How many banned words can you include in a poem? See the article below, from www.yahoo.com, for the list:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091231/us_nm/us_bannedwords
Thursday, December 31, 2009
"Allow me to reintroduce myself..."
Many of you reading this may know me, others may not, and some of you I haven't spoken to in years. So, I'd like to take a moment to "re"-introduce myself. If you are looking for a formal biography, then I will happily supply it here. However, below, I will allow you to get to know me more personally.
Formal, tight-lipped bio: Kate Brady is the current Poet Laureate of Hanover, PA, where she was born and raised. She graduated from South Western High School, and then went on to earn a BA in English and Media Arts & Design from James Madison University and an MFA in Poetry from Columbia College Chicago. Upon her Master's graduation, Kate won the Lannan Award for her poem "Comfort." Her other poems have appeared in The Columbia Poetry Review, The Evening Sun, Fledgling Rag, and Sister Speak.She is currently finishing her first-book manuscript, titled Grit. Kate lives in Chicago, IL, where she teaches first-year writing courses at Columbia College Chicago and runs a book club at a men's homeless shelter.
The real deal: I am first and foremost a friend, family member, and farmgirl. I am thankful every day for the blessed life I've been given. I grew up in Hanover, PA with a mother, father, sister, brother, dogs, cats, horses, fresh vegetables, fresh meat, room to run, the pattern of work: things that not many grow up with these days, and I realize how lucky I am. I learned early that it pays to work hard and hang tough and owe most of my teaching and writing philosophies to these early disciplines.
I came to writing in an interesting way. First, in high school, stressed out during finals, I penned my first poem, a release. It was something awful about fire and feelings, and like every poet after giving birth to a poem, I wanted the world to read it. Luckily, it only got as far as my mother's purse, or I might not have gotten into graduate school for poetry. However, as time went on, I took more and more classes, read tons more (which is most important to becoming a good writer), and inevitably got really sick in 2004.
Though years of migraines and fatigue have not been ideal, I am thankful in some kind of way for my illness. After collapsing under 225 pounds on the squat rack in the field hockey weight room at James Madison University (although I had successfully lifted this a week earlier), I knew something was wrong. Growing up on the farm and playing sports my whole life, I was a ball of energy. However, I collapsed nonetheless, wasn't making my times in the running workouts, and began to feel faint all the time. It got worse and worse until I was confined to a bed with no diagnosis and no physical outlet for my stress for months on end. Five months later I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and soon after that, Chronic Migraines. So, most of you who know me from high school would be surprised to know that all my energy has been funneled into intellectual work, rather than something physical, like breaking our high school track records.
So, though this was a huge life change, it pushed me deeper into my writing, as I had no other coping skills at the time other than running repeat 400s. After barely finishing college, thanks to doing work in my bed and a handicapped parking pass, I decided to get my MFA in poetry, faithfully following the path laid out before me. My new friends and teachers at Columbia College Chicago, an arts school in downtown Chicago, made me feel right at home. Physically, I am at home on my parents' farm, but intellectually I am at home in the arts. And this is one of the greatest lessons I've learned.
I now teach writing at Columbia College, as well as online at South University. My students and co-workers make me love my job every day (well almost every day) I go to work. When I am not teaching, I spend much of my time in a homeless shelter on the north side of Chicago. Here, I run arts programming, including a book club, and volunteer to help the shelter guests in any way that I can: setting up email accounts, helping them with their writing, playing cards with them, or just listening when they need someone to appreciate them. These men have become my great friends, and I have become an ally of rights for all human beings, no matter their status in our society. I would go to any lengths to fight for these men and their rights to be contributing members of our communities, just as, if I ever have a problem, thirty men are a phone call away to back me up on whatever I need them to. It's like a second family, for them and for me.
So, when I'm not teaching or volunteering at the shelter, that's when it really gets interesting. My other hobbies include: reading criticism of Caribbean literature, braiding and twisting hair, going dancing at Exedus, a reggae club. Okay, wait, this is all beginning to sound like I live in the Caribbean (which isn't too far off, as I hope to begin doctoral work in the Caribbean in the next year). So, let me change gears: I also enjoy Bikram yoga, supporting human rights causes with my words, watching The Wire on Netflix (I'm on Season 3), cooking, and being with friends and family.
My current writing endeavors (after a year of working on PhD application essays), include finishing my first-book manuscript and starting a new manuscript based on my work in the homeless shelter. Other than these, I hope to be a voice for poetry in the Hanover area, as their new Poet Laureate, and a voice for poetry through this blog. I am excited about the things to come in the next two years and look forward to embarking on this journey together with you, united in words.
