The Lit Fest Experience

Derrick Parker


     When Dr. Haugen invited me to Literature fest 2013 I gratefully accepted. I have always enjoyed reading and even dabbling with my own writing, but I have found myself in three of Dr. Haugen's classes this semester. One of those classes I am lucky enough to be taking with her is the creative writing of poetry class. Before this class I have appreciated poetry, but had a certain distaste in my mouth when it came to the discipline. She has shown me the light, and not only how to appreciate certain poems but their is much more written out there more than just the classics. Not only that, but i enjoy writing it now, no longer is looking at poetry a chore.
     Thus, when I left for Athens not only did I pack some notebooks, pencils, and extra clothes, but also a new found appreciation. I have been to Athens before, so the campus did not amaze or surprise me. However, I do thoroughly enjoy each visit, as the town seems so inviting. For example, during our down time we explored a local music shop. Outside of this shop were a couple of musicians sitting on a bench with guitars next to them. As the rest of our group walked in, Jessica Conley approached them asking them to play. With smiles on their faces, they quickly started up a song.
    To be honest, I did have my apprehensions about attending the trip. I had never heard of many of the speakers (perhaps that damages my intellectual image), and I really only knew Corey Zornes. I was nervous that I would be out of place, perhaps the lectures would all be dry and boring, and I would be the odd man out on the trip. The actual events were much to the contrary, though, as the first speaker was my favorite of the entire festival.
   Dean young and his poetry, which was described as a lightning rod were hilarious. One poem in particular managed to place the author inside the poem with a series of self references, almost Vonnegut-esc (yes I recently read my first Vonnegut novel, and Im stuck relating everything to the master satirist). The next speaker, Bonnie Jo Campbell was a realist to the heart. In order to dig up creative material she would follow real people around, observing and asking them questions, interviewing them and their family in order to get to the bottom of their person and what irks them. This brand of investigative creative writing allows her to give an incredibly fresh insight to her readers via her writing. Sure, she has her little obsessions (Mathmatics, meth addiction, Y2k) but more than any other author their she was authentic. More than that, she was incredibly approachable. The day of her lecture she approached Corey and I saying "Awesome dudes! We are all wearing plaid" This small observation illustrates just how attuned to the everyman this author has become. She seemed elated at the fact that our group of students were from a small town in whatever its name is, Ohio. She even seemed truly flattered when Jessica announced her "girl crush" for her.
     The headliner, Robert Olen Butler, was an excellent writer. His reading was truly insightful. The creativity of this man is astounding. All that being said, he came off as slightly pompous, a bit condescending, and what some would call a jerk. Perhaps his Pulitzer prize has puffed his chest out (it would mine), but him being rude to Dean Young during his lecture was unfitting of a man of his abilities. To his credit, he gave a very vivid lecture about how art comes from the unconscious mind. "Life is chaos" according to Butler, and no matter how chaotic your art seems, there is always an order underneath of it that readers and onlookers wish and must find as we all want to find order in our own chaotic world. He also asserted that the actual aesthetic reading is of main importance, and that analysis is secondary and can in fact be damaging to the art. I disagree with this, as analysis can help us not only understand the work and the viewpoint of the author, but the chaos of our own worlds.
     Sarah Lindsay and Diana Ackerman were both good writers, however, their works were not my cup of tea. They both had a very naturalist feel to their works, Lindsay dealing mostly with the animal world and Ackerman dealing with both animals and her husband's illness. Diana's voice was soothing, though, her short story about the whales took me to a groggy part of my mind between dreaming and awareness.
     Besides the readings and lectures, getting to know new friends was great. I feel as though I drove home now knowing people that I will be close to for some time. Over various meals, board games, tours of both campus and the old insane asylum, and drinks, we struck new bonds. Isnt that what college is all about? So I can only thank Dr. Haugen for inviting me once again, I truly enjoyed my time with all of you who went, and I cant wait for Haley to assemble next year's trip which I am more than ready to attend!

