You know how a vacation's sort of not really a vacation? (For example: Visiting Florida so you can change your adorable nephew's diapers, as we explored in the last post.) This week, Author Amok is en vacances at the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society -- aka HoCoPoLitSo -- blog.
This was HoCoPoLitSo's most recent event. By all accounts, amazing performance.
I'm guest posting about being a visiting writing teacher at the local GT Summer Institutes, working with fourth and fifth grade poets. The title is "Summer School Spark." This is a blogging stay-cation for me because HoCoPoLitSo is based in my home town. But it's the kind of stay-cation where you get to spend time hanging out at your big sister's best friend's really nice house, which has an awesome library, and if you're lucky somebody famous might drop by because her family has connections. As long as it's not Billy Collins, because I defy him a little bit in my post.
HoCoPoLitSo is a longstanding literary organization in our area and helped give the journal I edit, Little Patuxent Review, its start. They've hosted readings with some stellar writers over the years. I've been to wonderful HoCoPoLitSo events with such luminaries as Terrance Hayes (no one should be that good looking and that talented, seriously) and Edith Pearlman (amazing reader -- see her if you ever get a chance). Wow. Thanks for the invite, HoCoPoLitSo! Here is the link to my guest post: http://hocopolitso.org/2013/08/14/summer-school-spark/
It's the last day of April and I'm saying TGIM. (Thank God It's May.) I should have known when I began a series on the TechnoVerse that life would go into Warp Drive this month.
When April 2013 began, my family was in Florida for spring break. In the last 30 days, we have:
sent one kid off to California for a robotics world championship;
taught poetry in two elementary schools;
Fifth graders writing portrait poems in response to fine art.
got sick and missed a week of middle school, but
the show must go on (stage managed "The Little Mermaid" at said middle school);
sent Dad off to Nashville for a business trip;
various and sundry other joys and minor disasters.
As I am learning, this is a typical month when you have two teenage children. My teens are tech-buffs. They do their homework on laptops, watch anime in their spare time, and spend too much time on Reddit.
For them, and for the teens in your life, here is a great teen-focused poetry website.
PowerPoetry.Org -- "Write Your Own Life Story" bills itself as the largest mobile teen poetry community in the TechnoVerse.
A lovely lady, Alyce Myatta, from the NEA (which sponsors another great teen poetry program, Poetry Out Loud) tipped me off about this site. This is a place for young poets to upload and share their original writing. They are encouraged to browse through their peers' poetry and vote or leave comments.
But I especially love what comes up when I click a tab entitled "Why Write a Poem":
"Every one of us has a story that is completely our own by virtue of the fact that each of us is unique and has an ever expanding collection of experience that are particular to the lives we lead.
"Simply put, no one is like you.
"Poetry is the means which we can express ourselves, it’s a way to vent, and to make sense of the world, to tell our stories in our own words."
Quoted from PowerPoetry.Org
Teachers, there is a spot on this site for you, too. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on EDUCATORS. You'll find out how to start a PowerPoetry group at your school.
Despite all the drama at home, I've had a great month exploring the TechnoVerse with all of you. Kudos to our excellent guest bloggers! You have all expanded my tech-tools and my thinking about how I can use technology to be a better, more organized writer. (Yes, even you, Dennis Kirschbaum.)
This month, I've experimented with SoundCloud, downloaded Scrivener, felt overwhelmed by Pinterest, revisited an email poem about seamonkeys in my underpants (it's a long story).
If you're not ready to say goodbye to the TechnoVerse yet, here is a full list of the posts in this series:
TechnoVerse wrap up & PowerPoetry.Org for teens (Tuesday 4/30)
I am happily powering down the warp engines, everyone. If you'd like, leave a comment about the recommended apps, websites and programs you've tried as a result of our series.
Good luck as your school years wind down. It's been one for the yearbooks!
Every year, Author Amok celebrates NPM with a month-long project. We've toured the 50 states poet laureate (2010), featured Maryland poets (2011), and looked at 30 Habits of Highly Effective Poets (2012). This year, adventuresome poets, we are exploring the TechnoVerse--that place in cyberspace where poetry and technology intersect. To start us off, here is slam poet Kurt Ikeda's poem "iTeacher."
As a teacher, and the parent of two tech-culture immersed teens, I tip my hat to Kurt. "iTeacher" is an honest look at the pros and cons of teaching (and sometimes competing) with technology. It takes an iVillage to seek out new forms and new iterations of poetry. We'll be looking at apps, programs, websites, and tools for writers. Here is a list of this month's guest bloggers.
Monday, April 1: Laura's Invitation to the TechnoVerse
Tuesday, April 2: Gloson Teh compares poetry to writing code
Wednesday, April 3: Linda Baie's apps for
inspiration
Thanks to Tagxedo.Com for Author Amok's technology-produced and totally spiffy new nameplate. Okay, everyone. Put your space suits on, fire your engines and let's blast off!
