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Copy & share this flier! I'm excited to be working with Melissa Chesanko of the West Virginia University Division of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion on an upcoming poetry workshop that will lead to a special event, "Speak Up (!) Diversity Poetry Reading," at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the Mountainlair Gold Ballroom, located on WVU's downtown campus.
The event is part of the upcoming WVU Diversity Week 2013 activities. The "Speak Up (!) Diversity" reading is sponsored by WVU Spectrum, WVU Gender Equality Movement (GEM), Morgantown Poets, and the WVU Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
The Speak Up (!) workshop theme is "activism in poetry." We'll be exploring work by Maya Angelou, Pablo Neruda and Liu Xiaobo, among others.
As an author, I'm interested in exploring how "activist-writing" can be defined. Can it be defined as writing to bring about political or social change?
Or can it be defined as something broader and deeper; for example, as utilizing poetry to increase the author's individual level of awareness while also increasing the level of consciousness in others, via the two-way communication process?
I'm looking forward to exploring these questions with the workshop participants, in hopes of learning something new and hearing new ideas/perspectives.
In the spirit of dialogue, I'll go ahead and ask you, the reader of this blog, some of these questions we'll be exploring in the workshop:
Readers, feel free to post your own ideas and answers to these questions in the comments below.
The workshop is for WVU students, but it's my understanding the Oct. 22 Speak Up (!) Poetry Reading will be open to the entire WVU community, including faculty and community members who are interested in poetry and diversity. (Note to WVU students, faculty or staff who are reading this, contact Melissa Chesanko, melissa.chesanko@mail.wvu.edu to sign up for either the workshop or the reading or both.)
It's my deepest hope the workshop will encourage folks to share their work, perhaps for the first time, during the Oct. 22 reading.
I also hope folks in the Morgantown area who are reading this will feel free to share the flier above (just save and cut-and-paste the picture of the flier above, then share on your Facebook page.) Folks in the area who are interested in diversity should join us in hearing the original work of the poets celebrating the "architecture of our lives."
As my readers know, diversity, inclusion and equal rights, opportunity and responsibilities for all, is one of the most important elements of my entire writing life. You could say it's the reason I write. It's best explained by my dedication at the front of my "STARLING Series." When I wrote the dedication, I was thinking mostly about the people I was dedicating my work to. But today, while thinking about this workshop, I suddenly realized the dedication can also be thought of as my mission statement, both as an artist and as a human being.
For those who haven't read it, here's the full dedication at the front of my novel, "The STARLING Connection: Volume One":
The event is part of the upcoming WVU Diversity Week 2013 activities. The "Speak Up (!) Diversity" reading is sponsored by WVU Spectrum, WVU Gender Equality Movement (GEM), Morgantown Poets, and the WVU Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
The Speak Up (!) workshop theme is "activism in poetry." We'll be exploring work by Maya Angelou, Pablo Neruda and Liu Xiaobo, among others.
As an author, I'm interested in exploring how "activist-writing" can be defined. Can it be defined as writing to bring about political or social change?
Or can it be defined as something broader and deeper; for example, as utilizing poetry to increase the author's individual level of awareness while also increasing the level of consciousness in others, via the two-way communication process?
I'm looking forward to exploring these questions with the workshop participants, in hopes of learning something new and hearing new ideas/perspectives.
In the spirit of dialogue, I'll go ahead and ask you, the reader of this blog, some of these questions we'll be exploring in the workshop:
- Should writing include activism? Why or why not?
- Why be an activist-writer?
- What are the opportunities in being an activist-author? What are the costs or consequences?
- Are authors merely "entertainers," or are we something more?
- What is our purpose?
Readers, feel free to post your own ideas and answers to these questions in the comments below.
The workshop is for WVU students, but it's my understanding the Oct. 22 Speak Up (!) Poetry Reading will be open to the entire WVU community, including faculty and community members who are interested in poetry and diversity. (Note to WVU students, faculty or staff who are reading this, contact Melissa Chesanko, melissa.chesanko@mail.wvu.edu to sign up for either the workshop or the reading or both.)
It's my deepest hope the workshop will encourage folks to share their work, perhaps for the first time, during the Oct. 22 reading.
I also hope folks in the Morgantown area who are reading this will feel free to share the flier above (just save and cut-and-paste the picture of the flier above, then share on your Facebook page.) Folks in the area who are interested in diversity should join us in hearing the original work of the poets celebrating the "architecture of our lives."
As my readers know, diversity, inclusion and equal rights, opportunity and responsibilities for all, is one of the most important elements of my entire writing life. You could say it's the reason I write. It's best explained by my dedication at the front of my "STARLING Series." When I wrote the dedication, I was thinking mostly about the people I was dedicating my work to. But today, while thinking about this workshop, I suddenly realized the dedication can also be thought of as my mission statement, both as an artist and as a human being.
For those who haven't read it, here's the full dedication at the front of my novel, "The STARLING Connection: Volume One":
Theodore Webb
Author Statement & Dedication
With love, I dedicate “The STARLING Connection” to all people.
As others have said:
We are all loved equally within the HEART of THE GREAT SPIRIT.
Love, the greatest and infinite, LOVE, surrounds us, is within us and can flow through us like oceans of life.
Love is greater than fear.
This book is dedicated to all those who have been ignored, cast out, ostracized, harassed or beaten; especially, to all those who have been attacked, exploited, abused and/or murdered.
“The STARLING Connection” is for all who have suffered and died, who have risked everything and given everything in the search for their deepest selves, who pay the full price of true friendship, love, understanding and compassion for others. Our survival, which includes human beings, plants, animals, and all life, depends on each of us having some capacity to “walk a mile in another’s shoes.”
This book is for those who have struggled to experience love and to accept our full humanity, for all our “flaws,” which can also be our greatest gifts, to learn how to fully share love.
This story is for those who have traveled very far, over oceans and continents, rivers, mud, mountains and skies, through heat, storms and fire, as far as we could walk, run, fight or think – all just to catch a momentary glimpse, a fleeting tiny fragment of the true place to put our beliefs, minds, spirits and faith—THE FULL EXTENT OF REALITY—whatever IT may be.
These writings are for those who are dedicated to learning, but more importantly, to respecting the deepest truths of what we are as human beings.
“The STARLING Connection” is for those who have put their lives on the line to fully live, for love, hope, human rights and liberty for all people, Nature-Reality and all life on Earth.
To read my full work, "The STARLING Connection: Volume One," go here or click on the book's cover (below). The digital book is available for smart phones, PC, MAC and more via the free Kindle reading apps. (Note: A limited amount, 20 copies, of a print version of "Lifeline," the first book in the series, are now currently available. If you're interested in obtaining one of the limited print copies, email me directly at twebb4502@gmail.com.