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Inspired


By Jessica Conley 

I had never been to Athens before, so I didn’t know what to expect when Doctor Haugen invited me to the 2013 Lit Fest. I was not expecting it to be so beautiful and crowded. There were so many different ethnicities I felt like I was in the LAX airport. On Thursday night, the first night we arrived, Dean Young was the first guest speaker. He read a few of his poems for about an hour, but since I’m not a big fan of poetry (I can never understand it on my own) I don’t really remember what he read from. After a brief intermission we were introduced to Bonnie Jo Campbell. Just writing her name puts a smile on my face. She started a few passages from her book, Once Upon a River and then ended with The Solutions to Ben’s Problems. After her last reading I knew I had to add her to my To Be Read pile. I don’t just like her writing though; I also like her logic behind her writing. She said that, “the world tells us to solve our problems, but there’s not one simple solution for all our problems” she said more on this subject, but I was too busy listening to her wisdom to write it down. Lesson learned, next time bring a recorder because it will come in handy.
        

After a quick stop at Kroger we headed back to the hotel and played an intense game of Logo where everyone pretty much murdered me (not literally of course). Unfortunately, Logo looked like Candy Land, so it took a few hours to finish the game and by that point everyone just wanted someone to win.
                            
The next morning we were introduced to one of my new literary heroes, Robert Olen Butler. He started with this “Art does not come from the mind. Art comes from the place where you dream; where you thrum”, after he said this I sat up straighter and turned up the volume on my imaginary hearing aids. He referred to our writing as the “cinema of the mind” and explained that we will not be able to thrum until we can open ourselves up to our subconscious which will “terrify us” because our subconscious is “scary as hell”. All this I took notes on because, for me, his lecture sang to me. For those of you who weren’t able to attend he said that all of this advice and more is in his book, From Where You Dream.
                    
Bonnie Jo Campbell was up next, but this time she lectured and I was taking just as much notes on her words of wisdom as well. She talked a little about her writing process, like Butler did, and explained that sometimes her characters have the characteristics of Real Life People and those people are okay that she uses their attributes in her stories. Some even expressed gratitude that she understood them so well.  I loved that she pointed out how some real life experiences find themselves in her stories and as long as you “write honestly and have respect for who you write about, real or fiction, you will be fine”.
I do not recommend eating in the Athens food court. To me, it was horrible; the hamburgers tasted like rubber and don’t even get me started on the gross Caesar dressing (Yuck)! After our final lunch at the Athens food court we drove the few blocks to the insane asylum turned art museum INSERT NAME. Even though there was some pretty impressive art displayed I was more interested in the architecture inside the building. Unfortunately, pictures weren’t permitted inside the building, so I couldn’t take any of the wide staircase, curving banisters and walls, and the intricate detail that the architect put into the building as his own personal art. When we finished looking at the art and building itself we drove down to the cemetery where all the asylum’s dead were kept under tombstones with no etchings to mark their life or death. No loved ones to pay them gratitude. It’s like they were never there at all and all they have to show on this Earth is a measly number above their tombstone.
              

  

Diane Ackerman was the first lecture that night. She looks like a person that I could easily become friends with and her voice is so soft and mellow I want to jar it up and then release it when I’m counting sheep. We learned a lot about the love that her and her husband Paul share, since he is a big reason she started her memoir One Hundred Names for Love. As a person it is sometimes hard to express yourself, but as a writer we express ourselves in the only way we know how; to write and like Diane says “it is very therapeutic”. If you can’t find confidence Diane told us to “invent confidence”. This all sounds good in theory, but once I sit down to actually write I find it hard to invent anything, much less confidence. Perhaps I’ll do what she does and stick a sticky not on the top of my computer that reads, No One Will Ever Read This. After Diane Ackerman, Sarah Lindsay was up. She too was a poet and I tried to give her a chance despite her genre, but I once again did not understand any of her poetry.


