spring 2012
¡ saludos!
Fill yourself up with the forsythias and when the lilacs flower, stir them in too with your blood and happiness and wretchedness…. “Last Spring,” Gottfried Benn tr. Michael Hoffman Again and again it comes ‘round, the wild-warming, mockingbird-brimming, fresh hope of spring. Spring that takes all we are – even the wretchedness – and gives back richness of possibility in spite of it all. So that we are buoyed by the excitement of learning better ways to be human. Again. At Gemini Ink we’ve assembled a gleaming bouquet of experiences to feed that learning. How to write even the most difficult history with James Carlos Blake. Strategies for revision and self-editing with Simon & Schuster novelist Angie Cruz. Seek out the experiential roots that feed poems with poet and UTSA prof Bonnie Lyons. Write the family secrets with master fiction writer Robert Flynn. Explore new ways to freelance with Tracy Barnett, food criticism with Ed Tijerina, and challenging new books with our beloved Coleen Grissom. We’re bringing a prizewinning master letterpress printer up from Mexico in partnership with the Instituto Cultural de México, and we’re bringing back Black and Blue, Sterling Houston’s moving examination of slavery through literature, historical documents, and swingin’ music. All in all it’s “Spring and All” at Gemini Ink. Please join us for a workshop, to hear (and ask questions at) a reading, to enjoy stunning readers theater, or to listen to our Autograph guest, Maxine Hong Kingston, talk about aging, creative work, feminism, and more. ¡Bienvenidos everyone! Rosemary Catacalos Executive | Artistic Director
about Gemini Ink Gemini Ink nurtures writers and readers and builds community through literature and the related arts. At Gemini Ink we believe human story in all its diverse and complicated forms and genres — from poetry and fiction to memoir and oral tradition — is essential to developing compassion and richness in both individual and community life. We encourage focused reading, writing, and exchange at every level, from elementary school student to incarcerated youth and from polished professional to the elder who has always wanted to record her family stories. Gemini Ink, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, is extremely grateful for contributions from avid readers and writers, as well as grants from the George W. Brackenridge Foundation, Brown Foundation, City of San Antonio Office of Cultural Affairs, Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation, Edouard Foundation, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Frost National Bank, theFund, Guerra • DeBerry • Coody Marketing and Communications, Howard and Betty Halff Fund of the San Antonio Area Foundation, H-E-B, King William Association, Albert and Bessie Mae Kronkosky Charitable Foundation, Ruth Lang Charitable Fund and Beulah M. and Felix J. Katz Memorial Trust of the San Antonio Area Foundation, Lifshutz Foundation, Myra Stafford Pryor Charitable Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Rackspace Foundation, Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation, Russell Hill Rogers Fund for the Arts, San Antonio Express-News, Shield-Ayres Foundation, Smothers Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, USAA Foundation, Valero Energy Foundation, Esther and Harold Vexler Advised Fund of the San Antonio Area Foundation, and Wayne Wright Lawyers.
Cover Artist/Photographer: Al Rendon, The Secret, www.alrendon.com
spring catalogue
2
gemini ink 2012
spring 2012 schedule Dates
Classes & Events
Page
Tuesday, Jan. 10
Spring Registration Begins
page 22
Saturday, Jan. 21
Fiction / Blake Faculty Reading
page 4 page 15
Wednesday, Jan. 25
Lifelong Learning / Grissom*
page 7
Friday, Feb. 3
First Friday Reading
page 15
Saturday, Feb. 4
Multi-Genre / Garcia-Crow Poetry / Lyons
page 8 page 5
Thursday & Friday, Feb. 16 & 17
AUTOGRAPH Series page 11 Reading & Colloquium Luncheon / Maxine Hong Kingston
Wednesday, Feb. 22
Fiction / Flynn*
page 5
Friday, Mar. 2
First Friday Reading
page 15
Saturday, Mar. 3
Fiction / Cruz
page 4
Friday, Mar. 16
Printing Exhibition Opening at Instituto Cultural de MĂŠxico
page 20
Saturday, Mar. 17
Lifelong Learning / Pascoe
page 7
Friday, Mar. 23
Faculty Reading
page 15
Saturday, Mar. 24
Multi-Genre / Bass
page 8
Friday, Apr. 6
First Friday Reading
page 15
Saturday, Apr. 7
Poetry / MorĂn Playwriting / Greenberg
page 6 page 9
Saturday, Apr. 14
Lifelong Learning / Tijerina
page 9
Wednesday, May 2
Dramatic Readers Theater
page 23
Friday, May 4
First Friday Reading
page 15
Saturday, May 5
Lifelong Learning / Barnett
page 6
Thursday & Friday, May 17 & 18
BREAKTHROUGH THINKERS Series page 18
TBA
Dramatic Readers Theater Black and Blue
Reading & Colloquium Luncheon / Dr. Christopher Phillips
page 15
Note: Classes are shown here by genre and instructor(s). See page listings for detailed class descriptions and registration deadlines. *Multi-session courses are shown with an asterisk. gemini ink 2012
3 spring catalogue
About Our Classes
Are you interested in music, photography, theater, science, or philosophy? Are you a teacher searching for ideas to use in the classroom? Are you a business professional wanting to polish your communication skills? Do you enjoy books and good conversation? Maybe you’ve always wanted to be a writer, but you’re not sure how to get started. Or you’re a writer whose work needs more attention. The University Without Walls program offers a wide range of classes and workshops for anyone with an inquisitive mind. Whether you’re curious about ideas or deeply committed to the craft of writing, you’ll find the literary camaraderie you’re looking for at Gemini Ink. Our faculty members have extensive credentials and are committed to teaching. And, at the heart of our classes are creative, intelligent, and talented students like you. Join our community and make Gemini Ink part of your life.
