Just got back myself, after a long drive from NC. Great to see everyone, especially Melissa Balmain, J. D. Smith, Susan McLean, Bob Darling, and others in my class. The class was great fun, and the conferences (on light verse) were a delight since we could focus on technique almost exclusively. As usual, I missed most of the panels in toto or in part, though I enjoyed Marilyn's panel and bits and pieces of the others. Wish I'd heard Hollander and more of Menasche.
Marilyn, at least Tim didn't say that you and I look alike.
I thought the conference was one of the best, especially since the new dorms did a lot to improve morale! As I said several times, I enjoyed every minute of it. Every minute.
I vote for hamburgers and hot dogs at the next picnic, though.
I also talked with John Mella of Light Quarterly, and he's determined to keep the magazine going. I suggested that Catherine Tufariello and her husband Jeremy Telman could assist him with grant-writing and getting non-profit status, which would make him eligible for an NEA grant. I served on the NEA literary publishing panel last year, and I'm dead sure that LQ would be a strong candidate for a grant. Is there anyone else out there who could assist pro-bono? Marilyn, isn't your husband an attorney?
The funniest thing that happened was that Catherine Tufariello managed to make off with my West Chester bag (full of books and drafts of poems) when I dropped her at the airport. At the time she lifted my bag, she had her own on her shoulder. If Catherine's poems get better in the near future, you'll all know why!
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