Notre Dame Bound
These last few weeks have been incredibly busy. From completing my first third year review for Saint Mary's College, which seemed to be longer and more detailed than my dissertation twice over, to working with my amazing colleague, Dr. Cliff Lee, in crafting a number of projects, including reworking two courses core to the Single Subject Credential Program, it has been hectic. The last week, in particular, has been even more so: 3 conferences. I went to Asilomar, supporting the work of my former students as the chair of their session on oral literacy and the Common Core. I also worked did two sessions there: one on iPads and one on poetry. After that, there was the California Council on Teacher Education conference in San Diego. Luckily, that one was just built on participation, but it was important I was there. I was voted on to co-chair the technology in education SIG with Keith Howard. We will start our first work in preparation for the next conference. We began to swirl around some ideas while there: website, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, policy feeds, Dropbox of resources, latest ed tech links, etc. Should be interesting. Two days ago, I also was a panelist on the Arts and Humanities forum at the Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education at St. Mary's. Now, I'm off to Notre Dame for the last installment of the Letras Latinas series.
On my flight, I have been thinking of the poems that I want to read tomorrow at tomorrow's reading (Eck Auditorium). I am going to read from both books, Canticle of Idols and Boogeyman Dawn. Here's what I'm thinking of for an order:
Amanecer (Boogeyman Dawn)
The disappearance of fireflies (Boogeyman Dawn)
The lesson (Canticle of Idols)
Believe (Canticle of Idols)
Detention in a casket (Boogeyman Dawn)
Lately I've grown accustomed (Boogeyman Dawn)
The rising (Boogeyman Dawn)
The pistol's confession (Boogeyman Dawn)
Little Swift (Boogeyman Dawn)
I am privileging the new book as it just came out. I want to give it the space to be received by others, particularly since Canticle of Idols came out five years ago. It had five years of my attention.
I have to say that reading Boogeyman Dawn continues to be new each time I read the poems. There is such an emotional tension within the poems, separately and as part of the collection, that each time I read them, I am gripped in the reading. That's a great sign, that I haven't become tired of reading the poems, right?
With this order, I am trying to build from a beautiful yet gritty scene, framing my reading in those terms. There are terribly difficult poems in this set, but there are some moments of reprieve. I'm trying to take care of the audience. We'll see how that goes.
Posted with Blogsy