       
Our last day in Athens, Friday, the Lit Fest opened with a lecture from Sarah Lindsay that I did not take any notes on, because it was mostly about poetry and as I’ve stated before me and poetry don’t really mesh. Doctor Haugen seemed to like her and several other people there did too, so for you poetry buffs she seems like someone to take notes on. I may not be a fan of poetry, but it’s not for lack of trying, so I still paid attention to the genius in front of me. Dean Young had some great advice, he said “Poems create the poets to write them, you find yourself after the poem not before, the self is self-invented”. I agree with Young’s logic. You don’t find yourself until after the writing process is complete; when the only thing left to do is write The End.
  
My favorite part of the entire trip was the last reading. Robert Olen Butler started his reading with a decapitated chicken and then continued with a touching piece from one of his stories about a man losing his mother slowly to death. I’m glad it ended when it did or I would have wished the lights were dimmed because I was almost in the need of tissues. The last story he read was a hilarious, yet heart felt, story about a man who is reincarnated into a bird and ends up back in his home with his wife. Unfortunately, for him his wife was over his death even before he died and he had to see and hear the comings and goings of several men. I have never met an author who could write so wonderfully in several different genres. His work is truly inspirational and I cannot wait to start some of his novels.
     
During the brief intermission between Ackerman and Butler’s readings I tracked down Dean Young and got a picture with him and then ran into Bonnie Jo Campbell and admitted to her that she is my new girl crush. Instead of being freaked out she was super nice and even hugged me (I love her more for this). The 28th Annual Spring Literary Festival, was a wonderful vacation and I wouldn’t change anything expect to bring a recorder; if I ever needed confidence or inspiration all I’d have to do is listen to these amazing speakers, because they were all inspiring. Luckily, I can purchase their books and find my inspiration in their stories.
 

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Truly Inspired on Day Two

Breanna Martin   
     One the second day of Lit Fest 2013 I found myself completely engaged in the lecture given by Robert Olen Butler, one of many great authors in attendance. Many things he spoke about sent gears turning in my head. From "Literature is not meant to be understood," to "Finding your thrum". His words made me see how people fail to feel because the "unknown is scary", and how writers potentially kill their minds by over thinking instead of feeling.  Knowing literature doesn't mean you understand how it works and what it means, knowing literature means feeling it with every sense.

     For example the word sunlight by literal definition means light emitted by the Sun. You understand the definition and you know what it means, however to use your senses you know that sunlight brings warmth to your body and brightens the day. You feel the word instead of understand it. Words written are simply words written when you understand there literal meaning. When words written are felt they become a story.

     "Thrum is what happens when you strum a guitar." This is how Bulter described what you need to become a true writer. For people that understand the word thrum they know what happens when the guitar is strummed. When a guitar is strummed and you feel the vibration and you hear the note and hear the story behind it, that is when you become the artist. Not when you learn how to play the guitar but when you allow the guitar to speak through you.

     His words and beliefs will stay with me. I was truly inspired by his lecture. I cannot wait to read his books.

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If You Want Happy Endings, Read Cookbooks -- Dean Young

by Hayley

I wonder if my LitFest friends have noticed that I have written these blogs so as to steal all the great lines! Alas, I will not apologize for my excellent note-taking skills.

Photo from: http://www.english.ohiou.edu/cw/litfest/





From Dean Young:

"You don't have to worry how stupid you are because you are in collaboration with genius, and the genius is language."

"Poems need to assert themselves as poetry; they need to be in conversation with the craft. The most essential aspect of poetry is the line. The poem's fidelity to the subject cannot be greater than the poem's fidelity to craft. The subject is beside the point."


Photo from: http://www.english.ohiou.edu/cw/litfest/

Diane Ackerman: 

"Words are the passkeys to our souls -- without them, we can't share the enormity of our lives."











And Sarah Lindsey:
Photo from: http://www.english.ohiou.edu/cw/litfest/
 Poems she read: "Tell the Bees," "The Jar," and "Radium"  

Note to self: WOW! Check her out!

