Positively Negative, or the I'm terrible at titles post

I've been posting all the negatives I've been working with on Flickr. If you're interested in looking through them, you kind find them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pattypaine/

Oh, Happy Day!

Thank you judge Lisa Williams. And thank you Katerina Stoykova-Klemer, founding editor of Accents. 


When I spoke with Katerina on the phone, I felt an immediate kinship and left the conversation certain that I had found the perfect home for this ms. I'm super excited to work with the Accents team, and am really stoked that The Sounding Machine could very well be out in time for AWP.

Fimo is Primo!

My friend Felicity came over the day, and we were feeling crafty so we got out the Fimo clay.

Felicity is having a baby in October, so she made these really cool photo holders that spell out "baby."

 We made a couple camera shaped magnets, too. I love the little flower that Felicity put in her lens.

 I mounted these on the wall with double-sided tape. I like them because I can easily change the photos.

Here's everything we made, ready to go into the oven. 

Project Summer and Super 8 was bad.

I spent a fair amount of time working on a grant project this summer. I think, bit by bit, we're making good progress. This project takes me pretty far out of my comfort zone. We're turning Qatari oral folk tales into a series of comics and illustrated stories. There are 5 faculty members and 9 students working on this project. Two of the faculty teach English, one teaches linguistics, one teaches art, and one teaches graphic design. The students are mostly from graphic design, but we also have students from interior, fashion and painting and print making.

The project has forced me to learn about sequential art, it's giving me a chance to work closely with students outside the English classroom, and I'm learning a great deal about Qatari culture. All great things. Not being expert in all aspects of this project makes me anxious though, no doubt it has something to do with the undeniable fact that I'm a control freak.

Anyway, here are some images of work in progress/early drafts:

I'm still working on the negative recovery project. The latest batch of negatives I'm working with are from New York in the 1920's.

Here's a couple:

To balance all this visual work, I've been writing, writing, writing. Mostly poetry, but also an essay called "Facebook: The Tyranny of Knowing."

What else....  Oh, we watched Super 8 last night. It was 33.3% Goonies, 33.3% War of the Worlds, 33.3% Transformers, and 100% bad.

Evolution of a Photo Bomb

 Just taking a photo of Ernie....

 Uh oh.

 PHOTO BOMB!

 Ernie? Nope, can't say that I've seen him.

Hahahahahahahahahah!!

 WAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

 Friends again.

Forgiven

Book By Its Cover

I got the book cover for the anthology from Ithaca/Garnet today.


Edited by Patty Paine, Jeff Lodge and Samia Touati


With an introduction by David Wojahn


The cover art was designed by 4 VCU Qatar students: Nawar Al-Mutlaq, Aisha Al-Naama, Al Hussein Wanas, and Ameera Makki
 

The anthology has gotten some nice "advance praise."


This is the first book to bring together a truly representative sampling of Gulf and Omani poetry and to give each poet sufficient space to showcase several works and not just the one iconic piece. Known names sit alongside new ones to deepen our appreciation of their artistic production. Set within the context of recently defined nation-state borders, these poems address a critical moment in the construction of national identities. Essential reading not only for lovers of poetry, but also for all who want to understand the role that the lyrical arts are playing in these rapidly transforming cultures.
                                                                                                                                                                                                     --miram cooke

Poetry anthologies are often mistaken for anthropologies. But Gathering the Tide is a celebration of art as common denominator of what is best in all of us: plurality, beauty, intense individuation. These are poems of representation and becoming, narrative and lyric, declaration and mysticism. They go beyond the cliche of breaking stereotypes and reach into art of the highest kind.
                                                                                                                                                                                                        --Fady Joudah

Assembled in this anthology is a symphony of ruminations and reveries. Here, voices old and new, luminous and innovative converge, and a powerful tide emerges. An astonishing gathering!
                                                                                                                                                                                                     --Nathalie Handal

The back cover is going to change a bit. It will have the advance praise "blurbs" rather than our bios.

Berlin 1930-1950

I processed over 200 negatives. They came from Berlin, and were taken sometime between 1930 and 1950. It was a lot of work, but each time I clicked invert and the image revealed itself was a moment of wonder and discovery.

Here are some of my favorite images:

This seems to be a mess hall. I like the utilitarian furniture, the white, round globes overhead, and the  light pouring in the windows. I love how each plate has a sausage on it. In my mind I saw the two men going plate to plate placing a sausage on each as the heavily decorated officer in the painting loomed over them.