Course Levels
Beginner: Writers or readers who are new to the course subject and/or design. Intermediate: Writers and readers who have background knowledge of the course subject, will complete required readings, and will actively participate in class discussion. These writers have had working practice with this aspect of craft and have participated in at least one writing workshop (either with Gemini Ink or elsewhere); they are comfortable with in-class writing exercises. Intermediate/Advanced: Intermediate level requirements, plus a knowledge of all technical and formal aspects pertinent to this class. Participants are experienced in critical analysis. Writers have a history of practical experience in this area, have participated in several writing workshops, and are probably researching the publication process (and have a realistic understanding of its demands). Advanced:Intermediate/ Advanced requirements, plus extensive knowledge of this course subject. Each participant is something of an expert in this field. Each writer has attained a professional level, that is, writing has become an integral part of her/his routine and her/his work is of publication quality.
classes FICTION #1 Revising and Self-Editing Strategies for the Novel Level: All Instructor: Angie Cruz If you’re stuck in a novel-writing rut, breathe new life into your project. This class will give writers the opportunity to develop, revise, and learn how to selfedit the novel using in-class writing exercises and workshops. Participants will be required to submit the first two pages of a chapter. You are encouraged to bring scenes/excerpts as well. This class is ideal for writers who are stuck or need to re-energize the work with some constructive feedback, as well as emerging writers who have jump-started novels but don’t know how to develop or edit them. All readings will be in class. Date: Saturday, Mar. 3, 10am - 1pm Limit: 15 Participants Registration Deadline: Friday, Feb. 24 Required Materials: First two pages of novel chapter due Friday, Feb. 24 (please send by email at info@geminiink.org) CPE Credits: 3 Language Arts Fee: $70 Discounted Fee: $60
#2 The Art of Historical Fiction Level: All Instructor: James Carlos Blake James Carlos Blake, acclaimed author of several historical novels, will discuss the intersection of imagination and fact in writing historical novels for adults. He will talk about the ways and means of writing fiction, and historical fiction in particular, using his most recent release, Country of the Bad Wolfes, as an example. Come with questions about your own writing. Date: Saturday, Jan. 21, 1pm - 3pm (Reading at 3:30pm, free and open to the public) Limit: 15 Participants Registration Deadline: Wednesday, Jan. 18 CPE Credits: 2 Language Arts Fee: $55 Discounted Fee: $45
Course levels are self-selected. spring catalogue
4
gemini ink 2012
#3 Writing the Family Secrets Level: Intermediate Instructor: Robert Flynn You are the only authority on your life and a fallible guide to your family’s story. “Writing the Family Secrets” will meet two hours a week for four consecutive weeks. The class will include in-class writing exercises, interviewing, censors, workshopping, structure of story, dialogue (when and how to use), frailty of memory, unusual or enlightening experience, research (devil in the details), and take you from transcribing to creating, to developing satisfactory conclusions. Date: Four Wednesdays, Feb. 22 & 29, Mar. 7 & 14, 5:30 - 7:30pm Limit: 15 Participants Registration Deadline: Monday, Feb. 20 CPE Credits: 8 Language Arts Fee: $110 Discounted Fee: $100
POETRY
#4 “Breathe in Experience, Breathe Out Poetry” Level: All Instructor: Bonnie Lyons The title of this class, Muriel Rukeyser’s famous line, emphasizes the vital connection between experience and poetry. But what is “experience”? Many of us think first of exotic travel, but Emily Dickinson’s poetry and life remind us that our personal experience is what we have deeply felt or thought, not necessarily where our body has gone. In this workshop, we’ll begin by looking at the wide variety of personal experience that is the root material of many poets, including my experience writing Bedrock. Through a series of in-class exercises, we’ll try to discover our own most promising root experience, whether in daily life, singular events, dreams, or books and films that seem inscribed in our memory. Then, we’ll begin to explore how to nurture these roots toward the flowering of poems. The class will include some lecture, discussion, and writing exercises. Bring paper and pencil and any personal poem you want to discuss. Date: Saturday, Feb. 4, 9am - 12pm Limit: 15 Participants Registration Deadline: Wednesday, Feb. 1 CPE Credits: 3 Language Arts Fee: $60 Discounted Fee: $50
gemini ink 2012
How to Register A registration form appears on page 22. Please mail the completed form to Gemini Ink at 513 S. Presa, San Antonio, TX 78205, along with your class tuition and registration fee. You may also register by visiting our website at www.geminiink. org, calling us at 210.734.9673 (877.734.9673, toll-free), or visiting our office at the above address. Registration Fee Be sure to include the $10 registration fee in your total. The fee is required each time you enroll for classes and helps cover expenses like registration staffing, classroom maintenance, handouts, flyers, mailings, and supplies. If you are taking several classes, register for them all at once to avoid paying multiple registration fees! Credit Card Payments Gemini Ink accepts Discover, VISA, and MasterCard payments for class tuition or contributions. For more information, please call the office at 210.734.9673. Registration and Payment Policies Registration and payment should be made as soon as possible. Class size is limited and filled on a first-come, first-served basis. After the published deadline, we accept registrations on a spaceavailable basis. We will charge a $10 processing fee for any returned check. Class Cancellations Gemini Ink reserves the right to cancel or reschedule courses to adjust for enrollment. If it is necessary to cancel a course, all registered participants will be informed immediately and will be extended the opportunity to transfer to another course. If participants enrolled in a canceled class do not wish to transfer, a full refund will be made. Discounts on Class Tuition! The class fee reflects a $10 discount. An additional 5% deduction is offered to educators, seniors (65+), and students. Refer five friends to any University Without Walls class or combination of classes, and we’ll waive your tuition for one class or workshop. Some restrictions apply. Call the office at 210.734.9673 for details.
