Bettina Judd's Reading 9/17 at MC

 I thought I'd blow off some of this blog's dust today and write about Bettina Judd's reading at MC.  It's been good to read poems from other times and places ("The Ballad of Mulan" and so on), but I've always liked going to readings to hear what other people are writing NOW.

Bettina Judd's poetry fits in nicely with last week's readings...Robert Hayden's "Middle Passage," Muriel Ruykeser's "Absolom," and even Seamus Heaney's "The Tollund Man" and "The Bog Queen."  Research is a significant part of Ms. Judd's writing process since many of her poems are about historical figures or individuals who are in the news.  The first few poems that she read were from a project that she is doing on gynecological experimentation and its impact on Black women's bodies.  Several were from the point of view of Joyce Heth, a slave whom P.T. Barnum had bought and exhibited as George Washington's nurse in 1835 and 1836.  Barnum claimed that she was 160; Ms. Heth was actually in her 70s.  (Below is a picture from a play, "The Exploitation of Joyce Heth," that was performed in New York.)

Another picture is one of Barnum's advertisements:

For more about Ms. Heth's story, see this link from George Mason University:

http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/jackson/5pts/museum/heth.html

Bettina Judd also read poems about more contemporary women.  One was the girl, Latasha Harlins, who was shot in the back of the head by a Korean-American store owner in 1991.  The relatively light sentence that the store owner received was one of the causes of the L.A. riots in 1992.  Having grown up in L.A. and its suburbs, Ms. Judd recalled the impact of Harlins' murder.  She added that at the time she had seen tapes of the shooting on TV.  Another startling poem was about a woman who was tortured and killed by her ex-lover.  A third was about a woman who lay dying and ignored in a NYC emergency ward.

As you can see, Ms. Judd's work is about the violence of history, especially as it affects Black women.  These poems are not for everyone.  Curiously, she read her poems in a soft, quiet voice, swallowing her words.  However, these were not poems for shouting and declaiming.  I would be interested in hearing her read in a different venue...but I was glad to see how packed the room was.

Oh yes...and Ms. Judd talked about *her* approach to writing poetry.  She discussed the projects that she works on.  The poems about gynecological experimentation actually came out of a series of watercolors that she had been working on.  She tries to write a poem a day, not worrying about whether that poem is good or bad.  It is "just" a draft, and she will continue to work on it.  This appears to be an approach that she has taken from the Cave Canem Poets.  Here is a link to their site!  (Caution:  This link has been broken some of the time, so...beware!)

http://cavecanempoets.org/

Here are some links to poems by Bettina Judd.  The first is "A Conversation After Teeth." 

http://penzitspronouncedpants.blogspot.com/2008/08/guest-pnz-conversation-after-teeth.html

Another is her poem, "Sankofa: Gender Bend."

http://www.torchpoetry.org/Fall%2007/bettinajudd.htm

Here is her MySpace page where you may listen to her read some poems, including "Sankofa."

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=199530233

And here is a link to her blog:

http://www.ablackgirl.com/wordpress/


Next up...the Poetry at Noon for World Peace Day on 9/22!

Upcoming Poetry at MC

  No, he's not reading at MC this semester...as far as I know...but I am surprised at how difficult it is to find a good lead picture for a blog entry announcing poetry readings.  I realize that we are an online class and that not everyone is available during the day, but I thought I'd announce a series of readings at the campus.  This series is run by our developmental writing program, but I am intending to attend at least one or two...and report on them here!

On Wednesday, Sept. 17 Bettina Judd will read and discuss her poetry.  Here's a link to her blog:  http://www.ablackgirl.com/index.html  One of her poems is "Gender Bend: Sankofa," Sankofa being an Adinkra symbol that means learning from the past.  Adinkra symbols come from Ghana, but you may have seen some of them in clothing or artwork or even tattoos.

http://www.torchpoetry.org/Fall%2007/bettinajudd.htm
 
More of her poetry is available at her MySpace site:  http://www.myspace.com/bettinajudd If you are interested in political poetry, poetry about the body, women's poetry, and African-American poetry, I encourage you to attend this reading...and/or explore her work.

On Wednesday, October 22 poet and memoirist E. Ethelbert Miller will be reading his work.  Some of you may have read his work or been to his readings, but here is a link to his website:

http://www.eethelbertmiller.com/

Here is his page at the Academy of American Poets' site:

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/485

You may also listen to him read poems about fatherhood at this site:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91531158

Or you may hear a minute of his poetry at this site:

http://aalbc.com/authors/jazz.htm

I found some pictures of E. Ethelbert Miller reading his poetry (where were these pictures an hour or two ago?!), but most were on Flicker.  Here is a picture that wasn't.  Below that is the cover of his memoir, Fathering Words, a book that I'd like to read soon.  I enjoy reading memoirs, especially when they are set in NYC.