All those young military men, the road vanishing into the horizon, the shadow branches creeping under some of the soldier's heavy, leather boots. There is something haunting about this photo.

 An iconic image. A young soldier with his parents, small children and new baby.

This might be my favorite photo of all. I love the flowers arranged in sharp angles, the tangle of roots magnified by water in the vase. I love the cocktail glasses, half full, the simplicity of one orange on a plate. The giant light fixture overhead is wonderful, particularly because all that light threw those wonderful shadows on the wall. And the couples. How not to like them? So young, and happy--and look at that wonderful hand placement, and how they all are linked together.

I love the sharp angle of the wall and how it frames the scene below. The foreground of the photo is linked to the background by the bridge. Look at all those squat buildings punctuated by steeples, and how the town gives way to open land. And look at those tiny specks in the sky; birds, frozen mid-flight.

I just got a huge lot of negatives from San Francisco 1950-1960, and NY, 1920's. I can't wait to see what they yield.

Negative Recovery Project

I started a new project, just for fun. I've been buying old photo negatives on ebay. I figure ebay is probably the last stop before trashville for negatives, and I'm drawn to the idea of "saving" them.  In my own life there have been several major upheavals, and in each rupture things were lost, photos included. Perhaps that's part of why I'm drawn to collecting/saving negatives. Also, as I get older I find myself getting more nostalgic, so I'm drawn to the earlier eras captured in the negatives. I got my first batch today. There is something haunting about a negative and how it comes alive in the light.

My plan is to scan them and post some here, or on a dedicated tumblr page. I have other plans for them, but they haven't come into focus quite yet.

Who knows, maybe some of the negatives will even find their way back to the people who lost them.

I love how for black and white negatives, light and dark trade places:

Alive and Kicking: Diode 4.3

EDITORS’ PREFACE

It’s deep summer in Doha, 118 degrees today and humid, though not as humid as it will be in a few weeks. By then, Doha will be a ghost of itself, most everyone somewhere other than here. I suppose I am something of an oddity in my love of Doha in the summer. Gone is the tangled, honking traffic and overstuffed, chaotic malls. This warp speed city fast forwarding from desert to mirage slows down a bit. Yes, there is the heat, and make no mistake, the raw power of it is humbling, frightening even, yet so much perseveres: the bulbuls and mourning doves pecking the seed I sprinkled on the sill, lizards darting from the aloe when I water the garden, the feral cats stalking shade and hauling their kittens behind them. It’s too hot to do much of anything, and there’s a certain luxury of filling the time with quieter pursuits. This issue of diode, I think, is a quieter pursuit, perfect for a long, summer read. Patty Paine I once had a colleague, since retired, who said that for him there were three reasons to teach—June, July, and August.  And summers are nice here in Richmond: hot by day, warm by night, generally humid, sometimes rainy, sometimes dry.  Maples and live oaks provide plenty of comforting shade.  Children are (mostly) out of school, so normally quiet neighborhoods fill with the sounds of their play.  And I still get to teach—my reasons are not the same as my former colleague’s, I guess.  This summer, it’s an introductory creative writing class, fiction, two nights a week for eight weeks in what may be the most comfortable room on VCU’s campus—cool and carpeted, windows overlooking the Anderson Gallery (currently showing “Knock, Knock!, From the Collection of Paul and Sara Monroe”).  I have fourteen students, some who will become writers, some who will not but who will always be readers.  The pace is leisurely, the teaching fun, educational, and rewarding.  And it leaves plenty of time to focus on reading diode closely now, not as a collection of work by several different poets and writers, but as the single piece it becomes when it’s finally all together. Jeff Lodge Wherever you are, we hope you enjoy this issue of diode.  4.3: CONTENTS Editors’ Preface Jeff Alessandrelli Traci Brimhall Ethan Saul Bull Joseph Cooper Susan Elbe Thomas Fink Ray Gonzalez Matthew Guenette Julie Hanson Tom C. Hunley David Dodd Lee Deena Linett  Sandy Longhorn David McAleavey Kyle McCord John McKernan Keith Montesano Alison Pelegrin Emilia Phillips Kevin Powers Margot Schilpp Matt Schumacher Nate Slawson  Special Features   Kyle McCord     Review | Pigafetta is My Wife, Joe Hall   Didi Menendez     Editing Is Like Polishing Your Dad’s Shoes   Maureen Seaton and Kristine Snodgrass     Riot   Zoe Virginia     Selected Works  Diode

Bert is weird.

