2" Thesis Binders - On Sale! Cheap!

Gwen Jones has four (4) Two Inch (2") Thesis Binders to sell for the cut-rate price of just $15 apiece. I paid $23 each plus shipping, so this is a deal. If you want to get together with a friend and take all four off my hands, I'll sell them all for $50. You won't find a better price. This is the size you'll need for a 300 page MS. See me at the Residency. Thanks!

Special Arrival Instructions for ALL - Please Read

The first event tomorrow for new students (and anyone else who'd like a refresher) is the New Student Orientation session in the Roosevelt Room at the Maron Hotel. Please plan to arrive no later than 3:00pm so that you can be all checked-in and ready for the 4:00pm meeting.

When the meeting is over, everyone will head up the hill to the Westside Observatory for the welcome picnic at 5:30.

NOTE! There is a show at the Ives Concert Park (where we have held the picnic for the last several summers) so we will be competing with all the concert traffic going up University Boulevard. Once at the top of the Boulevard, the University Police are going to be there directing people to random public parking areas not necessarily convenient to the Observatory. With that in mind, we have created special visitor parking permits that will identify our group and the PD have been notified to route our people into the Campus Center Faculty Parking Lot....if you look at the campus map, you will notice that the Observatory is southeast of the Campus Center...a short walk in the opposite direction of the throngs.

SO PLEASE! Even if you are a returning student or faculty and you already have a current WestConn parking permit and you are not staying at the hotel, please stop into the hotel and pick up one of the special visitor permits. One of us, P.J. or Laurel, will be sitting in the lobby handing them out. It will be well worth the extra 5 minutes.

Just a reminder....if you need to contact Brian or me, you will need to call us on the "MFA Hotline" (203) 739-9380 Please leave a message and don't forget your callback number.

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!

Breaking News

Check out what Aaliyah is up to in California... wow. Click on the headline.

Zumba date and place, for general info, click here

http://www.wcsu.edu/campustour/campusdirectionsheet.pdf

Included is the link to the WestConn campuses – Midtown and Westside. You will go to the Westside Campus and follow the map to the O’Neill Center (ONC.) You will park in the large visitors’ lot in the front of the building – this is the lot that empties out onto University Boulevard - and enter through Gate #3 (adjacent to the Hall of Fame.) This will bring you directly into the gym where there will be someone to direct you to the locker rooms. All participants will be able to shower & change in the locker rooms….bring a padlock with you

Zumbah Class #1
O’Neill Center Arena
Westside Campus
Monday, August 3, 2009
7am – 7:45am

Zumbah Class #2
O’Neill Center Arena
Westside Campus
Thursday, August 6, 2009
7am – 7:45am

Inspired by Daniel, Larry, and Larry's Kidney...

...I've sent off the letter below to my Congressman, Chris Murphy. I hope you'll consider doing the same with your Congressperson.



bc

Dear Congressman Murphy:

Every day, 13 Americans die while waiting for a kidney transplant. There are currently 80,000 Americans on the kidney waiting list. If 13 Americans were dying every day from a newly discovered virus, would we stand aside and do nothing?

This problem can be solved. Spain, Norway, and other countries have instituted an automatic opt-in organ donor program in which every citizen is designated an organ donor but has the opportunity to opt out of the program. This program has opened the floodgates to transplantable organs in those countries, and it will do so in the US as well. It will also contribute to lower health care costs (getting people healthy kidneys instead of forcing them to continue dialysis while they wait) and curb the need for international healthcare tourism.

Will you consider introducing a bill to institute an automatic opt-in organ donor plan in the US?

Thank you for your good service to our district.

Sincerely,

Brian Clements, PhD

Western Connecticut State University

Daniel on CNN

He's making the rounds! Well done, Dan!

Interview Today on BlogTalkRadio

Hi everyone. For those interested, I will be talking with TravelingMom.com editor, Cindy Richards, at 1:30 p.m. EDT today on BlogTalkRadio about staying sane during vacation and more. To listen to the interview:

-Click on the TravelingMom.com website.
-Go to the bottom of the homepage and click on BlogTalkRadio.
-Click On Air to listen to the show.

This will be fairly short - no more than 15 minutes.

*Click* Residency Schedule Re-Posted

The August 2009 Residency Schedule has been re-posted in html as we've had several reports that it was not viewable.

Submissions Are Rolling In

I am very encouraged by the responses to my call for submissions for an upcoming anthology. Not only am I receiving a steady stream of non fiction articles and essays, but I'm excited when I read the bios of the women writers submitting.

I wanted to encourage the women writers in the MFA program - students, mentors, and writers-in-residence - to think about submitting your work for consideration. The deadline isn't until the end of September so there is plenty of time! I will be at the residency Sunday afternoon, August 2nd, so let me know if you have any questions.

Submission guidelines can be found at http://www.ppnanthologyseries.wordpress.com. You can also follow the anthology on Twitter at ppnanthology.

Of course, you can always send me an email at anne@presspausenow.com .

Thanks and enjoy the rest of the summer!

Reprint...uh revox at Podcastle

My experimental* story "To-Do List" was reprinted, after a fashion, on Podcastle.org. It's now a podcast and you can listen to it here.


"To-Do List" originally appeared in the fifth number of the Polyphony series.






*"Experimental" being the third most abused classification in fiction, after "fabulist" (2) and "literary." (#1!!!)