5 spring catalogue
Withdrawals
A student may withdraw from a Gemini Ink workshop at any time. The student must notify the office at least 5 business days prior to the first date of the workshop to be eligible for full tuition refunds, less a $25 withdrawal fee. Alternately, tuition transfers to another class are available within the same semester. Withdrawal notifications not made within 5 business days of the workshop are not eligible for tuition refunds, but students may transfer tuition to another class within the same semester, less a $25 late withdrawal fee and/or faculty cost. Withdrawal notifications made the day of the workshop or after the workshop has begun are not eligible for refunds or transfers of any kind. Transfer of tuition across semesters is not possible. Failure to attend sessions or verbal notification to instructor will not be regarded as official notice of withdrawal. Refunds will be processed within 14 business days. Refund checks must be cashed within 90 days of the check date. Otherwise, we will have to charge for any stoppayment costs we incur.
Special Info
Occasionally classes will be photographed or videotaped. Please notify the instructor if you wish to be excluded. Adult classes are open to high school students by permission of the instructor only. On occasion, classes may deviate from the published course descriptions.
Volunteering
Do the Write Thing. Work toward a free class! We have lots of opportunities and a variety of jobs to do. To learn more please call 210.734.9673 and pitch in!
Be good to the earth...
#5 Comedy Relief: On Using Humor to Write About the Serious in Poetry Level: All Instructor: Tomás Morín Have you ever laughed so hard that you cried? That both sadness and happiness can bring tears to our eyes shows the deep connection between these extreme emotions. During the first part of this day-long workshop, we will read and examine the mixing of the comedic with the serious in poems by Gerald Stern, Charles Simic, Tony Hoagland, James Tate, and Wislawa Szymborska. We will learn how these poets use humor to write about difficult subjects in order to apply their strategies in our own poems. After lunch we will workshop and discuss your own poems. Date: Saturday, Apr. 7, 9am - 3pm (1-hour lunch break) Limit: 12 participants Registration Deadline: Wednesday, Apr. 4 CPE Credits: 5 Language Arts Fee: $70 Discounted Fee: $60
LIFELONG LEARNING #6 Writers in Transition: Remaking Ourselves for Survival - and Thrival - in Times of Change Level: Intermediate Instuctor: Tracy Barnett Faced with the incredible shrinking pool of paying freelance markets, what’s a writer to do? This workshop doesn’t pretend to present all the solutions; rather, it’s the story of one writer’s journey, a roundup of resources and an opportunity to share ideas and reflect on the possibilities. Date: Saturday, May 5, 9am - 2pm (1-hour lunch break) Limit: 15 Participants Registration Deadline: Wednesday, May 2 Teachers CPE Credits: 4 Language Arts Fee: $90 Discounted Fee: $80
Please recycle! Paper-free people may receive all catalogue information online at our website www.geminiink.org
spring catalogue
6
gemini ink 2012
#7 Literary Excursions Level: All Instructor: Coleen Grissom Join Trinity University’s English Professor Coleen Grissom as she delights, offends, inspires, and incites widespread debate among informed and engaged students of contemporary literature. Classes consist of critical analysis of the readings which include short stories and novels. Dates: Six Wednesdays, noon - 1:30pm Jan. 25 Jeannette Haien’s The All of It Feb. 1 Stewart O’Nan’s Emily, Alone Feb. 8 Téa Obreht’s The Tiger’s Wife Feb. 15 Maxine Hong Kingston’s I Love a Broad Margin to My Life Feb. 22 Geraldine Brooks’ Caleb’s Crossing Feb. 29 Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder Limit: 50 Participants Registration Deadline: Jan. 23 Teachers CPE Credits: 9 Language Arts Fee: $110 Discounted Fee: $100
Credit for Teachers
Gemini Ink is registered with the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) as a provider of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) activities for standard certificate renewal for teachers. CPE credits are listed by each course description. Credit should be requested at the time of registration. Certificates will be mailed within 7 days of course completion.
Business and Professional Managers
If you are looking for an exciting continuing education experience for your valued employees, a Gemini Ink class is ideal. University Without Walls class offerings begin on page 4. For writing instruction in the workplace, contact the Director of the Writers in Communities program at our office. Whether held at our site or yours, our classes will enrich your employees’ lives on and off the job.
Course Texts
#8 Fine Letterpress Seminar Level: All Instructor: Juan Pascoe This seminar will introduce participants to the disappearing art of fine letterpress printing by hand. You’ll hear from a master the story of how a fine press piece’s content is selected, edited, designed, and finally set and printed and bound by hand using an 1838 R. Hoe Washington hand press. You’ll learn why producing 100 copies of a short book of poems can take the better part of year. And you’ll come to understand how this process has yielded books, broadsides and ephemera by some of Latin America’s most prominent writers, including Octavio Paz, Gabriel García Márquez and Roberto Bolaño. Come armed with questions about this centuries-old printing tradition that is art, literature, and science combined. Date: Saturday, Mar. 17, 11am - 1pm Limit: 15 participants Registration Deadline: Wednesday, Mar. 14 CPE Credits: 2 Language Arts Fee: $55 Discounted Fee: $45
gemini ink 2012
Most course texts and faculty books may be purchased at the Gemini Ink office during business hours (call for availability), or at The Twig Book Shop, 200 E. Grayson Ste. 124, 1.800. SAYTWIG. The Twig donates 20% of our in-office book sales to Gemini Ink. www.thetwig.indiebound.com
Manuscript Submissions
For courses requiring advance manuscripts, please send manuscript attached to an email to info@geminiink.org. Manuscripts must have at least one-inch margins, be in an easily legible font, adhere to the instructor’s specified length limitations, and, if fiction, be double-spaced. Please note that Gemini Ink is unable to reformat manuscripts that don’t meet these guidelines. Include your instructor’s name, along with your name and contact information. The email should indicate “manuscript” and class number in the subject line. Manuscripts will be circulated electronically for advance critique. Please bring one hard copy to class. Manuscripts submitted after the published deadline will be distributed in class and discussed only at the instructor’s discretion.
7 spring catalogue
MULTI-GENRE
Thank You
We are grateful to our many Gemini Ink donors and funders who make it possible to keep your tuition affordable.
Interested in Teaching?