Every time I put a new bag in the trash can next to my desk....

I'd write more, but I'm very busy. Those Top Chef: Canada episodes aren't going to watch themselves, eh? Top Chef: Canada is exactly like Top Chef, except Dan Akroyd shows up to judge, and pimp his Crystal Head vodka.

It worked. I don't care about the vodka, but I totally want that bottle.

I know we're still in the honeymoon phase, but summer I think you might be the one.

Finally, a chance to put in some serious time on an ms I'm working on. I don't want to say too much about it, I'm superstitious that way, but this is the first poem in the ms (at least for now):

Lowering

Leaving hour, how quick

it came. The train echoed

across the valley, over Tickfaw Creek,

trembled the ryegrass at the edge

of town, then further

still, beyond Black Mountain

clear to strange weather.

Now, six days from land

the compass has gone out of me.

These cursed waves thrash

like thieves, and what a mockery

of song the wind is making. Dearest,

the sea is another tongue

for loss, for misery, for coffin.

For grief: the rusty hinge of it,

the knife stab sudden of it.

(Thanks to Anti- for publishing this poem here: http://anti-poetry.com/anti/painepa/ )


I'm also putting the final touches on Diode 4.3  It's a good'un.

http://diodepoetry.com/

Summer break, I know we just met, but I think I love you.

This is the first Sunday in a very long time that I didn't have to wrench myself out of bed at 5:30 am to get in some writing before heading off to work at 9:00. To celebrate, I slept in until 7:00. I worked out. I read Diode subs. I napped!

Summer, I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

I even had time to look at copyright free images, just for fun. This one is my favorite of the day:

Potential tattoos? Something to go with this perhaps:

The Tide Has Been Gathered

Three days ago, I got the proof for Gathering the Tide: An Anthology of Contemporary Gulf Poetry. A poet blogger who was reading submissions for a journal wrote on his blog awhile ago that when he saw editing an anthology on a cover letter it didn't register for him as a notable accomplishment. He didn't think it should be included on a cover letter at all. Ah, such ignorance. Khaled Mattawa gave me a great analogy for what it's like to edit an anthology. He said that when you set out you think it'll be like inviting a bunch of interesting people over for a pleasant dinner, but in reality it's like managing a large, incredibly busy restaurant, 24 hours a day. Khaled was right. Gathering the Tide weighs in at 400 pages, it took almost 3 years to complete, and it consumed just about everything in its path: time, relationships, my own writing. There are 45 poets in the anthology, almost as many translators, and 70% of the work in the anthology is original, and will appear in English for the first time. The project was difficult from the first moment to the last. One of the biggest hurdles was finding and contacting poets. Poets in the Gulf generally don't have Facebook accounts, and most of them don't work in universities. In Gathering, maybe 6 of the poets teach in a university, the rest are journalists, film makers, physicians, government ministers, business owners, and in one case, the Emir of Dubai. Translating, and editing translated work is slow, painstaking work. Translating from Arabic to English is particularly difficult. But now it's time to look forward not back, though as you can tell, that poet blogger's comment stuck in my craw, a bit. I'm proof-reading the anthology for the millionth, but last time, and that's a really, really good thing.

Think Small

Rather than talk about all the big things going on: trying to manage a behemoth of a grant project, conferences that are looming, the usual end-of-the-semester stress-fest, I'd rather focus on something smaller, and something that is linked to one of my favorite stress relieving activities: photography.

Recently, I got "The Pick" Digicam made by Fuuvi, for $65.00 from the amazing Four Corners Store:

http://www.fourcornerstore.com/

"The Pick" is a 2.0 megapixel digicam with both still and video capability, it has a USB integrated in the camera, takes 1280x1023 pixel images, has an f2.8 lens, 100 asa, and a Micro slot built in.

