Amaranth | Spring 2016

Spring 2016www.hiram.edu/lindsaycrane

www.facebook.com/lindsaycranecenter

THE BIG READPHOTO ESSAY

ASSOCIATE PROFESSORMARY QUADE

amaranth

hiram’s emergingWRITERS CONTEST

News and stories from the Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature at Hiram College

am a ranth

On the cover: the Brainerd Stranahan bench in the gardens behind Bonney Castle

amaranth is a bi-annual publication of the Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature

1. a Vachel Lindsay poem published in The Congo and Other Poems in 19142. an imaginary flower that never fades

3. a highly nutritious golden seed4. any of various annuals of the genus Amaranthus having dense green or reddish clusters of tiny flowers

noun

Kirsten Parkinson, Ph.D.Sarah Bianchi | sylversea design

Volume 5, Issue 1, Spring 2016

Editor-in-Chief Graphic Design

contributing writers

staff

Kirsten Parkinson, Ph.D.Marcus Lawniczak ’15

Sara Shearer ’17

© 2016 the Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature, Hiram College

mailing addressHiram College

P.O. Box 67Hiram, Ohio 44234

contributing photographers Kirsten Parkinson, Ph.D.

Samuel AdamsMary Quade

Sara Shearer ’17Rose Brown, Bradley Cromes, Jami Cutlip, and Maria Judd

LINDSAY-CRANE CENTER FOR WRITING AND LITERATURE

amaranthNews and stories from the Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature

amaranth | spring 2016

STUDENT PROFILEMeet the Lindsay-Crane intern for the spring semester

TEACH, TRAVEL, WRITEMarcus Lawniczak ’15 writes about Associate Professor Mary Quade

4

6

8

3 EMERGING WRITERS NONFICTION CONTESTSara Shearer ’17 tells how the high school writing contest, now in its second year, got its start

THE BIG READ: A PHOTO ESSAYRevisit the Lindsay-Crane’s community reading program from the fall of 2015

PHOTOS

The Bonney Castle parlor, a favorite studying and waiting space in the English Department house. Front cover: The Hester Crawford Memorial Herb Garden, installed in 1974 and redesigned in 2010-11 by Lucy Chamberlain ’77, outside Bonney Castle.

2 amaranth | spring 2016

From the director2016 marks two significant anniversaries for the Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature.

First, the Center itself celebrates its tenth birthday. In the decade since its

founding, we have focused on our mission of maintaining reading and writing

as critical components of not only a liberal arts education but of lifelong learn-

ing and culture. Our programming provides learning opportunities not only to

Hiram College students but to the campus community and to the larger com-

munity of which Hiram College is an integral part.

For example, the dozens of authors that the Lindsay-Crane Center has brought to campus have

exposed our community to diverse ways of seeing and representing the world. These authors—novel-

ists, poets, and nonfiction writers—not only speak on campus but visit Hiram classrooms and local high

schools to talk with students in small groups about the processes of researching, writing, and publishing.

The Center’s writing contests allow young writers to imagine an audience for their work beyond

the classroom. Contests for Hiram students in the genres of creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry are

judged by published authors. The Center also runs the Echo Student Literary Competition in which Hi-

ram students compete with students from five other institutions. Finally, our newest contest, the Emerg-

ing Writers Nonfiction Contest, helps high-school students envision themselves as writers before they

even get to college (see story, page 6).

In the past decade, the Lindsay-Crane Center has also hosted four community reading programs

that take our belief in the power of reading and writing out into Portage County. Partnering with Portage

County libraries and with multiple high schools, Hiram College has sponsored multiple events focused

on a single book that have reached thousands of Northeast Ohio residents. Our most recent community

reading program focused on the novel Into the Beautiful North (see story, page 8).

None of these programs or the many other projects that the Lindsay-Crane Center has undertaken

over the past ten years would be possible without the Center’s many generous donors and partners, in-

cluding individuals, schools, libraries, and foundations. Funding for our programming comes exclusively

from these donations and grants.

Second, this year the Hiram Poetry Review turns 50 years old. Started in 1966 by Professor of English

Hale Chatfield, the journal has been in continuous publication ever since (including a period in which it

appeared on CD-ROM). Under the expert guidance of Professor of English Willard Greenwood, the Hi-

ram Poetry Review not only offers an annual issue of what its website dubs “distinctive, witty, and heroic

poetry,” it offers editorial positions to Hiram undergraduates, granting them the rare opportunity to assist

in every step of the publication process.