On Wednesday, November 5, the Korean journalist, poet, and editor Yearn Hong Choi will be reading his poetry and essays at MC.  I'm glad to see that Korean culture will be getting more attention.  Here is a link to this poet's work:

http://www.poetswest.com/selected.htm

Also, this review of Surfacing Sadness, an anthology edited by Yearn Hong Choi, appeared in the KoreAm Journal:

http://www.koreamjournal.com/Magazine/index.php/kj/layout/set/print/content/view/print/659

Dr. Choi has more recently edited Fragrance of Poetry, an anthology of Korean-American poetry.  The VOA News interviewed him and two other poets whose work appears in this collection:

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-09/2005-09-09-voa69.cfm





Then, on Wednesday November 19, Sylvia Lee, a visiting professor at MC, will read from her poems.  Here is a link to a set of her poems. http://www.damaya.net/poems/Jordan-Rome/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=51&Itemid=112

Here are some pictures from the Cornelia Street Cafe, the venue for a reading series that Prof. Lee co-curates.



Each of these readings take place from 9:30 to 10:20 and 11 to 11:50 at a site to be announced later.  Dr. Choi and Prof. Lee will also read from 1 to 1:50.

Belated Review of MC's Chicago

Taming of the Shrew

  To prepare for Prof. Eckert's talk on Monday March 24, "'Our lances are like straws':  Irony, Rhetoric, and The Taming of the Shrew," I'd like to post a little information about The Taming of the Shrew.  Otherwise, as much as it would be interesting to have another perspective on drama, we won't get as much as we should out of the talk.

The picture above is from a recent local production of Taming at the Shakespeare Theater.  Here is a link to the web site for that production.  As you'll see, it is a very full website with not only a synopsis and reviews but also interviews, a photo gallery, scholarly articles, and even a video trailer!

http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/plays/details.aspx?id=110&source=l

See this link for an audience member's response:

http://twohourstraffic.blogspot.com/2007/10/shakespeare-theatres-taming-of-shrew.html

Or this summer we could go to Utah to see Taming.    Actually, you may find the articles on this site useful.

http://www.bard.org/plays/shrew.html

Here are pictures from other recent productions all over the world:

http://www.cambridgeshakespeare.com/

http://www.chicagoshakes.com/main.taf?p=2,17,5

Even better, the University of Victoria, a Canadian univiersity, has a series of links to performances from 1908 to just last year!  Most are in English, but there are some in German!

http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Theater/sip/play/Shr/main.html

In the late 19th and early 20th century, The Taming of the Shrew was quite popular as this page from Emory University shows:

http://shakespeare.emory.edu/playdisplay.cfm?playid=27

A professor at Virginia Military Institute has put together a number of links on the play's performance history:

http://academics.vmi.edu/english/shrew.html#Performance

But here are some videos from You Tube.  The first contains scenes from a 1960s version of Taming of the Shrew starring Liz Taylor and Richard Burton.  I showed this movie to my Shakespeare on Film class at Purdue University, and they really enjoyed it--even though it was "old."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmOQh5RNveQ

This video shows Kate and Petruchio's wedding:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K2gb9BZcSE

I think that my EN 102 students at Purdue would have preferred this version done by high school students a la Jerry Springer (do you remember him?):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej4ojXbxy2g

Or would you prefer John Cleese's Petruchio?  (Hmm...how would Steve Carrell be in this role!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2NnhBNq6h8

In the UK, The Royal Shakespeare Theater staged both The Taming of the Shrew *and* John Fletcher's sequel (in which Petruchio is tamed!):

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre/reviews/the-taming-of-the-shrew-royal-shakespeare-theatrebr-the-tamer-tamed-swan-theatre-stratforduponavon-594449.html

Here Professors Lisa Jardine (an expert on Shakespeare) and Gordon McMullan (an expert on John Fletcher) and actor Alexandra Gilbraith discuss the two plays and Shakespeare's attitude towards women:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/2003_23_sat_01.shtml

To see what The Tamer Tamed looks like, here is Shakespeare and Company's collection of pictures from its 2005 production:

http://www.shakespeare.org/gallery/tamer