Proposals for classes are invited! Generally, we require that our faculty have significant publishing and teaching experience. Please send a sample course outline, résumé/curriculum vitae, and (if possible) a copy of a recent book. Direct your materials to uww@geminiink.org, or, to teach in community settings, send to wic@geminiink.org.
Plans in the Making
Parents! If your children are interested in classes/workshops for young writers, please call our office at 210.734.9673 to get on our planning list. When we have ten potential students, we’ll put a workshop together, considering instructor availability and compatible ages in the group.
Where to Find Us
Unless otherwise noted, events take place in our bright green building at 513 S. Presa in Southtown/King William. If you are coming from 35&10, exit César E. Chávez Boulevard Blvd. East. Drive to S. Presa and turn right. We are on your right. From 37/281, exit César E. Chávez Boulevard West. Drive to the stoplight at S. Alamo and turn left; take the next right on S. Presa. We are on your left almost at the end of the block.
Parking
Parking for classes and events at our facility is available in front of the building, along the street, and across the street in the lot marked “Gemini Ink.” In the interest of being good neighbors, we ask that you not park in the El Mirador restaurant lot next door.
Accessibility
Gemini Ink provides parking for the physically challenged in front of the building, which is wheelchair accessible.
#9 The Other Nine Rules to Better Writing and Editing Level: All Instructor: Rick Bass There are ten basic rules or guidelines that will help you write well and edit better. “Show, Don’t Tell” is the ancient first one, but for the other nine, come to the workshop, which is open to both creative fiction and short story writers. We’ll learn about story structure and shape in both of these genres. Date: Saturday, Mar. 24, 9am - 2pm (1-hour lunch break) Free Reading on Friday, March 23, 6:30pm Limit: 15 Participants Registration Deadline: Wednesday, Mar. 21 CPE Credits: 4 Language Arts Fee: $90 Discounted Fee: $80
#10 From Paper to Production Level: All Instructor: Amparo Garcia-Crow Big or small, short or long, the art of telling a story has its 1, 2, 3s. Come brush up on how to successfully turn big stories into small packages. Start writing. Get inspired. Trust your impulses. Write what you didn’t expect was possible in short play or monologue form. One of the most popular and produced genres, the ten minute play or monologue, has gained increasing popularity in recent years. Come learn how to develop your stories so that the voices, creative imaginations and bodies of actors are attracted to produce them. Bring your laptop and/or a pad and pen. Date: Saturday, Feb. 4, 10am - 3pm (1-hour lunch break) Limit: 15 Participants Registration Deadline: Wednesday, Feb. 1 CPE Credits: 4 Language Arts Fee: $60 Discounted Fee: $50
Office Hours
Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm; closed on all major holidays.
spring catalogue
8
gemini ink 2012
#11 The Hungry Writer Level: All Instructor: Edmund Tijerina Today, everybody can be a restaurant critic and a food writer, but doing it well is a craft. We’ll look at different kinds of food writing, including reviews, memoirs, essays and blogs, and learn how to convey an enthusiasm for food and eating through the printed (or electronic) word. Date: Saturday, Apr. 14, 10am - 3pm (1-hour lunch break) Limit: 15 Participants Registration Deadline: Wednesday, Apr. 11 CPE Credits: 4 Language Arts Fee: $70 Discounted Fee: $60
PLAYWRITING
#12 Personal Stories as Universal Themes Level: All Instructor: Mike Greenberg To his own astonishment, Mike Greenberg’s first play was produced. He shares what he learned as a novice playwright about the process of conceiving, peopling, plotting and actually writing a play; submitting it to companies and competitions; and working with the director and cast of the premiere production. Each student should submit in advance a prospectus for a play -- the central theme or themes, number of actors, set requirements, something about structure and style, and a statement about why it’s so important to the student to write that particular play — for in-class discussion. A few pages of dialogue will be welcome but not required. Date: Saturday, Apr. 7, 10am - 3pm (1-hour lunch break) Limit: 12 Participants Registration Deadline: Friday, Mar. 23 Required Materials: Prospectus, due Mar. 23 CPE Credits: 4 Language Arts Fee: $70 Discounted Fee: $60
gemini ink 2012
Gift Shop Our inventory includes books by current and previous Gemini Ink faculty; signed, limited edition prints, handmade chapbooks of the works of Gemini award winners, and gift certificates for University Without Walls classes and workshops. We also stock the literary journal, Rain Taxi, which is free for the taking. Lending Library Gemini Ink has an eclectic array of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and how-to-write books, as well as literary journals that are available to borrow. Please stop by and check out our titles. Facilities Rental The Gemini Ink conference room is available for $20/hour, while the large meeting room is available for $30/hour rental fee. Our facility belongs to you. Please take this opportunity to call the office for details. Staff Rosemary Catacalos Executive | Artistic Director Rachel Christilles* Financial Officer Erika Nadeau Morgan Director, University Without Walls Anisa Onofre Director, Writers in Communities Evelyn Reyes Managing Director Lucinda Vela-Wick Director, Communications Carolene Zehner Registrar | Operations Manager *part-time Volunteers Dario Beniquez Facilitator, Open Writing Workshop Jim Dawes Facilitator, Open Writing Workshop Roland Huff Facilitator, Open Writing Workshop Consultants Gloria Pins Arecchi CPA Bett Butler & Pamela Dean Kenny Dramatic Readers Theater Louis Fincias, Information Technology Interns Paul Hoeg Dolores Lopez Veroniqúe Moreno Dania Pulido Susana Ramirez Brenda Rodriguez Anna Sánchez 9 spring catalogue