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"Don't be Judgmental: It Turns Off Rumination" -- Bonnie Jo Campbell

by Hayley

Author photo from http://www.english.ohiou.edu/cw/litfest/
Bonnie Jo Campbell owns donkeys; how much more down to earth can you get than that? She was so gracious and unassuming while at the literature festival, one imagines that she is surprised to find herself there. I knew I'd love her when I heard her talking with a complete stranger in the bathroom stalls about her need to change her bra before her lecture. When I grow up, I want to be just like her.

 Unassuming, yes, but not without some important things to say, like: "Don't be a big fat fake as academics. Don't write about what you think seems interesting, figure out what you are really interested in." She shared her work ethic: "Never stop working on a story" -- even if it takes you 24 years! She doesn't start a story until she "cares." She believes, "If you work to write honestly and have the deepest respect for the people of your stories, then you are going to be just fine. It's when you try to cheat, when you judge or preach, that you will get into trouble." And finally,
"Seek out everything interesting.
Give a damn about everyone.
Live a life of adventure.
Live a life of caring."

 Not bad advice for all of us.  

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"The House of Fiction is Very Large and Has Many Rooms" -- Robert Olen Butler

by Hayley

Author photo from: http://www.english.ohiou.edu/cw/litfest/

Butler says he wrote 12 plays, 44 short stories, and 5 novels before "finally writing well."

"Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to you is to get published as an undergrad." I get it, but I don't agree.

"What you write needs to be fundamentally grounded in the idea that art does not come from the mind. It comes from the place where you dream, from your unconscious, from your white-hot center." Ok, but what if you're sleep-deprived? Seriously though, I agree that my best work stems from somewhere inside that I don't have to think about too much. The best images in my poems are gifts from my unconscious mind. But it's my mind, I believe, that figures out how to put these images to good use.

"THRUM"

"No one who wrote well ever wrote drunk."

"Fiction is the art form of human yearning. Plot is yearning challenged and thwarted." Nice, Butler. Nice. I will quote this in my literature courses when I am committing the "fault" of literature professors everywhere by asking, "What does the story mean?"

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Lit Fest the collective experience...The Photos

Michelle Bentley

 Lit Fest the collective experience...


The Ohio University Inn

The Ohio University Insane Asylum better known as "The Ridges" 



"Writing workshops are the blind leading the potentially sighted"~ Robert Olen Butler


The historical significance.


For all the things we already knew ~ Maya Lin 


The wonderful people I got to share it with.


So many paths to choose.




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LIt Fest Day 2...

By Michelle Bentley
Day 2

 Bonnie Jo Campbell

If I had to pick the most inspiring speaker of the event, I would say it was Bonnie Jo Campbell. Campbell encourages writers to never give up on their dreams. She writes raw fiction often inspired by real people in her life. She reminds us all how important it is to write what you know. Campbell states, "As a writer you have an obligation to give a damn about everyone all the time." It is with this attitude that she approaches her writing. She is a caring person, and it shows. 

She spoke of a story that took her 24 years to write. She said that she knew the story had to be told, but she was not going to let go of it until she could figure out how to make the reader care about an alcoholic and a drug addict. The story she was referring to is "Bringing Bella Home" which I have not had the pleasure of reading. 

I have read her novel Once Upon a River which is the story of sixteen year old Margo Crane. This beautiful character is amazing and surprising. This young lady has so many obstacles to overcome. Since I know fellow Lit Club member Breanna Martin is currently reading this book, I will not provide any spoilers, but I will say that it is easy to read and hard to put down. 


I was as impressed with Bonnie Jo Campbell the person as I was Bonnie Jo Campbell the writer. She took the time to really talk to anyone who approached her outside of the event. When I had the pleasure to talk to her one on one in a hallway she was approachable and friendly. She and I discussed her book Once upon a River and others. We even discussed Beloved when she asked what I was currently reading in my English classes. I know writers are people, but to me Campbell  is like a rock star; the fact that she was so down to earth was a wonderful surprise. I felt like I was talking to my neighbor and friend. The experience will live with me forever. 