Meet The Lindsay-Crane Spring Intern

Major: Creative Writing! When I first came to Hiram, I thought I wanted to major in Psy-

chology. Then I ended up taking some writing courses and winning the First-Year Ethics

Essay Contest, so I decided to follow the passion that had been staring me in the face for

a long, long time.

Favorite Hiram Class (so far): I’d have to say Dialectology. The class was all about understanding and

analyzing the different American dialects, like Southern, Appalachian, or Midwestern. We also got to learn

the phonetic alphabet, which was really cool because it almost felt like learning another language. I was really

proud of the final project I did for the class when I analyzed my grandpa’s speech to see if he tended toward his

Appalachian roots or if living in Akron for so many years had caused him to go Midwestern (he’s Midwestern).

Most Memorable Hiram Experience: I’ve had a lot of fun times here at Hiram these past three years,

but late-night sled riding from freshman year is always the one that comes to mind first. Some of the people

I’d go with are now in my core group of friends.

Favorite Book: Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood. I read it for a bioethics course I took last year, and it

blew me away. The characters were intriguing but not always trustworthy, and the setting was dystopian but

in a novel way that I hadn’t seen in any other works of fiction. It has two sequels that I hope to read soon!

What I Want to Gain from the Lindsay-Crane Internship: Through this internship, I hope to gain

some insight into what a career in editing would be like. Becoming an editor seems like a good fit for me be-

cause I love to read and discuss writing with others. Applying to a graduate MFA program is also something

I see myself doing in the near future, so I want to have as much writing experience as I can get my hands on.

This internship seems like a perfect fit for me, and overall I think my editorial and professional skills will be

honed by it over the course of this semester.

Sara Shearer ’17

www.hiram.edu/lindsaycrane 3

Later this spring, we’ll be celebrating the Hiram Poetry Review’s tremendous publishing achievement.

Watch our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/lindsaycranecenter/ for more details about this

event. If you would like to be added to the Lindsay-Crane Center’s email list, send your name and email

to [email protected]. You can donate to the Lindsay-Crane Center at ww.hiram.edu/giving by

designating your gift specifically to the Center or for a specific program within the Center.

We look forward to sharing the next ten years of Center accomplishments and another half-century

of the Hiram Poetry Review with you!

From the directorFrom Director Kirsten Parkinson, Ph.D.

IN MEMORIAMThe Lindsay-Crane Center mourns the loss of a longtime friend. Elvidio Bufalini ’50

passed away on November 1, 2015. He was a generous supporter of Lindsay-Crane Center projects, particularly the community reading programs.


with Associate Professor Mary QuadeBy Marcus Lawniczak ’15

TEACHTRAVELWRITE


Until 2010, Associate Professor of English Mary Quade

had never traveled abroad. Once nipped by the travel

bug, though, she became an avid adventurer. Vietnam

and Cambodia are some of her most memorable destinations, al-

though she’s also been to Turkey and Ecuador. These journeys have

been the inspiration for many pieces of writing, including a recent-

ly completed work, titled “Project Monarch.” This essay covers the

precarious situation of the monarch butterfly in North America,

but more specifically Mexico, where she traveled during spring

break in 2015 during a year-long sabbatical.

Quade teaches creative writing, including poetry, creative

nonfiction, fiction, and screenwriting, at Hiram College. Her own

creative work focuses on the genres of creative nonfiction and po-

etry. Her second volume of poetry, Local Extinctions, will be pub-

lished by Gold Wake Press this spring, while her poems and essays

have appeared in numerous journals, including Creative Nonfic-

tion, Confrontation, Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Florida Review,

and Flyway: Journal of Writing and Environment.

Quade has been writing since before she can remember. As a

child, she yelled at her dad, “I want to be a writer, not a reader!”

Writing allows her to engage with the complexity of the world, she

said, and this goal is reflected in her passion for nonfiction writing.

Her travels have given her many experiences to put on paper. Her

essay “Cage” draws on the birds she saw in markets in Hanoi, Viet-

nam’s capital. Quade’s father served two tours in the Vietnam War,

which became her inspiration to travel to Southeast Asia. In addi-

tion, Vietnam was the first time she had

ever left the United States. I asked whether

it was a big shock. Quade laughed, saying,

“I’m not good at having preconceptions.”