Gemini Ink Board of Directors Mallory Belt Ahl Public Finance, Frost Bank Marian Aitches Senior Lecturer in History, University of Texas at San Antonio Rosemary Catacalos (Ex officio), Executive | Artistic Director, Writer Tess Coody Partner, Guerra . DeBerry Coody Marketing & Communications, Writer Eusebio Díaz Program Director, Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio William A. Dupont, AIA San Antonio Conservation Society Endowed Professor of Architecture, University of Texas at San Antonio John Frederick Provost, University of Texas at San Antonio Julie Hasdorff Attorney, Hasdorff & Convery, PC James Heidelberg Attorney, Escamilla & Poneck, Inc. María Luisa Holmgreen Attorney Lee Robinson Attorney Writer Josie Seeligson Freelance writer, Photographer and Tree Farmer Michael Soto Professor, Trinity University Aïssatou Sidimé Communications specialist, Business Financial Group National Advisory Board Dorothy Allison San Francisco Robert Boswell Houston Sandra Cisneros San Antonio Katy Flato San Antonio Robert Flynn San Antonio Ernest J. Gaines Louisiana Edward Hirsch New York Tony Hoagland Houston Phillip Lopate New York Terry McMillan California W.S. Merwin Hawaii Antonya Nelson Houston Naomi Shihab Nye San Antonio Gregory Orr Charlottesville Carolyn Osborn Austin Martha Rhodes New York Richard Russo Maine John Phillip Santos San Antonio Ellen Bryant Voigt Vermont Chuck Wachtel New York Marion Winik Pennsylvania
spring catalogue
10
I Love a Broad Margin to My Life I am turning 65 years of age. In 2 weeks I will be 65 years old. I can accumulate time and lose time? I sit here writing in the dark — can’t see to change these penciled words — just like my mother, alone, bent over her writing, just like my father bent over his writing, alone but for me watching. She got out of bed, wrapped herself in a blanket, and wrote down the strange sounds Father, who was dead, was intoning to her. He was reading aloud calligraphy that he’d written — carved with inkbrush — on his tombstone. She wasn’t writing in answer. She wasn’t writing a letter. Who was she writing to? Nobody. This well-deep outpouring is not for anything. Yet we need put into exact words what we are given to see, hear, know. Mother’s eyesight blurred; she saw trash as flowers. “Oh. How very beautiful.” She was lucky, seeing beauty, living in beauty, whether or not it was there. I am often looking in mirrors, and singling out my face in group photographs. Am I pretty at 65? What does old look like? Excerpted from I Love a Broad Margin to My Life by Maxine Hong Kingston.
Copyright © 2011 by Maxine Hong Kingston. Excerpted by permission of Vintage, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
gemini ink 2012
Spring 2012 Autograph Series Presents
Maxine Hong Kingston Author of The Woman Warrior, China Men, Tripmaster Monkey, The Fifth Book of Peace, and I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, among other works.
Events Public R eading with Q&A Thursday, Feb. 16, 7pm San Pedro Playhouse 800 West Ashby Place General admission seating Free and open to the public Book signing follows
Colloquium Luncheon
Conversation with Coleen Grissom Q&A and book signing follows Friday, Feb. 17, 11:30am Pearl Stable 307 Pearl Parkway Supported in part by the Russell Hill Rogers Fund for the Arts Call Gemini Ink for reservations: 734.9673 $50/seat; $350/table of eight gemini ink 2012
11 spring catalogue
spring 2012 facult y Rick Bass was born in Fort Worth, grew up in Houston, and is the author of 27 books of fiction and nonfiction. He’s had stories and essays published in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Narrative Magazine, and others. His first short story collection, The Watch, set in Texas, won the PEN/Nelson Algren Award, and his 2002 collection, The Hermit’s Story, was a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. Bass’ stories have also been awarded the Pushcart Prize and the O. Henry Award, and have been collected in The Best American Short Stories. He lives with his family in Montana where he is a board member of the Yaak Valley Forest Council. (www.yaakvalley.org) Tracy L. Barnett is an independent writer and the founder of The Esperanza Project, a bilingual initiative aimed at giving voice to environmental and sustainability movements throughout the Americas. She is the award-winning former travel editor of the San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle and former Vida editor of Rumbo newspapers. She currently resides in an ecovillage outside of Guadalajara, Mexico.
James Carlos Blake was born in Mexico and grew up in Texas and Florida. He is the author of nine novels and a collection of short works. While most of Blake’s short stories — and a novella, Texas Woman Blues — are set in more recent times, the chronological setting of all his novels to date is between the mid-nineteenth-century and the latter 1930’s, and several of them feature historical figures as their protagonists. His work has received substantial critical praise and several notable awards. Entertainment Weekly has called him “one of the greatest chroniclers of the mythical American outlaw life” and the Chicago SunTimes said he is “one of the most original writers in America today and … certainly one of the bravest.” Among his literary honors are the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Southwest Book Award, and the Falcon Award. Angie Cruz is the author of Let It Rain Coffee (2005) and Soledad (2001), both published by Simon & Schuster. She earned her MFA at NYU in 1999. She has contributed shorter works to numerous periodicals including Latina Magazine, Callaloo and New York Times. She has won awards for her writing and/or activist work such as The New York Foundation of The Arts Fellowship, Barbara Deming Award, Yaddo, and The Camargo Fellowship. She currently teaches creative writing at Texas A&M University. She splits her time between New York, Turin, Italy and College Station, Texas where she is working on her third novel, In Search of Caridad. spring catalogue
12
gemini ink 2012
Robert Flynn is the author of ten novels: North To Yesterday; In the House of the Lord; The Sounds of Rescue, The Signs of Hope; Wanderer Springs, The Last Klick, The Devils Tiger, Tie-Fast Country, Echoes of Glory, Jade: Outlaw and Jade: The Law; a dramatic adaptation of Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, a two-part documentary, “A Cowboy Legacy,” shown on ABC-TV, two memoirs, A Personal War in Vietnam, and Burying the Farm, two story collections, Seasonal Rain and Living With The Hyenas, and two collections of essays, Growing Up a Sullen Baptist and Slouching Toward Zion.
