Poet Denise Duhamel delighted students, faculty,
staff and community members as she
read from her books including Two and Two and
Queen for a Day: Selected and New Poems. Her poems ranged
from thought provoking with Mobius Strip: Forgetfulness--a
poem about Alzheimer's with no beginning and no end--to quirky
laughs with her Barbie inspired poems from Kinky.
This associate professor from Florida International University
in Miami finished the evening with an extended Q&A session.
Sam
Rivers and the Rivbea Orchestra performed with the Valencia
students of Valencia's Jazz Lab Band.
Playing to a packed house, this trifecta of jazz legend, seasoned
musicians and talented Valencia students ROCKED the East Campus
Performing Arts Center! In addition, Sam Rivers & Rivbea
Orchestra offered a 1st time release of the new CD "AURORA."
This
powerful speaker was both mesmerizing and poignant as she
shared her bleak upbringing in Community China under Mao Zedong.
Reading experts included Empress Orchid, Becoming
Madame Mao and the best-selling memoir, Red Azalea.
Attendees were treated to a harmonious closing as Anchee Min
sang opera to an enraptured audience.
Tim
Dorsey , Author & Humorist Thursday, December 8, 2005
A
wildly funny and humorous event! Students, faculty, staff,
and community members enjoyed insight into the mind of Tim
Dorsey. This informative Q&A style event was a unique
experience consisting of laughs, writing tips and tricks,
and a chance to find out if those wacky villains and situations
are based on experience, reality, observation or just a really
twisted and creative mind. The answer? All of the above!
Reading to a packed house at Valencia's Osceola campus, H.
G. Carrillo, author of Loosing My Espanish, kept
the audience captivated with his humorous stories on Cuba,
his family, and life. Mark Pino of the Orlando Sentinel
wrote of H. G. Carrillo's visit to Valencia " . . . if
his words were food, you'd know the combination of onions,
garlic and cilantro are just right. It's a dish worth savoring."
Reading from his newest volume of poems, School
of the Arts, Mark Doty proved to Valencia Students, Faculty,
and staff why he is he only American poet to have won Great
Britain 's T. S. Eliot Prize. Mark also read selections from
his six books of poems. The first, Turtle, Swan, appeared
in 1987. His third collection, My Alexandria (1993), received
both the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the National Book
Critics Circle Award.
Playwrite
Paula Vogel shared her story and that of other playwrites
at Valencia's College Learning Day.
Paula Vogel's play, How I Learned to Drive , received the
1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Lortel, Drama Desk, Outer
Critics Circle and New York Drama Critics Awards for Best
Play, as well as winning her second OBIE. Theatre Communications
Group has published two anthologies of her work, The Mammary
Plays and The Baltimore Waltz and Other Plays .
Mixing his warm humor with intricate songwriting, singer David
Wilcox delivered an inspired concert to 200 students, staff
and community members on Valencia's East Campus. Wilcox's generous
set included such well-known songs as "Inside of My Head"
and "Rule Number One." He followed that with an intimate
master class, where he discussed the art and inspiration of being
a musician.
Hirshfield video is coming
soon! Windows MediaQuicktime
With a subtlety and quiet fierceness, Jane Hirshfield
read from her entire career of outstanding work. Starting with some
of her earliest poems, Hirshfield moved chronologically through
her five books, ending with many of the precise observations from
her last book, Given Sugar, Given Salt.
With a commanding presence and sly sense of humor, Fred
D'Aguiar told of his childhood in Guyana and London as
well as his struggles of being an African American in those places.
His writings and comments mixed the influences of Calypso culture,
British colonialism, Bob Marley, James Brown and the anti-racist
movement that swept through London in the 1970s.
Whyte tells how we leave
parts of ourselves behind in the car when we go to work Windows
MediaQuicktime
To an attentive crowd on West Campus, poet and writer David
Whyte delivered a powerful presentation on the preservation
of our self and soul in work. Quoting from his own poetry and others,
Whyte encouraged us to have those "fierce conversations"
with ourselves and our work.
On a sunny afternoon in the East Campus courtyard, Clyde
Edgerton brought his mix of southern storytelling and music
to Valencia. Edgerton’s performance alternated between readings
(using his characters’ voices) from his book, Lunch at
the Piccadilly and performing with his bluegrass band, The
Rank Strangers.
Mixing humor and history, high and low art, Campbell McGrath
spoke to a large crowd on Valencia’s West Campus about the
peculiar nature of Florida’s history and future. McGrath read
mostly from his book “Florida Poems” as well as some
pieces from his newest collection, “Pax Atomica.”
In the East Campus atrium, southern poet Michael McFee
mixed his touching family poems with tales of his North Carolina
childhood. McFee has published six collections of poetry, including
Earthly, which he read from extensively.
One of Ireland’s premier poets, Eavan Boland,
read from her collection Against Love Poetry, to a full
house on Valencia’s West Campus. In many of her poems, Boland
considered the rituals and bonds of marriage and friendship and
undercut the idealized version of one of the poetry’s greatest
subjects: love.
Sponsored by the Honors Dept.
at Valencia, Billy Collins brought a keen eye,
a biting wit and his deceptively plain style to Valencia. Collins,
one of America’s best-known poets and Poet Laureate from 2001-2003,
charmed the audience with his poems about barking dogs playing Beethoven,
the death of the hat and Victoria’s Secret models.
Visitors & Friends
she
read from her books including Two and Two and
Queen for a Day: Selected and New Poems. Her poems ranged
from thought provoking with Mobius Strip: Forgetfulness--a
poem about Alzheimer's with no beginning and no end--to quirky
laughs with her Barbie inspired poems from Kinky.
This associate professor from Florida International University
in Miami finished the evening with an extended Q&A session.
Sam
Rivers and the Rivbea Orchestra performed with the Valencia
students of Valencia's Jazz Lab Band.
Playing to a packed house, this trifecta of jazz legend, seasoned
musicians and talented Valencia students ROCKED the East Campus
Performing Arts Center! In addition, Sam Rivers & Rivbea
Orchestra offered a 1st time release of the new CD "AURORA."
This
powerful speaker was both mesmerizing and poignant as she
shared her bleak upbringing in Community China under Mao Zedong.
Reading experts included Empress Orchid, Becoming
Madame Mao and the best-selling memoir, Red Azalea.
Attendees were treated to a harmonious closing as Anchee Min
sang opera to an enraptured audience.
A
wildly funny and humorous event! Students, faculty, staff,
and community members enjoyed insight into the mind of Tim
Dorsey. This informative Q&A style event was a unique
experience consisting of laughs, writing tips and tricks,
and a chance to find out if those wacky villains and situations
are based on experience, reality, observation or just a really
twisted and creative mind. The answer? All of the above!
Playwrite
Paula Vogel shared her story and that of other playwrites
at Valencia's College Learning Day.