She simply travels to a new place and ex-

plores, getting into the culture. Culture

shock is something she doesn’t have.

While having no fear of other cultures,

Quade’s approach to wildlife is the same.

When she traveled with Hiram College

students to the Galapagos Islands in 2014

(her second visit there), she even swam

Photos: Left: Mary Quade hiking the horse trail in the Andes Mountains in Parque

Nacional Podocarpus, outside Loja, Ecuador. Below: Monarch butterflies at Cerro

Pelon in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve near Macheros, Mexico.

with hammerhead sharks. Her “Writing About Nature” course,

which she is offering again in the coming spring 3-week term, is

held at Hiram College’s James H. Barrow Field Station. Students

spend each day out on the paths and in the woods of the field sta-

tion, writing about the plants and animals they find there.

Quade views teaching creative writing as a career that keeps

her ideas fresh and keeps her constantly thinking in new ways.

Connecting with students and getting inspiration from them is

what inspired Quade to teach, and at Hiram it all started with her

teaching part-time. She taught “Introduction to Creative Writing,”

and this period was so successful that she was soon invited to be-

come a full-time faculty member.

Quade believes that the students at Hiram College are dif-

ferent. “They’re earnest and believe that it’s a privilege to be here

because many are first-generation college students,” she said. She

now teaches every creative writing class that Hiram offers. Quade

offered some advice to aspiring writers that could apply to anyone

with dreams: “Have thick skin, you will be rejected, but that doesn’t

mean that what you’re writing isn’t good, they just wanted some-

thing else. It’s sad when young writers give up because of rejection

and the thought that they aren’t good enough. You can’t let the

rejection kill the joy.”

EMERGING

WRITERSBy Sara Shearer ’17


NONFICTION CONTEST:

Hiram’s Unique Take on Unearthing Student Creativity

This year marks the second go-round for Hiram College’s Emerging Writers Nonfiction Contest, and participation

more than doubled since its inaugural year. This year’s theme was “borders” to correspond with the College’s annual

ethics theme and the Lindsay-Crane Center’s Big Read program focused on the novel Into the Beautiful North.

When I began writing this article, I wondered what got the high-school sophomores and juniors it is targeted at so excited

about entering, other than the possibility of a cash prize. What makes this contest stand out?

Donor Joyce Chamberlain quickly helped me to answer the second part of that question. The Chamberlain family funds

the Grace J. Chamberlain Prize in Creative Writing. The funds raised from the annual Run for Grace and Andy to support the

Chamberlain Prize and the Andrew Hopkins Prize in music have expanded so much that this year the Chamberlains decided

to find yet another way to reach out to writers.

“We knew right away that we wanted to participate in this and encourage writers to look at Hiram as a place that will

give them the opportunity to develop that talent,” Chamberlain said. “[Our daughter] Grace was passionate about writing

and becoming a writer and when we can encourage that in others, in her memory, she is still a part of Hiram College. The

Emerging Writers Contest is another way for us to do that.”

The contest also exposes high-school students to nonfiction, which is not taught to them as often as other genres, said

Jeff Swenson, Associate Professor of English and the Director of Writing Across the Curriculum. “We want high-school

students to start thinking about nonfiction as a genre that can serve as a creative outlet.” The curriculum in Hiram College’s

Creative Writing and English majors and minors offers an emphasis in nonfiction, so exposing prospective Terriers to the

often forbidden “I” is definitely a must.

High-school teachers agreed with Chamberlain and Swenson that the Emerging Writers Nonfiction Contest provides a

valuable opportunity for students to find their voices. Amy Garritano, an AP Language and Composition teacher at Lakewood

High School, said a simple email with a Hiram headline caught her eye. Needless to say, she was thrilled about the contest.

“We are ‘emerging writers,’” she said, “and I saw this contest as a great opportunity for my students to have a platform from

which to share their thoughts, their style, their voice beyond the walls of our classroom.”

Similarly, Scott Parsons, English teacher and Director of the Osborne Writing Center at Hathaway Brown School, looks

for writing opportunities for his students everywhere and thought that the Hiram College contest fit the bill. “I believe it’s

especially important for young and emerging writers to put themselves out there and submit work,” Parsons wrote me in an

email. “Having work judged can be intimidating to a writer, especially if the work is personal, but it’s extremely important to

take that risk in order to develop a confident and authentic voice in the world.”