A San Antonio native, Mike Greenberg was managing editor of Chicago Magazine and D Magazine (Dallas) before spending 28 years as a critic and columnist for the San Antonio Express-News. He was a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University. His book on urban planning, The Poetics of Cities, was published by the Ohio State University Press. His first play, Three Views of a Waterfall, deals with the lingering ghosts of war on soldiers and their families. A winner of the Texas Nonprofit Theatres Production of New Plays competition, it was produced by the Bastrop Opera House in October 2011.
Amparo Garcia-Crow is a playwright and scriptwriter, as well as a singer, actor, and director. She has been an artist in residence with New York’s Mabou Mines developing “Strip,” a burlesque musical. Her film Death Rattle recently premiered at the Los Angeles Latino International and Cine Las Americas. She received the Larry King Playwriting Award for her play, “Cocks Have Claws and Wings to Fly” and most recently the national Mae West Festival’s Best Female Protagonist award for her play “Esmeralda Blue: La Mujer Moderna.” She teaches playwriting at Austin Community College.
In Memoriam Robert Burlingame 1922 José Angel Cárdenas 1930 Kathy Clay-Little 1950 Samuel Menashe 1925 Debbie Lopez 1955
gemini ink 2012
Taha Muhammad Ali 1931 Cactus Pryor 1923 Andy Rooney 1919 Susan Fromberg Schaeffer 1940 Ruth Stone 1915
13 spring catalogue
Having served Trinity University since 1958 in administrative and teaching roles, Coleen Grissom now teaches three courses each semester in the English department: Writing Workshop, First Year Seminar, and Contemporary Literature. In October 2008, Trinity University Press published A Novel Approach to Life, a collection of speeches which she has written and delivered over the past five decades.
Bonnie Lyons is a poet and long-time professor of English at UTSA, where she has been awarded three Universitywide teaching awards. Her first full-length volume of poems, In Other Words, contains 40 monologues spoken by women in the Hebrew scriptures. She has also published two chapbooks, Hineni, and Meanwhile, and most recently Bedrock, which has been called “a splendid collection of intensely personal poems.”
Tomás Q. Morín’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in New England Review, Ploughshares, Threepenny Review, Southern Review, Slate, and Narrative. He was the 2010 winner of Boulevard Magazine’s Emerging Poets contest. His work has been featured on Poetry Daily and National Public Radio. He teaches literature and writing at Texas State University. You can find him online at www.tomasqmorin.com. Juan Pascoe, hand press printer, was born in Chicago in 1946. His father was a Mexican diplomat with the United Nations, and his mother an American. After studying English at Whitman College, Pascoe spent a year as a printing apprentice to Harry Duncan at the Cummington Press in West Branch Iowa. He returned to Mexico in 1973, and in 1975 he founded Taller Martín Pescador, mainly producing chapbooks – typeset, printed, and bound by hand – of contemporary poetry by both established and emerging writers of Mexico’s literary avant-garde. Pascoe received the coveted Premio Eréndira for traditional arts in 2011, and a museum retrospective of his work took place in 2009 in Mexico City. Ed Tijerina is a food writer and the dining critic for the San Antonio Express-News. Last year, he came in runner-up nationwide as best newspaper restaurant critic from the Association of Food Journalists. He has a Bachelor’s in Philosophy from Harvard and a Master’s in Journalism from Columbia. Currently, he is working with Chef Johnny Hernandez of La Gloria Ice House on a cookbook.
spring catalogue
14
gemini ink 2012
Black and Blue Returns
presented by Gemini Ink and the Estate of Sterling Houston We are delighted to announce that we will again present Black and Blue: 400 Years of Struggle and Transcendence in February to celebrate Black History Month! Production location, date and time will be announced in our monthly electronic newsletter, Word from the Ink, in coming weeks. The late and beloved San Antonio playwright Sterling Houston (1945-2006) was deeply committed to the work of Gemini Ink for many years, from his board service as we entered the 21st century, to his being honored with our Literary Excellence Award in 2004, to teaching in our Writers in Communities program, to creating Black and Blue for our Dramatic Readers Theater. The piece – featuring four musician/actors – weaves traditional jazz and blues with African American folklore, literature, and historical documents from the slavery era into compelling theater that both mourns and celebrates. Don’t miss this performance that one audience member has described as “a virtuosic display of writing, singing, and telling the truth.”
For more information, call us at 210.734.9673 Ron Wilkins, Danielle King and SkudR Jones perform at Gemini Ink’s 2009 Black and Blue event.
Readings! Reading, Jan. 21, 3:30pm Blake
Reading, March 23, 6:30pm* Bass
Reading, Feb. 3, 6:30pm* Garcia-Crow and Lyons
Reading, April 6, 6:30pm* Greenberg and Morín
Reading, March 2, 6:30 pm* Cruz
Reading, May 4, 6:30pm* Barnett
*These readings include one open mic spot. Call us now to sign up!
Free and Open to the Public at Gemini Ink (513 S. Presa) gemini ink 2012
15 spring catalogue
writers in communities helping people tell their stories Writers in Communities
(WIC) provides workshops – always free to participants – highlighting oral traditions, reading, and creative writing. Our professional teaching writers work alongside students of all ages, needs, interests and abilities in diverse community settings – from schools to justice facilities. WIC has served well over 7,000 individuals and published more than 60 chapbooks and broadsides of writing by students of all ages since 2002, and we continue to seek innovative partnerships throughout the community. Our work builds the critical thinking, reading, writing, and verbal skills essential to a healthy and economically thriving populace.
Writers in Schools
Last fall, WIC partnered with the Harlandale Independent School District to provide creative writing workshops to students at elementary, middle and high schools. Six
schools each hosted a WIC writer and visual artist to produce poetry and murals for the Writing on the Walls project. An anthology of the work will be published this spring. WIC is partnering with Rackspace and Northeast Independent School District for after-school Storybook projects at Krueger Middle School. Two groups of students are writing children’s stories to share with neighborhood youth. A book will be published in the spring, with numerous free copies being donated to Windcrest libraries and daycares.