Daniel Asa Rose Interview on NPR 7/23/09

Click on the title above to hear Daniel's interview.

Residency Welcome Picnic and New Student Orientation

This year's picnic will take place at 5:30 on Saturday, Aug. 1 at the observatory on the Westside Campus (not on the Ives Center grounds this time--they have a concert going on that evening).

The observatory is on the little wooded hill between the Westside Campus Center and Pinney Hall; as students/faculty you can park at Pinney or at the Campus Center. Due to the concert, parking might be at a premium; if you're not a fan of uphill walking, I suggest car pooling from the hotel. We will distribute parking passes for everyone who needs them on Sunday at the hotel; if you are not staying at the hotel, you may want to stop by there and pick up a parking pass (if you don't already have a parking tag). Or you can just park on the main road like all the concert goers.

New Student Orientation will be at the hotel in the Roosevelt Room (3rd floor) at 4:00. It is important that new students attend this meeting!

FYI: We will not be serving beer/wine at the picnic this year, but you may bring your own.

Graduate Assistants Needed!

The Writing Dept. is in need of Graduate Assistants for the fall. If you are interested and you haven't yet contacted Graduate Studies, please download the materials from the Grad Studies website (http://www.wcsu.edu/graduate/forms/GA%20Application%20Form%20July%202008.pdf) and submit it to Chris Shankle in Grad Studies THIS WEEK.

Graduate Assistants are compensated for leading discussion sections of the megasection course, which I believe is WRT 101 this semester. It's great for your c.v. if you're interested in teaching professionally. And, of course, you get paid...

Only available to students who live close enough to come to campus regularly, I'm afraid... Newly admitted students ARE eligible.

bc

Drunk and published

I just had a microfiction piece published in the July/August issue of chicklitreview.org. It's called "I Can't Even Blame this One on Being Drunk." I worked on it with Rita Ciresi last semester and had a blast jumping into a totally new arena. I would love to get feedback on it (because I never really finish a piece, I just run out of time to work on it).



Looking forward to seeing you guys at residency!

Claudine

After the Headlines, receives a nomination from the Action on Film International Film Festival

Hello all,

I'm pleased to announce that my short script After the Headlines made the cut from hundreds of scripts and is an official selection at the 2009 Action on Film (AOF) International Film Festival. A premier showcase for the world's independent filmmakers and screenwriters, AOF provides industry professionals and audiences with an opportunity to discover new and films.

AOF Screenwriter's Series is the only festival to take the written word submissions and create short scenes that will be showcased at the festival on the big screens at various theaters in Pasadena.

The festival runs from July 24 to 31, 2009, in Pasadena, California. I will be attending the festival. Can't wait!!

Looking for a Roommate to Share Hotel Expenses

To all who are planning to stay at the Maron for the residency,
Molly is looking for a roomie - here's her email address:
molly.gaudry@gmail.com
Please contact her ASAP.
See you all soon!

Info Now up on MFA Website

New at http://www.wcsu.edu/writing/mfa:

*August residency schedule
*Student/faculty residency appointments
*REVISED Thesis Advisement Guide
*NEW Thesis Template (for the moment it's under Forms, but soon to be moved to a more readily available place)

I will be sending everyone their courses early next week; meanwhile you can find out who at least some of your mentors are by checking out the student/faculty appointments. If you see fewer mentors there than you expect, it's because not all of the mentors are able to attend the residency.

Residency Workshop Group Emails

Greetings,

I've sent out group emails to all workshop leaders & participants. If you have not received a group email for each of your workshops, please let me know immediately. See you all soon!

August 2009 Residency Schedule

The residency schedule is up! Go to the MFA webpage: http://www.wcsu.edu/writing/mfa/

Don the caddy at Outside

Many of us have heard Don Snyder's tales of caddying in Scotland. I came across his story at Outside Magazine's web site. Good stuff.

More Good News from DAR and Larry's Kidney

Daniel informs me from the road that he has an op ed about kidney transplants running in the New York Times this Saturday (subject to change), and Hollywood is abangin’ for rights to the book!

He's also giving a reading at Half King in NYC Monday at 7 if anyone’s going to be in the city.

Exceptional Book

I want to recommend the novel, "Life Goes to the Movies" by former WCSU MFA mentor, Peter Selgin: fast-paced, richly entertaining, wickedly funny, poignant -- it needs to be read by more people. It clicks on all twelve cylinders and Peter's dialogue alone is worth the price.
Best Wishes!
Don

WestConn MFA in Professional Writing: Lizzie's Enrichment

WestConn MFA in Professional Writing: Lizzie's Enrichment
http://dancingwithellendegeneres.blogspot.com/2009/07/detour-zumba.html

Lizzie's Enrichment

Dear MFAers,

I'm teaching two zumba classes at the residency as my enrichment project. In case you feel like participating (and I really hope you do!) I wrote a flyer type thing on my blog page. http://dancingwithellendegeneres.blogspot.com/2009/07/detour-zumba.html I can't wait to see you all! Less than a MONTH!!!!

Love, Lizzie

Residency Workshop Sign-Ups *CLICK* Now Open to all Grads

The enrollment period for incoming students to sign up for the residency workshops has now closed. Whatever seats remaining open are available to any graduate of the MFA program. The workshop assignments will be distributed to all as soon as I receive them from the instructors.