Thank you so much Dr. Hayley Haugen and Dean Willan for allowing me this opportunity.

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The Beginning of a Memory Fest

By Michelle Dotts





Like every memory we have, the ones made at this year's Lit Fest I hope last a lifetime. I had the opportunity to hang out with one of the coolest professors our campus has to offer, made new friends along the way, and grew closer to the ones I already had on the trip.  Oh, and did I mention that we got to meet some pretty cool authors along the way as well??


We arrived at the hotel on Wednesday evening, settled in for a bit, and then made our way to Baker Center for dinner.  Because I have attended a fairly large university in the past and have spent a significant amount of time on the Athens campus, the size of it did not overwhelm me or amaze me...but it was fun to watch it do that to other people.  After walking through three buildings to get to our final destination for dinner, we had already covered more ground than you would at the Southern campus.  And for those of you who have seen the Baker Center, it is an impressive place, although some on our trip may deduct that the food is better in our dear Paddock. 

How many OUS students can fit on a Baker Center escalator?*
 After dinner, we headed out to the lawn in front of Walter Hall to see the Maya Lin exhibit, the artist who also created the Vietnam Wall in Washington, DC.  The picture at the beginning of this blog is from this sculpture and while it may be a little weird and hard to understand at first glance, I think if you took the time to read and reflect on the things written upon the concrete slabs, you would appreciate it more.

After that it was time for Lit Fest to begin, so we shuffled into Walter Hall, or the "fancy rotunda", and prepared for the first reading of the evening.  We took seats in the back two rows (apparently we thought we were in church) and enjoyed the poetry of Dean Young and the short stories of Bonnie Jo Campbell.  Personally, I am not a huge fan of poetry (a respecter but not a fan) so Dean Young didn't do a whole lot for me, but he did make me chuckle from time to time.  Bonnie Jo, on the other hand was phenomenal and  I was thoroughly engaged in her reading.  We would see a lot of her throughout the three days we were there, and it was a pleasure to see her every time.  We are even friends on Facebook now, that's how cool she is!!

We ended the evening, headed back to the hotel, jumped into our jammies, and headed to the patio for a little board game fun with Dr. Haugen and the gang.  And then the first day of memories came to an end.  But all that we encountered is sure to live on through Facebook pictures and friendships, status updates and tweets, and within the well developed minds of a bunch of 20-30-40 somethings.


*photo added by Hayley


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Ohio University Athens Campus Through the Eyes of a Small Town Girl

Breanna Martin
     Lit Fest 2013 was a great experience. I had never been to the Athens Campus before, so this trip was two experiences in one for me. I have much to say about the Campus itself. Though there was not enough time in the three days I was there to see the campus in full, I did enjoy the many tours. There was so much to see from the Maya Lin artwork "Input", to the art museum, to the many shops and restaurants down Court Street. From the view point of a small town girl who finds the southern campus to be large in itself, the Athens campus was too much to take in at once.
     One of my favorite observations was the diversity among the students attending the Athens campus. The many languages heard as I walked down the halls and sidewalks and streets. The beauty of so many people from different corners of the world all coming together with one common interest: Education. For so many people from different cultures wanting to study the many fields offered at Ohio University. It just blows me away that they find my little corner of the world worth visiting to study.
     All and all I hope to return to the Athens Campus to see all of it someday.  However, I believe I will stay at my small campus and enjoy the little things. I just want to thank everyone that made this experience possible.

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All I Can Say

Corey

     I really enjoyed my time at the Lit Fest and my time spent back in Athens with some new friends that I have found. I always enjoy the opportunity to go back to Athens, whatever the occasion may be, because it is always guaranteed that it will be interesting; there haven't really been any trips to Athens where you can go back home with the absence of a new story to tell. This was one of the first times that a trip to Athens has had me come back feeling better than before I went, a feeling that is often majestic in its occurrence due to the implications of the adventure.

