As part of the Young Artist Series (Y.A.S) we’ve had two of our four young artists come and deliver presentations thus far in the semester. Its been a great experience for me organizing the events with the rest of the group. However, its the events themselves that give me the greatest enjoyment. True enough we’ve only had two but I’m fascinated by the differences in styles and presentations between our guests. Kirk Jones, my professor from SUNY Canton spoke more about the dangers that can exist out in the publishing world and about trends in fiction which he’d noticed occurring in the Bizzaro fiction world. He was nearing completion on his newest novel and i later learned visiting and talking with us helped push him over the hump and finish his manuscript.
Marc Mckee our latest guest who came by only a day ago delivered a far different but equally enjoyable presentation. I wish I could evoke the language he used or do justice to it, but as I said when introducing the event the last poem I read was Dante’s Inferno. Hopefully someone can expand on his poetry in a later blog because it was beautiful stuff, but my brain isn’t wired to appreciate it in the manner it deserves. Marc’s presentation felt very similar to an event put on as part of the Writers Series which I found too cool, to think we’d brought someone of that caliber to SLU to not only present his work but more specifically to speak on a one on one basis to students about how they could translate their publication desires into legitimate, and ultimately successful undertakings.
It is with this in mind that I’m very excited to see how the remainder of the semester plays out. In early November we have SLU alum Alexa Unser coming to talk about her art work and in December we have our newest professor in the English department William Bradley talking about his nonfiction writing. So to Kirk and Marc I say from the deepest part of my being thank you for coming and sharing your experiences, and to Alexa and Professor Bradley I cannot wait to hear your insights into the respective worlds of art and nonfiction.
Much affection
El Shoen