And as you can see, it's adorable:

You can't beat it for portability and ease of use. It's small, about the size of a USB drive. From the photos I saw of it before I bought it, I thought it had a rubberized surface, like the Superheadz Ultra Wide and Slim, but it doesn't. It's all plastic goodness, which makes it a bit slick. I dropped it about 2 minutes after getting it out of its package, but it proved to be a tough little camera and it works fine, despite it's tumble. Insert a Micro memory card in the slot on the side opposite the USB; slide the on/off button to on; and you're ready to shoot. Since there's no view finder, it'll take a bit of practice to learn how to shoot with "The Pick." I have noticed, that like with a Holga, you'll want to be a bit further back than you think you need to be to get the shot you want. The take a step back rule works well with this camera.

Uploading photos from "The Pick" to your computer is as easy as removing the end-cap and inserting the camera into a USB port, like a jump drive.

I haven't had a lot of time to take photos with it yet, but here are a few shots:

I like the lo-fi look of the photos, and it does nicely with bold colors. It has a glass lens, but I almost wish it had a plastic lens to get even more extreme lomo'ish photos. For lo-fi digis "The Pick" pales in comparison to the Zumi Triple+++ which offers tons of options, and creates random effects that more closely approximate the lomo experience. However, "The Pick" is much less expensive than the Zumi, and is also much smaller and easier to use. In the time it takes to pry the Micro card out of a Zumi, you can upload all your pix from "The Pick."

All in all, "The Pick" scores high for cuteness, mobility, ease of use and affordability. It has great spy cam potential, and I like the photos it takes, though I hope that through more use I can discover how to get more out of the camera. Also, it comes in many colors, which makes me want to collect them all.

Monster Plant as Metaphor....

....for AWP: Impossibly large, spectacular, and also a little bit freakish.

Much good can be said about this year's AWP--it was wonderful to meet Diode readers and contributors, and the Diode/Blackbird reading was stunning. The flight over was one of the easiest I've ever had. Direct flight: Doha to DC, 14 hours going, 12 hours back. If I could, I would turn my life over to Qatar Air. From the time you arrive at the business class lounge until you are set gently down at your destination, Qatar Air pampers you with satin bags plump with comfy pajamas, lovely toiletry bags stuffed with lotions and perfumes, hot towels, and more food, drink and chocolate than one would ever consume in a normal 12/14 hour time period. Word of warning: if you want any chocolate chip cookies however, don't travel with Lauren Maas because she will eat them all, leaving you stale, crumbly shortbread. But back to AWP. Though I loved AWP for the readers and contributors and the off-site reading, and I loved seeing so many friends I hadn't seen in a long time, some since last AWP, some for almost a decade, it wasn't my favorite AWP. I spent most of my time at the book fair, and the room Diode was in was insanely loud. It was so loud that it was almost impossible to have a conversation. I didn't like the lay out of the book fair in general, it was too maze-like and sprawling. I also didn't like that, once again, there was no wifi in the book fair leaving online journals at a distinct disadvantage. I think most people thought that Diode is a company that makes pins and stickers.

The freakish part? Where to start.... Overheard: "The odor of poet angst and ambition in this place is like, WOW, you know?" Experienced: The man who lurched up to the Diode table at 10:00 am with a mini-bar sized bottle of Jack in his hand and asked if Diode accepts poems telepathically. I said "Yes, but if accepted, they will be published telepathically." No reaction. The man then picked up a Diode pin and asked "Diode? What the hell is Diode?"


Monster Plant as Metaphor....

....for this semester: See all those buds? Clusters and clusters of them? They represent all the stuff I have to do, most of which was due yesterday. I love my job--truly, madly, deeply, love my job--but every semester gets exponentially busier. Check out VCUQ's home page. See all those events? At least 3 a week, with a couple major ones thrown in just for fun, like the week long design conference next month. Well, behind all those events is usually an exhausted committee that somehow, and usually at the last minute, made it all come together. Throw in teaching, a serious research push, and mix with even more committees, mostly of the search variety, and it makes for monster plant as metaphor. Would I have it any other way? No. But man alive, did you see all the buds on that thing?

We're Baaaaaack!

Today was the start of Spring semester 2011. 17 weeks until summer!

You may remember this freakish plant from last semester:

I was hoping that I didn't miss it doing something spectacular over break. I didn't. It just got taller. A lot taller. And it put out a bunch more branches with what looks like buds on the end:

It was a fairly uneventful day. I finished my syllabus, and tidied up the office. The big excitement was that this went by my window every 5 minutes. I think it's the new Education City shuttle. Why it looks like a train ride at Chuck E Cheese I have no idea.

Diode/Blackbird AWP Off-Site Reading