these mediums have the ability to tell a story, evoke an emotion, or relay an underlying message. The beauty of these mediums—and any kind of art—is that the underlying message is open to individual interpretation.

Which of your photographs are you most excited to see printed in the Fall 2009 edition of The Independent Scribe? Why?
Honestly, I have no clue which of my photographs will appear in The Independent Scribe. I think not knowing builds up the excitement. It’s like waking up Christmas morning to open presents that you were unable to find the night before because your parents wised up to your yearly sleuthing.

You're a biology major. Tell us a bit about that! How do you balance science and creative writing - is it a struggle, or does it come naturally to you?
Science keeps me grounded. Creative writing sets me free. They both keep me sane and alive. There is never a struggle to balance science with the arts/creative writing because they coexist. They always have.

What is your favorite part about being involved with The Independent Scribe?
The people, the ideas, the process—everything. The members here are incredibly accepting. Their open minds are not limited to the myriad of genre that flood their inbox each semester, and unlike Ebenezer Scrooge, these fine folks jump at the opportunity to share their wealth—of knowledge, that is. In my time with the Scribe thus far, I have realized that this is a gathering of thinkers, writers, artists—all of whom seek to push your limits and ideas. You can’t join The Independent Scribe and expect to leave as the same person. Be prepared to learn and grow.

If you could throw a huge party with any writer, who would it be and what would the soiree be like? Details, please!
Kate Chopin. Since I tend to be a reserved person, I would probably scale the ‘huge party’ down to a day out in town. Perhaps a conversation about her feminist views over tea and then the rest of the day dedicated to enjoying nature. Emerson and Frost could even join us. Besides, throwing a huge party with an acquaintance seems a tad bit strange…

How do you feel about rhymed v. free verse poetry? Do you have a favorite poem in rhyme? A favorite free verse poem?
I enjoy either, as long as the author keeps the format uniform throughout the entire piece. It’s irksome to hear an arbitrary rhyme right in the middle of an engaging free verse. That being said, I am very fond of Emily Dickenson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” and T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. The poems that stick with me are the ones I can see come to life. Those images never leave.

If you could travel anywhere in the world to take photographs and write poetry, where would you go and why? What, specifically would you love to see and write about?
I would preferably like to visit a place where the majority of the architecture held historical roots. Somewhere not too popular and somewhat quiet. Somewhere I can feel the wind and see the coast. Somewhere over the rainbow… I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but add that last bit.

Back to the question: It wouldn’t matter where I went, as long as it was outdoors and some place I had never seen before. As for the poetic theme—that would have to be a surprise. Why? Why not?

iScribe Interview Series - The Working Time Machine

Name: Marie Ventura
Major(s): History
Year of Graduation: 2004
Position: Featured writer (Fall 2009)

You graduated from URI before most members of the Scribe even finished high school; how was your undergraduate experience? Was there a creative outlet like The Independent Scribe in place at that time?
This will probably sound corny but, to tell the truth, my undergraduate experience was pretty fantastic. While I was at URI, I was lucky enough to get an amazing on-campus job that let me combine my passion for history and my fascination with video production. I worked as an undergraduate assistant with ITMS, where I learned non-linear editing and computer animation. I helped professors with their video projects and even had the opportunity to work on my own – in particular a short project on the women who fought in Vietnam and a half-hour documentary on Hadrian’s Wall.

Perhaps the brightest highlight of my undergraduate experience was when I studied abroad in England for a semester. I gained a whole new perspective on history and historiography and, in addition to my class work, I had the chance to travel all over England and Scotland, riding the trains and walking around historic cities and sites I’d only ever read about before, like the tunnels cut into the chalk cliffs under Dover Castle, the spot where Thomas Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral, the exhibits at the British Museum in London, and the Roman forts and leather and wooden artifacts at Hadrian’s Wall in Northern England. I even took the London Beatles tour and walked across the crosswalk at Abbey Road. I was so inspired by my experience abroad that as soon as I got back to URI, I started the process of applying for URI and RI Foundation grants that would allow me to go back to Hadrian’s Wall and create a documentary. I wanted to investigate how the presence of that ancient Roman wall affected the local people of the area, from the time it was built all the way to the present day. Being awarded those grants gave me the opportunity to meet and interview archaeologists, museum curators, tour guides, re-enactors, and other Hadrian’s Wall experts, then share what I’d learned from them with others in a direct, colorful, and interactive way thanks to the URI Film Festival. So, I really did have a fantastic experience while I was a URI student.

As for whether there was a creative outlet like The Independent Scribe in place at that time…overall, no, there wasn’t. There was a literary magazine and I did send a few submissions to it, but it was on its way out by then and my submissions never saw the light of day. Instead, I directed my writing energies toward my documentaries and other independent projects.