Formal, tight-lipped bio: Kate Brady is the current Poet Laureate of Hanover, PA, where she was born and raised. She graduated from South Western High School, and then went on to earn a BA in English and Media Arts & Design from James Madison University and an MFA in Poetry from Columbia College Chicago. Upon her Master's graduation, Kate won the Lannan Award for her poem "Comfort." Her other poems have appeared in The Columbia Poetry Review, The Evening Sun, Fledgling Rag, and Sister Speak.She is currently finishing her first-book manuscript, titled Grit. Kate lives in Chicago, IL, where she teaches first-year writing courses at Columbia College Chicago and runs a book club at a men's homeless shelter.
The real deal: I am first and foremost a friend, family member, and farmgirl. I am thankful every day for the blessed life I've been given. I grew up in Hanover, PA with a mother, father, sister, brother, dogs, cats, horses, fresh vegetables, fresh meat, room to run, the pattern of work: things that not many grow up with these days, and I realize how lucky I am. I learned early that it pays to work hard and hang tough and owe most of my teaching and writing philosophies to these early disciplines.
I came to writing in an interesting way. First, in high school, stressed out during finals, I penned my first poem, a release. It was something awful about fire and feelings, and like every poet after giving birth to a poem, I wanted the world to read it. Luckily, it only got as far as my mother's purse, or I might not have gotten into graduate school for poetry. However, as time went on, I took more and more classes, read tons more (which is most important to becoming a good writer), and inevitably got really sick in 2004.
Though years of migraines and fatigue have not been ideal, I am thankful in some kind of way for my illness. After collapsing under 225 pounds on the squat rack in the field hockey weight room at James Madison University (although I had successfully lifted this a week earlier), I knew something was wrong. Growing up on the farm and playing sports my whole life, I was a ball of energy. However, I collapsed nonetheless, wasn't making my times in the running workouts, and began to feel faint all the time. It got worse and worse until I was confined to a bed with no diagnosis and no physical outlet for my stress for months on end. Five months later I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and soon after that, Chronic Migraines. So, most of you who know me from high school would be surprised to know that all my energy has been funneled into intellectual work, rather than something physical, like breaking our high school track records.
So, though this was a huge life change, it pushed me deeper into my writing, as I had no other coping skills at the time other than running repeat 400s. After barely finishing college, thanks to doing work in my bed and a handicapped parking pass, I decided to get my MFA in poetry, faithfully following the path laid out before me. My new friends and teachers at Columbia College Chicago, an arts school in downtown Chicago, made me feel right at home. Physically, I am at home on my parents' farm, but intellectually I am at home in the arts. And this is one of the greatest lessons I've learned.
I now teach writing at Columbia College, as well as online at South University. My students and co-workers make me love my job every day (well almost every day) I go to work. When I am not teaching, I spend much of my time in a homeless shelter on the north side of Chicago. Here, I run arts programming, including a book club, and volunteer to help the shelter guests in any way that I can: setting up email accounts, helping them with their writing, playing cards with them, or just listening when they need someone to appreciate them. These men have become my great friends, and I have become an ally of rights for all human beings, no matter their status in our society. I would go to any lengths to fight for these men and their rights to be contributing members of our communities, just as, if I ever have a problem, thirty men are a phone call away to back me up on whatever I need them to. It's like a second family, for them and for me.
So, when I'm not teaching or volunteering at the shelter, that's when it really gets interesting. My other hobbies include: reading criticism of Caribbean literature, braiding and twisting hair, going dancing at Exedus, a reggae club. Okay, wait, this is all beginning to sound like I live in the Caribbean (which isn't too far off, as I hope to begin doctoral work in the Caribbean in the next year). So, let me change gears: I also enjoy Bikram yoga, supporting human rights causes with my words, watching The Wire on Netflix (I'm on Season 3), cooking, and being with friends and family.
My current writing endeavors (after a year of working on PhD application essays), include finishing my first-book manuscript and starting a new manuscript based on my work in the homeless shelter. Other than these, I hope to be a voice for poetry in the Hanover area, as their new Poet Laureate, and a voice for poetry through this blog. I am excited about the things to come in the next two years and look forward to embarking on this journey together with you, united in words.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
The Beginning
This marks the beginning of my tenure as Poet Laureate of Hanover, Pennsylvania. Thanks for stopping in to check out the blog. I will use this space to post thoughts, work, photographs, videos, and I encourage you to do the same. This is the beginning of our online poetry community. Here's to all the great work to come!
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