     Previously, I never had much interest in poetry, contemporary poetry at least; I didn't respect the lack of rhyme. I always felt more enamored towards songwriters, those who had something of substance to say and could say it in a way that people of all sorts could enjoy. However, hearing poems from Dean Young and just a few from Bonnie Jo Campbell made me write some of my own while in Athens, and I realized that when you don't force yourself to rhyme every line with another, you are freed up to create more effective imagery. So here is a slightly altered version of one of the few I wrote at Lit Fest, intended to be humorous for those who were there to understand but possibly social commentary for those who were not.

"Walking on the grassy coffins" *
Thank you for the invitation.
I felt rude walking on the grassy coffins of the deceased patients.
But if I was numbered, not named, they'd do the same.
Just to say they've been there.

I enjoyed my stay in a room with a champagne bucket,
filled with things less impressive than intended.
Call it a cultural thing.
"I doubt real champagne exists in Athens anyways",
Says a man in a black turtleneck.
Using magical eyebrows for emphasis.

The main events, critically acclaimed.
(Meaning they didn't sell).
Inspired me to write a poem.
So they were effective, nonetheless.

Their poems took me away from Shel Silverstein.
One of the only poets I enjoyed before.
Though the list still seems thin.
I now have added two more.

And all I can say is thank you.




*picture added by Hayley

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Lit Fest Inspiration 101

By Michelle Bentley

Lit fest 2013
Inspired me to write a few lines. 

We listen we take it in
The words wrestling within
Twisting and turning having tantrums 

Hearing what we want to hear
Dismissing what we do not
We listen as the words are released
In a single breath

We inhale hoping the words
Will consume us like a disease
We want to be infected
 To have it oozing from our pores 

An adolescent zit
Begging to be popped
Released into the world infecting others

Until there are no more words
We dare not say



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Lit fest Day 1... Dean Young

By Michelle Bentley

DAY ONE

I am amazed walking around Ohio University. There is too much to see in one or two days. I can say that the students at Ohio University have no need of a gym. (Although they have a fantastic facility at their disposal.)  I have not walked so much without having kids in tow waiting on the Ferris-wheel or smiling at baboons swinging from trees. I have a new respect for the students of the main campus. That being said--I have had a great time thus far.

The first and most shocking speaker we heard was Dean Young. I have read a few of Young's poems in the past but not many, and as far as I can remember they were your typical words of praise for a loved one or memory of a childhood moment. However, what I did not know is that Dean Young had been ill for some time, and he had a heart transplant a few years ago. If you compare his pre-transplant poems to his post-transplant poems, (what a great essay topic) then you can see he is writing from a new place.

This place is dark, scary, and seems to make devilish little logical sense. I fear if you think about it too long you might find that the ramblings of seemingly disconnected thoughts is what life truly is. Young's  poems may be more honest than we are ready or willing to accept.

The second speaker Bonnie Jo Campbell deserves her own blog. Campbell is simply amazing. 

















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And Lit Fest Begins...

 A photo:
A link:  http://www.english.ohiou.edu/cw/litfest/

 and two quotes:

"As long as there's sky, someone will be falling from it." -- Dean Young

"You thought that love could mend all broken things; wasn't that the business of love?" -- Bonnie Jo Campbell 


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Lit Fest 2013

On Wednesday, April 10th through Friday, April 12th, Ohio University Southern students will be attending the Spring Literary Festival in Athens, Ohio. Follow their adventure as they blog live from the event. New posts will appear under 2013 Athens Lit Fest.

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This blog is co-created by past and present members of the Ohio University Southern Literature Club; past and present editors of Envoi, our campus literary magazine; and other OUS students who enjoy reading and writing. It is a space for us to informally report on all things literary and to share creative writing efforts. Stay awhile, and feel free to comment and join in the conversation.



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