After graduation, what did you do, either for work or in terms of furthering your education? How have those experiences informed or otherwise impacted your writing?
After URI, I was offered a free ride to PC and a graduate assistantship at the PC Publications Office. I earned a double master’s degree in European and American History from Providence College and, while I was there, I began work on another documentary project, this one on Quonset Point Naval Air Station in North Kingstown. I have a 20 minute version completed, but I’m still searching for the funds and resources to expand that “rough draft” project into a full hour documentary film. My goal is to one day enter the completed work into the RI International Film Festival.

My experiences in the Publications Office taught me a lot about organization, deadlines, and keeping to the relevant facts. Seeing my work in print in PC’s faculty and alumni publications helped give me enough confidence in my writing to begin sending a few of my original stories out to contests. Eventually I began a correspondence course with the Institute of Children’s Literature, which encouraged me to send my stories out to magazines. Most were rejected, which is normal, but I was able to sell one little mystery story to Ranger Rick magazine, which led to several other writing assignments. I saved up the money I earned as a graduate editorial assistant and, later, from selling my stories, so I could attend writing conferences in New York and Los Angeles. These experiences have given me a lot of insight into how to improve my writing – both academic and fictional – and how the publishing world works.

After graduating from PC, I got a position as an adjunct history instructor at CCRI, where I currently teach Western Civ. (very much a learning experience, as well as writing intensive since I have to do a lot of research to prepare for classes and keep my information up to date). As for furthering my education, I’ve recently begun the process of researching and applying to British universities with the aim of earning my PhD in British history. My career goal is to be a university professor and a prolific author, kind of like Isaac Asimov, and eventually to create a series of historical documentaries aimed at middle school/high school age kids.

In your introductory e-mail to the Scribe, you mentioned your participation with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI); what is the mission of the organization, and how do you feel that you fit into that mission?
According to the SCBWI website: “Founded in 1971 by a group of Los Angeles-based children’s writers, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is one of the largest existing organizations for writers and illustrators. It is the only professional organization specifically for those individuals working in the fields of children’s literature, magazines, film, television, and multimedia.” SCBWI supports children’s authors and illustrators and hosts national and regional conferences where authors and aspiring authors can meet each other, editors, and publishers and attend informative lectures given by experts and celebrities in the field of children’s literature. As for me, I like children’s literature. Its simplicity is deceptive, which makes it incredibly difficult to pull off well. Most of my favorite books – The Little Prince, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Neverending Story, The Lorax, Flatterland, Watership Down, To Kill a Mockingbird, to name a very few – usually show up in the children’s section, even though they tend to deal with very complicated matters. The challenge of children’s literature is that it must tackle those difficult matters from unique and quirky angles, presenting engaging, truthful characters and themes in creative, energetic, and thought provoking ways. I’m drawn to children’s literature because of the challenge and because of the freedom, and I think the responsibility inherent in being a children’s author compliments my career goals as an educator.

To refer back to your e-mail, you also mentioned your current role as an adjunct history instructor; how would you describe the relationship between history and writing?
Well, since history has been defined as the written record of past events, history and writing are inseparable. In a sense, they sort of created each other. The human drive to keep records, organize thoughts, and share stories led to the development of writing systems, and the records and stories that were written down have been preserved as history. Writing is the breakthrough innovation that separates the historic from the prehistoric.

I happen to think that written sources are the closest things we have to a working time machine. Whether they’re personal diaries or financial records, works of fiction or historical narratives, written works have the unique ability to put us in almost direct contact with individuals from the past. These sources let their readers climb into their author’s mind and view the world through his or her culture, values, and experiences. The historian’s job is to read these sources and draw conclusions, to reconstruct past events like a detective investigating a crime. The historian’s goal is to write down and publish those conclusions, furthering and enhancing the historical record. Therefore, to love history is to love writing as well as reading the writings of others. You can’t have one without the other.

Your piece in this edition of The Independent Scribe is historical fiction, but are there other genres or styles you experiment with?
My studies encourage me to write historical non-fiction while inspiring me to write historical fiction. But, I’m pretty obsessed with science fiction, and that’s mostly what I write when I’m not writing history stuff. I also play with nonsense poetry and surrealist fiction, and I enjoy mysteries and fantasy/adventure as well. Aside from academic stuff, most of my writing would probably be considered middle-grade and young adult fiction.

When you’re writing historical fiction, do you begin a project with a specific time period in mind, or do you devise a basic plot and try to fit it into an historical period?
Well, I think the theme comes first, or even the characters. That determines the time period, and then the time period informs the plot. I don’t really think a plot can be squeezed into just any historical period. It has to belong there first, or it’ll sound anachronistic.

