[Jamison W. Richardson]

Next year, I'll be the Visiting Scholar in English at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. I'm slated to teach Composition and African American literature. Although I'm still learning what my duties will be, the chair has asked me to read from my dissertation Theorizing a Diasporic Aesthetic in Twentieth-Century African and Jewish American Autobiography. I also will read from my poetry manuscript Sprezzatura!, which I hope fellow Erastophereans will continue to critique. Now all that to say this: I'd like to invite area and national Erastosphereans to campus. I know that such a gig would be enjoyable. I'd like to know who the local Erastophereans are and whether y'all would helping me in hosting Erastophereans to read.

[Quincy Lehr]

Jamison,

Swank gig! Congratulations are in order.

Quincy

[diprinzio]

Hi Jamison,

Congratulations! I'm a bit far away to visit, but I would if I was nearer. Good luck with that.

Best,
Greg

[Stephen Scaer]

Dear Jamison:

Several of the people you'll meet on this site are members of the Powow River Poets. We have regular reading 7:30 p.m. (usually) on the third Wednesday of each month in nearby Newburyport, MA. There is more information on the general announcement page, or you can go to:
http://www.newburyportart.org/pages/about_poets.html

[Michael Cantor]

Stephen beat me to it, but welcome to the Powow neighborhood. Andover is about 30 minutes from Newburyport - some of our members live there - and you will be relocating into a cauldron of formal poetry. Wow, do we have potential readers for you! The line is probably already forming. Please get in touch when you make the move, and hope to see you at Powow.

[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited July 17, 2006).]

[Deborah Warren]

Welcome to Andover! I live here and of course I'd help you host readings by Sphereans.

[Carter Wingo]

Hi Jamison -

I hope you drink because the public bar off the restaurant dining room is everything you'd hope it would be.

I think that Kurt Vonnegut would have a field day writing about you lecturing on your dissertation up there, since Andover certainly ranks as one of the finest edifices ever built on the banks of what he called the "money river" (in "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater", I think) - a place where not too long ago, once could probably hear the old-school-ties guffawing as someone described the true "American dream" as something similar to the topic of your thesis - every black swimming back to Africa with a Jew under each arm.

[Jamison W. Richardson]

Hey, Sphereans!

Thanks for the shout outs on the Andover gig. i can't wait to get as many formalists reading on campus as possible. Some questions:
--Are there any musicians out there; do any of our Powwow River Poets play instruments? I'm a rusty violinist, and in my lit classes, I love to illustrate circularity, repetition, and balance in formal poetry by fiddling Baroque and Classical melodies. I'd love to join an amateur string quartet or chamber ensemble while I'm among my Yankee brethren. Any fellow conservatory rejects or serious musician-poets willing to tolerate us less talented out there?
--Whaddup Carter! I come from a long line of dry Baptists, so I don't drink, but I do revel in the irony of being in such a place as Andover--and for all the whi--er, I mean RIGHT reasons.

jr

[Tim Murphy]

Jamison, be sure to join the Powows. They meet every week to workshop their poems. You will be face to face with many of the most talented formal poets of our time. And you know, I'll bet they don't have a black member! You can prepare by acquiring The Powow River Anthology, edited by Alfred Nicol. For further reading the gang has about 30 books in print.

[Jamison W. Richardson]

Greg and Quincy: Thanks for the congrats. Sorry it's taken this long to acknowledge the nice words.
Stephen, Michael, Deborah, and Tim: Thanks for the heads up on the Powwow River Poets. I will be ordering some of these texts for my personal library, some even for class. Um, how's the food in this area? I'm a chicken man, myself, and I love soul food although it doesn't love me. I have some friends who are threatening to visit, so any must-eat-at restuarants?

Best,
jr!