Garritano spoke about how excited her students were upon hearing about the contest, which made me remember being

a budding writer in high school. I didn’t realize that there were contests out there like this one, and I only saw writing as two

things: a scholarly essay or a novel. The Emerging Writers Nonfiction contest offered these students an opportunity I didn’t

have, an opportunity to break down the borders created by the high-school curriculum and exercise their creativity.

In fact, I spoke with a student who placed in last year’s competition. Current high-school senior Brook Wyers told me she was

ecstatic to learn that she was in the top twelve and would

be acknowledged at Hiram College’s annual Evening of

Hiram Writers. “It made me feel like I could do anything

and that maybe I was a great and accomplished writer,”

she said. “I never thought of myself as a great writer,

but that letter made me feel like I was. I think in that

moment when I found out I was a finalist, I knew that

I wanted to be a writer in the future.”

An Evening of Hiram Writers Featuring the winners of the Emerging Writers

Nonfiction Contest

April 5, 2016 | 7pm | Alumni Heritage Room


THE BIG READWith a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the

Lindsay-Crane Center hosted its third Big Read program focused

on the novel Into the Beautiful North in fall of 2015. The Center

partnered with local high schools and libraries to offer speakers,

book discussions, movies, and even themed dinners, to spark

discussion of the book’s themes, building bridges between the

academic program of Hiram College and the wider community.

Into the Beautiful North was also selected as Hiram College’s

required common reading for the 2015-16 academic year.

A Photo Essay


THE BIG READPhotos: Opposite page: Students from Aurora High School gather for a picture at the Big

Read book discussion hosted by Aurora Memorial Library. Top: Streetsboro High School

students hold their Big Read books before heading into class. Above left: Lindsay-Crane

Director Kirsten Parkinson, Ph.D., hands out free copies of the Big Read book to county

residents at the Portage County Administration Building in Ravenna. Above right: Students

prepare for a class discussion of Into the Beautiful North at Crestwood High School in

Mantua. Left: Streetsboro High School teacher and Big Read partner Maria Judd poses for

a photo with Luis Alberto Urrea, author of Into the Beautiful North.

A Photo Essay

WHAT IS IT?This residential writing workshop introduces rising high school sophomores, juniors and seniors to the central components of creative writing—voice, image and scene.

Students will concentrate on writing short inventive pieces in multiple genres that integrate strategies discussed in the work-shop. Participants will have the opportunity to share their work with others and gather feedback in order to make thoughtful and effective revisions.

The workshop will conclude with a public reading of students’ work. Family and friends are encouraged to attend.

JUNE 22-25, 2016

LINDSAY-CRANE CENTERFOR WRITING AND LITERATURE

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.hiram.edu/summerathiram, or contact Kathy Luschek at [email protected] or 330.569.6118.

LOCATIONWorkshop sessions will be set in Hiram College’s unique 1890s Stephen and Jacquelyn Love Writing House and its 500-acre James H. Barrow Field Station.

COST$325, including room and board

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITYHiram College will award a $1,000 Summer Academy Scholar-ship to every high school student who attends a 2016 summer academy and enrolls as a full time student at Hiram College. The scholarship is renewable each year for up to four years. Only one Summer Academy Scholarship will be awarded per new student.

EMERGING WRITERS WORKSHOP

About the Lindsay-Crane CenterThe Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature is named for two poets who had close ties to Northeast Ohio. NicholasVachel Lindsay attended Hiram College from 1897 to 1900, and Harold Hart Crane was born in nearby Garrettsville, Ohio. The Lindsay-Crane Center offers special opportunities for Hiram College writers and readers in every discipline. The Center implements the College’s writing across the curriculum program (one of the oldest in the nation), brings professional writers to campus for intimate interactions with students and the public, mounts on-campus and regional writing contests and vigorously supports the importance of a liberal arts education in the 21st century. In addition, it offers students, community members and other friends of the College rich experiences outside the classroom that contribute to intellectual and artistic pleasure and growth and maintains a deep commitment to interdisciplinary ventures with other departments and Centers.

To contact or support the Center: Kirsten Parkinson, Ph.D., Director, [email protected] | 330.569.5323

LINDSAY-CRANE CENTER FOR WRITING AND LITERATURE

For more information, visit www.hiram.edu/summerathiram

Amaranth | Spring 2016

Documents

Transcript of Amaranth | Spring 2016