Theme definitely came first in the case of “Dandelions and Doodlebugs.” That story first started simmering in my head while I was reading a book on genocide for a class on the politics of mass murder. The book was called The Key to My Neighbor’s House, and it focused on Bosnia and Rwanda. I think “Doodlebugs” ultimately became my way of dealing with the raw, appalling reality exposed in that book and discussed in that class, kind of like an emotional outlet or a mental-health exercise or something. After that class, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the kids involved – not just the victims who died but the witnesses, the survivors who had to go on living with those horrific events as they grew up. I began thinking about Western European history and re-reading stories about children who were growing up during the World Wars – books like The Diary of Anne Frank, Number the Stars, All Quiet on the Western Front (although it’s about soldiers, the main character is essentially a kid when he starts out) and even the Narnia series where the main characters are children who are sent away from London to avoid the bombs. I re-read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and Farewell to Manzanar, books that had deeply affected me when I was little. I read Flight by Sherman Alexie about a kid who becomes detached in time and experiences first hand the violence between Native Americans and American soldiers as they expanded West. I read about kids during the American Civil War, and then I started reading about the experiences of kids in the Middle East, fiction and non-fiction books about Israel and Palestine, then about Pakistan and India and Afghanistan. As I read, all these thoughts and emotions kept swirling around in my head until one evening I heard an old British song about the London Blitz and everything just fell together. I knew my characters, I knew their story, and I knew what I wanted that story to say. I went to my computer and I don’t think it took me more than two hours to write the story, but I knew it was the result of several months of thinking and research – not specifically research for that particular story’s plot, but done in the spirit of its theme.

”Dandelions and Doodlebugs” is about the illusion of safety parents carefully craft for their children or, rather, the moment that illusion is cracked. The primary setting is WWII London because I figured the experiences of two British, Western European kids would kind of help to highlight the parallel experiences of kids around the world who have similarly lost their childhoods to war and adult violence. It would make the experience seem closer, less foreign, in culture at least if not in time. The secondary setting, a more nebulous present somewhere in suburban America, brings home the fact that a kid doesn’t need to have direct exposure to war and violence to experience that same loss of innocence and security. It’s an epiphany all children experience: the chilling understanding that their parents aren’t immortal, and neither are they. Death is real, and we’re all vulnerable.

To extend a metaphor, and without going into all the political philosophy of the thing, in wartime, the state can sort of be seen like the parent and the citizens sort of like the kids it shelters. When the state breaks down and the protection of rational civilization is lost, the emotional effects on its citizens are shattering. I mean, look at The Tin Drum—the main character there is so disillusioned with the adult world of Nazi Germany that he wills himself to maintain a child’s stature. That emotional effect, that fear and disillusionment and pessimism that accompanies the loss of childhood safety, is the same whether the bombs were dropped on London or Germany or Japan during the World Wars, or exploded in Kabul or Baghdad or in Gaza yesterday afternoon. How can a little kid deal with that kind of loss? If we’re very lucky, it’ll be with dandelion wishes and stories and hope that, one day, the words of peace and security will be more than a sweet-sounding lie. The alternative is…well, we don’t really have to look much farther than the nightly world news report to see the alternative played out. So, yeah, for me I guess I generally start with a certain theme which helps me get to know the characters, then the theme and characters lead me to the correct time period which then informs the story’s plot.

What’s next for your writing? Any new projects in the works?
Yes. The truth is, I have more ideas and projects than I have time. Lately, my life’s been filled to the brim with school stuff, writing conferences, and researching PhD programs, but whenever I get a moment I do have a special project in the works. It’s a YA sci-fi novel I’ve been seriously working on for the past two years. It started out as a short story, and I’ve been gradually expanding it and expanding it. I’ve nearly finished the rough draft, but it needs a lot of work before it’s ready to be sent out to editors. I really, truly, deeply hope to see it published, though. Then there’s my Quonset Point documentary – I’ve been turned down for a few grants, but I plan to keep trying. Then there’s all the short stories that need my attention. I keep sending them out to magazines in the hope of a bite, even though most of them get tossed back to me. Most magazines have a very specific sort of story criteria and unless I start out by tailoring a story specifically for that publication, my stuff doesn’t always quite fit. That’s why I started an actual novel. Even though all this is a lot of effort with little to no guarantee of success, I keep working on all this stuff and attending writing conferences and asking questions of universities in the hopes that this time next year, if someone asks if I have any new projects in the works, I’ll be able to say I’m getting my first novel published and I’ve started work on my PhD thesis. It’s still something of a distant goal, but I’ve got my fingers on the keyboard and my eyes on the prize, and with any luck I’ll be able to pull it off.