Events, Events, Events!

The lovely and amazing "wandering poet" Naomi Shihab Nye will read tonight in Lincoln at the Great Plains Art Museum on Q Street (you know:  the one with those appallingly colonialist, pro-conquest bronze statues out front). 

Naomi reads at 7:30 p.m., and I believe there's a reception and booksigning afterwards.  Come!  Come!

But don't feel bad if you're far away in Austin, because Ecuadorian-American powerhouse editorial consultant Marcela Landres will be there this Friday the 27th, giving a workshop, "Getting Published Despite the Economy," sponsored by Las Comadres.

Landres writes,

"In this workshop, you will learn: why debut writers are more valuable than published authors; what agents and editors are looking for more than ever; and the one trait that will ensure publication (hint: it's not about the writing!). Workshop attendees will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with an editor who will critique a ten-page sample of their writing."

The workshop is $50, and the one-on-one is $30.  It's from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. on Friday, March 27 at the Texspresso Presentation Room, 2700 W. Anderson Ln., Suite 409.  To register--do it fast!--you need to get in touch with Tina Balderrama Kubicek at tina@tinabk.com, (512) 339-8830, or (512) 809-7317. 

(As if you had anything better planned for this Friday night than investing in your own success . . .)

And again for you Lincolnites, especially all-y'all peaceniks, Anna Baltzer will soon be here.  Baltzer's presentation on Palestine is described as being

clear and simple without being simplistic.  Anna is also a young Jewish American and a descendant of Holocaust survivors who has frequently visited Palestine to see the situation for herself, so she speaks with some authority on the subject.

Her presentation includes a discussion of "checkpoints, settlements, Israeli activism, censorship, the Wall, and the frequently unreported Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance movement."  Baltzer, a Columbia graduate and Fulbright recipient, will speak on the following dates:

April 3    1:00 p.m., Nebraska Wesleyan University
             7:30 p.m., First United Methodist Church

April 4   8:30 a.m., First Mennonite Church
 
These three Lincoln events are part of Lincoln's Peacemaking Workshop XII, with several local sponsors including the NAACP Lincoln Branch, Citizens Against Racial Discrimination, Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'i Faith, United Nations Association-USA Lincoln Chapter #100, and 18 local churches. For more details, go here. 

To close, here's your Naomi Shihab Nye du jour, one of my favorites from Different Ways to Pray.  I found the book at the Trinity University library when I was an undergraduate, and this poem remained a helpful influence on me as a younger writer, juggling two graduate degrees and childrearing on a shoestring, and then later as I worked toward tenure.  I offer it up to all-y'all who are figuring out how to make time in your busy lives to write.

The Art of Disappearing

When they say Don't I know you?
say no.

When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Someone telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.

If they say We should get together
say why?

It's not that you don't love them anymore.
You're trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees.  The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.

When someone recognizes you in a grocery store
nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven't seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don't start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.

Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.