WIC continued its innovative strategy of linking creative writing and visual art at Brackenridge High School. After an eight-class writing workshop focusing on violence, terrorism, forgiveness and healing, students created a mural reflecting their written work. For the fourth year in a row, WIC partnered with the John Jay Science & Engineering department for their annual writing retreat in Port Aransas.
Writers in the Juvenile Justice Setting
WIC returns to the Cyndi Taylor Krier Juvenile Correctional Treatment Center for Poetry in Life, a course on creative writing, peace, and communication.
WIC teams with Baptist Children & Family Services’ C.A.R.E. program (Children’s Aftercare Reentry Experience), with an introduction to poetry workshop to eight youth, as part of their mentoring component.
Writers in the Community
WIC returned to an immigrant shelter to work with Latin American youth waiting for deportation. An anthology of the three-week intensive writing workshop will be published in early spring. WIC begins a new partnership with Guadalupe Home on the city’s Westside. Eight pregnant, previously homeless, women are writing poems and narratives as they rebuild their lives. spring catalogue
16
gemini ink 2012
WIC excerpts Gone I wait and wait (Waiting is like standing still) Like I’m a piece of bait (Bait is like taking a pill) It’s time to go (Go is for run and leap) Let’s move with the flow (Flow is everything without a peep) It’s finally here (Here is everything you see) We don’t have to wait ‘til next year (Year is what is going to be) I really want to quit (Quit is to leave right there) It’s time to move on (Move is like a dare) On is when you’re about to bend (Gone) Gone is like the end From the anthology Give or Take by Nicolas, Turman Halfway House, Austin, Texas
Writers in Communities Funders and Partners Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation Austin Independent School District Baptist Children & Family Services Bexar County Juvenile Probation Dept. Cyndi Taylor Krier Juvenile Correctional Treatment Center George W. Brackenridge Foundation Guadalupe Home Harlandale Independent School District King William Association North East Independent School District Office of Cultural Affairs Rackspace San Antonio Independent School District Texas Commission on the Arts Texas Youth Commission Turman Halfway House, Austin
Recent Writers in Communities Anthologies Give or Take (Fall 2011) Poetry by residents of Turman Halfway House in Austin, Texas Late Night Story and Other Children’s Tales (Summer 2011) An anthology of children’s stories by at-risk teen mothers at AMIkids WINGS TEXAS
Visit our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ writersincommunities) for more student writings and WIC news.
Opportunity for Professional Writers
If you have a published book (or the equivalent), have experience teaching creative writing, and want to help bring creative writing, reading, storytelling, and thinking to diverse communities, we want to meet you. E-mail your resume or CV and three pages of writing samples to wic@geminiink.org gemini ink 2012
17 spring catalogue
bringing conceptual innovators and their books to San Antonio
Save the Dates: May 17 & 18, 2012
Dr. Christopher Phillips Author, Democracy Activist & Social Entrepreneur Founder, Socrates Café & Constitution Café Dialogue Groups Public Reading with Q&A Thursday, May 17 Time and Location TBA Free and open to the public Colloquium Luncheon Q&A and book signing follows Friday, May 18, 11:30am Pearl Stable 307 Pearl Parkway
A foremost specialist in the Socratic Method, Phillips reminds us that we ought to ask questions — “not about any chance question,” as Socrates put it in Plato’s Republic, “but about the way one should live.” Dedicated to the Jeffersonian idea of freedom: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, his goal is to inspire curiosity and wonder, to nurture self-discovery and democracy. Join us in dialogue as he leads us in a space of human interaction and shares aspects of his new book, Constitution Café (W.W. Norton, 2011), in which he describes his launch of an initiative aimed at generating a new, nationwide Constitutional Convention. CALL GEMINI INK FOR RESERVATIONS AND MORE INFORMATION: 210.734.9673
Open Writing Workshop Join this peer-driven workshop facilitated by longtime Gemini Ink volunteers Dario Beniquez, Jim Dawes and Roland Huff. Share your writing and get feedback on works-in-progress in a relaxed and supportive atmosphere. The workshop is held from 6:30 - 8:30 pm, on the last Monday of every month at Gemini Ink, 513 S. Presa. This spring’s Open Writing Workshops will be held on Jan. 30, Feb. 27, Mar. 26, Apr. 30, May 28. Bring 6 - 10 copies of your work to share! Free and open to all writers! spring catalogue
18
gemini ink 2012
facult y excerpts Karma When she came from the East, empty-handed, the newspapers used words like raiment, blue, shimmers, to describe her arrival in the hall of immigrants. Under occupation she scribbled solace. District offices went empty, the coffee dark and cold, as we paraded her down the avenues to the courthouse square where her pink likeness stood cut in granite. She smiled and waved, bowed as she left, and we all thought, “Straight to work!” But she had not come to judge, rather to forget. When nothing changed, no one noticed. Day to day we cheered her; meanwhile, she counted the hours under a birch somewhere, deathless, teaching the hemorrhaging mouse at her feet about patience.
