…over at Bookninja!

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea–T.S. Eliot

Time to head off to the nearest sanctuary and write, or time to head to the Sage Hill of Lumsden and if you’re in a time crunch here’s something new this year at St. Peter’s College:

NEW Summer Workshops

Study writing and photography in extraordinary ways.

This summer, St. Peter’s College welcomes the Poet Laureate of Halifax, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, as our Guest Author in Residence.

Lorri is the author and editor of nine books, including Combustion (Brick Books, 2007). She has taught writing workshops, courses, and retreats across Canada, in Australia and in Ireland. Her poetry, essays, and research have won several national and international awards. This spring, Lorri was nominated by her Faculty for the Mount Saint Vincent Innovative Teaching Award.

Join us this summer by attending our writing workshops with innovative instructors Lorri, Sheri Benning, Anne McDonald, and

Allan Neilsen.

Lorri Neilsen Glenn

SPC Guest Author in Residence

2007 Summer Workshops

Improv and Narrative (A. McDonald) July 20 & 21

Those who can, do: Writing for Teachers (L. Neilsen Glenn) July 22-27

Writing your Life (L. Neilsen Glenn) July 28-29

Wordfishing: Wading into Poetry (L. Neilsen Glenn) Aug. 7-10

Word & Eye: Contemplative Photography & Poetry

(L. Neilsen Glenn & Allan Neilsen) Aug. 10-12

Nature Writing & the Lyrical Essay (Sheri Benning) Aug. 13-16

Register Today

Earlybirds! Register by June 16 $125 to $195

Regular Tuition Register by July 13 $195 to $265

On-campus Accommodations & Meals* $30/night & $22/day*

BONUS! Workshops can be applied to the Writing Diploma.

For more information:

writinginpractice@stpeters.sk.ca

…I was lucky enough to attend the recording of Yann Martel’s The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios. The reading was performed by Skye Brandon. Although it was a small crowd gathered in Studio One with Kelley-Jo Burke (thanks again for letting us be a part of the audience), the reading was one of the best 60 minutes I’ve ever spent. I hadn’t read the stories before, but thoroughly enjoyed the performance. The recording airs in early December so set your calendars now. It’s worth listening to Brandon’s reading, Martel’s words, and Annette and I laughing, crying, and clapping.

…I’m still here. I’ve been reading lots of fiction lately, most notably The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel. Also re-read Elizabeth Bachinsky Home of Sudden Service.

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Late breaking news (at least for my closet). The Winners in the mall one block from my house is closing. My wardrobe is in mourning (although this will probably mean great sales from now until then).

…something about me. It’s that time again. May has bounced from the bedsprings and into the fields–that means it’s time for the MayDay poetry project to roll with the punched out verse. Along with a new year and some new poets, there’s a cool new look to the blog, which looks wunderbar (my spell check doesn’t like this word wunderbar and suggests perhaps I might be writing blunderbuss or underbelly–which of course, would more than likely be the more apt words for the poems I plan to post on the MayDay blog) .

So synchronize your settings for the May-athon of poetry!!

…people turn and face the world, some face facts, others face food.

Brenda contemplating the dump(ling)s on a plate and who can resist a video blog of Brenda facing strudel.

The view up the street from the window of our first hotel in Vienna. The street looks rather quiet now but it was alive with much action throughout the 5 nights we stayed there. We stayed at the Hotel-Pension Suzanne, which was fairly reasonable and quite closely located to all of the major museums on my list to see. We were lucky to get a breakfast, found a Starbucks right on the corner, as most places only serve espresso and cappuccino kind of coffee. We either walked or took the Ubahn (which was quite easy to navigate). By afternoon the corner in the upper lefthand portion of the picture would be carpeted with people. The crowds crawled the stores and tourists toured along the Karnternstrasse tugging at their pockets for wallets/money to purchase their souvenirs.

Brenda from inside the Kunsthistorisches Museum. There are quite a few sections to this museum and the palace itself is quite impressive.

This is a shot of the oldest church in Vienna– St. Ruprecht. I think this church, tucked in amongst the towering, regal architecture, is a real gem. We stumbled upon it our last day in Vienna (before heading out to Cesky Krumlov). It was old and felt old.

Our second hotel in Vienna. This hotel is sandwiched in an “alley” and butts its right-hand side against an old monastery ( I think). The mural on the left-hand side of the picture, which you just get a peek of in this picture, seems to indicate that might be the case.

We found evidence of superhero activity in St. Polten–

and the occasional Ariel sighting in Cesky Krumlov.

I will continue to add some pictures and stuff over the next few days, but check out the flickr on the sidebar for more photos of the trip.

…von St. Pölten, Austria.  Today we rode the train (I was a train virgin) from Wien to St. Pölten. Quite an interesting ride, seeing the countryside from the window of a train. Right now we’re at the Cinema Paradiso, a bar/cafe that gives free internet access to customers willing to purchase their products. So I’m having another bier, they’re cheap over here ($.79 (Euros) in the store), in fact often the beer is cheaper than water, and b’s having some more kaffee, and we’re posting while asking some nice young man beside how the hell to spell things.  The research has been going well; we’ve hit every museum and art gallery that could be possibly be associated with my project, often taking in more than mz fair share of divine art( the Mumok (Museum of Modern Art for example had a Yves Klein exhibit which included most of the blue series, as well as much art that included text and art), and then some. We’ve been to the Belvedere (a castle) which houses many artists, and wandered the gardens (which can’t even be described). We’ve wandered the garden of the Shönbrunn Palace, which are outstanding and immense. We’ve walked miles and miles in admist the cigarette smoke, the diving pigeons, the crowds, and the beautiful weather. Vienna is everthing and nothing like I expected it to be. The buildings are old and built one on top of each other.  So far I haven’t had to use much german as most people can speak English, although here in St. Pölten, they don’t quite speak as well, so I’ve had a chance to use my spattering of german rather hesitantly, but often successfully (probably due more to their knowledge of english rather than my knowledge of german). Navigating is the easiest. The germans are very efficient. The train was smooth, the U-bahn is easy to find/use; most of all, we’ve been getting by quite well. This is day 7 and one more week to go. Tomorrow more trains and a ride to Tulln. On the 18 we leave for Cesky Krumlov.  Computer connections are getting smaller and smaller. Tschüss!

…in more ways than one, burned itself out to find me here sitting with one week remaining on a trip I’ve been planning for months. I’ve spent the week trying to figure out a plan of research, and I’m slowly losing myself in the daydream of being on a Vienna street, watching the Viennese saunter past me, looking at the architecture, and immersing myself in the culture.

Last week I also read a book recommended by Brenda Schmidt (and borrowed from B, thanks) and by Lorri Neilsen Glenn (Halifax poet laureate). It was Joel Hynes first novel Down to the Dirt. It was a fast read as it was quite engaging. I enjoyed the narrative, which used three different narratives to portray the character of Keith, and how the slide into addiction/dysfunction coincides with the slide from the triple narrative, to a single narrative voice. “Gritty” is a very accurate description.