Tomás Morín
Let it Rain Coffee Los Llanos 1991 The door to the old couple’s bedroom was partly opened. Miraluz caught a glimpse of Doña Caridad on her bed, behind the mosquito net. She covered her nose with her hands and her throat swelled from holding back tears. Don Chan watched over Doña Caridad, who laid peacefully on worn yellow sheets; her brown skin turned ashen, her full lips dry and cracked. The relentless sun poured in through the window over her. The small wooden cross over the bed tipped over. His cigars rested beside a small glass of rum and a red candle lit to keep them company. A cassava shell filled with water and a yucca root placed on her nightstand for her journey. -She said it was her time, Don Chan’s voice cracked from disuse. From Let it Rain Coffee by Angie Cruz, Simon & Schuster, 2005 gemini ink 2012
19 spring catalogue
Mexican book arts master at instituto cultural de mexico and gemini ink s
s
s
s
s
Gemini Ink is proud to partner once again with the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Instituto Cultural de México in an exchange visit featuring a prominent Mexican literary artist. Juan Nicanor Pascoe, internationally respected book artist, master hand letterpress printer, editor, and printing historian, will be in San Antonio March 16 and 17, accompanying a major retrospective exhibition of his work at the Instituto. The exhibition, covering three decades of Pascoe’s press, Taller Martín Pescador, will be inaugurated Friday, March 16 with a conversation and audience Q&A in Spanish and English. Local book arts scholar and collector Bill Fisher will facilitate the exchange. Exhibition galleries will open immediately following. Taller Martín Pescador publications include work by Octavio Paz, Gabriel García Márquez, and Roberto Bolaño. This is the first time the exhibition, originally mounted at the Biblioteca Miguel Lerdo de Tejada in Mexico City and on loan from the Museo de Filatelia de Oaxaca, travels outside Mexico. On Saturday, March 17, Pascoe will give a seminar on his work, particularly focusing on choices of editorial content, at Gemini Ink. (See p. 7) Juan Pascoe and Taller Martín Pescador received Mexico’s prestigious Eréndira Prize for Traditional Arts in 2011, and collections of his work are held at Berkeley, Stanford, and Princeton Universities. The exhibition will be on view through April 30. s
spring catalogue
20
s
s
s
s
gemini ink 2012
suppor t Gemini Ink YES, I SUPPORT READING AND WRITING FOR ALL! This is your chance to stake a claim for reading and writing and to enrich your community’s quality of life. We appreciate all donations, big and small. Contribute to our fund drive, and be an activist for language! Name: ______________________________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________________ City: ______________________ State: ________________ Zip: ________________ Work Phone: ______________________ Home Phone: _______________________ Fax: ____________________________ Email: ______________________________
Here’s my donation to Gemini Ink! □ Your Choice________
□ $35
□ $75
□ $150
□ $500
□ $1000
My check for $________ is enclosed. I would like to make my gift by credit card.
Visa □
Mastercard □
Discover □
Account #: ________________________________Expiration Date: ________________ Name on the Card: _______________________________________________________ Signature: ______________________________________________________________ Comments: _____________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ If you are employed by a company or organization that matches employee charitable contributions, please include your employer’s gift matching form with your contribution. All gifts to Gemini Ink are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Gemini Ink is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, sexual orientation, or gender.
513 South Presa | San Antonio, Texas 78205 210.734.WORD (9673) | Fax: 210.737.0688 | info@geminiink.org www.geminiink.org
gemini ink 2012
21 spring catalogue
registration form First day to register for spring 2012: Tuesday, Jan. 10 You can also register online at www.geminiink.org Please review our registration and payment policies on page 5 as well as our updated class withdrawal policy on page 6.
Name:___________________________________________________________ Day Phone:____________________ Evening Phone:_____________________ Mailing Address:___________________________________________________ Email Address:____________________________________________________ Ethnicity (For grant reporting purposes only): ____________________________ M ____ F____ Age: 0-17______ 18-64_______ 65+_______ Do you require assistance accessing our facilities? ________________ Referred by:______________________________________________________ In response to the economic downturn, Gemini Ink is extending a $10 discount to everyone who registers. This discount is already reflected in the catalogue listing. An additional 5% discount is offered to students, educators, and seniors. Do you qualify for an additional 5% discount? _____ Student ______ Educator _____ Senior Class #
Title
Fee
_________
________________________________________
_________
_________
________________________________________
_________
_________
________________________________________
_________
Use additional page if necessary. To audit a class, write “A” next to the title and deduct 10% from the fee. Because not all classes can be audited, please contact the Gemini Ink office before registering for a class as an auditor.
REQUIRED Registration Fee See note on page 5 for details.
PAYMENT MUST ACCOMPANY FORM
$10.00
TOTAL _________
_______ Check or Money Order Enclosed (Make payable to Gemini Ink) Charge my ______VISA
______MasterCard
______Discover
Account Number__________________________________________________ Exp. Date________ Signature _______________________________________ Mail to: Gemini Ink, 513 S. Presa, San Antonio, TX 78205. Credit Card registrations may also be faxed (210.737.0688), phoned in (210.734.9673), or paid online (www.geminiink.org).
spring catalogue
22
gemini ink 2012
dramatic readers theater Gemini Ink and the Witte Museum present
Around the World in Darwin’s Day Wednesday, May 2, 7 PM Witte Museum, 3801 Broadway Free and Open to the Public
Darwin developed into the most influential naturalist in history during a five-year around-the-world survey expedition begun in 1931. He also became a researcher who – as good scientists do – never stopped questioning his own findings. Through poems, stories, novels, and non-fiction, we will build a portrait of the former theology student whose work put him at the center of one of the most ongoing conflicts of all time – a conflict for which he had no taste and saw no reason.
gemini ink 2012
23 spring catalogue
gemini ink 513 south presa san antonio, tx 78205 telephone 210.734.9673 www.geminiink.org
Non-profit organization U.S. Postage Paid San Antonio, Texas Permit No. 1360
San Antonio Awaits Its First Poet Laureate Mayor Julián Castro has begun an initiative to name San Antonio’s first Poet Laureate, also the first to be so honored in a major Texas City. Gemini Ink and the City’s Office of Cultural Affairs are supporting partners with the Mayor’s Office in the initiative. The San Antonio Poet Laureate is a two-year honorary position with the role of promoting the literary arts within the community and creating a greater appreciation of the arts through the reading and writing of poetry. Nominations can be submitted online at www.sahearts.com through January 18, 2012. A committee of four accomplished poets will rank the candidates based on specified eligibility requirements and select the Poet Laureate. Mayor Castro will formally announce the winner in April, 2012 to celebrate National Poetry Month. For more information about nominations for the San Antonio Poet Laureate, visit www.sahearts.com.