writing workshop in Bemidji "Dreams, Visions & the Inner Image"

Friday February 5th, 2010 from 6-10pm and Saturday February 6th from 8:30am-6:30pm there will be a writing workshop facilitated by Dr. CarolAnn Russell - poet and professor of English & Integrated Studies at Bemidji State University.

The workshop is being held at the Headwaters School of Music & Arts located at 519 Beltrami Avenue in downtown Bemidji. It's open to the public and cost is $125 with a $25 down payment requirement.

Participants of "Dreams, Visions & the Inner Image" will have time for personal and reflective writing as well as exploring poetic forms and visual drawings.

Call the Headwaters School of Music & Arts by January 31st to register - 218-444-5606.

Could you handle....

living off the land, with no electricity, sometimes faulty equipment, monitoring the habits of sea ottters for over a year??? Wait, there's as second part to this question. Could you handle all of that, with your spouse?

Judy Swain Garshelis and her husband Turk did just that. They spent over a year in the remote near Prince William Sound in Alaska, studying the breeding and eating and general movements of sea otters.

Judy told me how the head of the project (from the University of Minnesota) said that he didn't think it was a good idea for a married couple to do the project together. But the Garshelis' proved him wrong. Now, years later, Judy has written about their experiences. The book is called "Otter Spotters - A Wildlife Adventure in Alaska". Judy will be talking about her book and experiences on Thursday Dec. 1st at 7pm at the Grand Rapids Area Library and also signing copies of her book at the Village Bookstore on Saturday Dec. 5th.

Is Aaron Brown Overburdened?

That's the hard hitting question I'm asking this week on Realgoodwords. The answer is YES, Aaron Brown is definitely overburdened. But in a good way, really. (I'm not talking about his many jobs, his many sons or his lovely money-savin' wife.)

Aaron is probably no stranger to you - he's a frequent contributor to KAXE; especially to that other show I do, Between You and Me.

Aaron's a different kind of guy.
A) He's young and
B) he lives on the Iron Range.

And he's SUPREMELY interested in what exactly the Iron Range was, what it is and what it will be....

He's just published his first book called "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range" published by Red Step Press. Aaron has a knack for unpacking history with a modern, slightly sardonic twist. I guess I mean to say he's serious about his work and his beloved homeland, but he's not so serious about himself.

I'm not an Iron Ranger, let me be up front about that. I came from the land of non-flouridated water. In fact, overburden had to be explained to me...

Overburden are those giant piles made from digging those giant holes in the earth that were mined. They consist of mineral waste products and have the dual distinction of being both industrially ugly and starkly beautiful. Overburden is also putting too much stress on something or someone.

Overburden, as Aaron puts it, is really the story of the Iron Range:

"Our entire existence is tied to the past - tied to those big piles of overburden on the edges of all of our towns - the area is in modern terms only 100 years old - so it's 100 years of earth piled up by our ancestors.

Anyone who grew up on the Iron Range in the 1980's knew it was only a matter of time before the whole thing shut down. Kind of 'last one out turn out the lights'. It was assumed that you were going to leave if you could. If you had any kind of talent - in anything - it was expected that you take that talent someplace else."

And yet Aaron wanted to not only stay put, but dig in deeper into those piles of earth, and understand those that had come before him, and those that will go after him.

Tune in for our conversation this week. Aaron will also be co-hosting Between You and Me on Saturday October 18th from 10-noon - we'll be talking about what the Iron Range means to you.

Congratulations to Aaron on the publication of his first book! Check out his upcoming appearances:

Thursday Oct. 16th, Howard Street Booksellers - Hibbing, 5-7pm
Saturday Oct. 18th, Village Bookstore - Grand Rapids, 12-2pm

Wednesday Nov. 12th, Barnes and Noble - Duluth, 6:30pm

Tuesday Dec. 2nd, Grand Rapids Area Library, 7pm

Just Do It!

I'm not talking advertising mantras here, I'm talking about writing. Many of us are "aspiring writers" who may write off and on, but don't diligently sit our butts down and get words on a page. Then there are those that do what they say - like this week's guests on Realgoodwords. Local men who have always wanted to write novels, and by gum, they are doing it.

Mike Holst is a columnist with Northland Press and has published two novels "A Long Way Back" and "Nothing to Lose". Both take place in Minnesota, but are very different stories. "A Long Way Back" is the adventure story of a family whose small plane goes down in the BWCA. In "Nothing to Lose" a widow of a police officer seeks justice her own way.

Jim Proebstle is the author of "In the Absence of Honor" a story set on the Leech Lake reservation that involves corrupt tribal councils - ancient burial grounds and getting to the bottom of a murder. It's been called "a modern day wilderness conspiracy with tentacles reaching Washington D.C."

Who is your favorite Minnesota author? Do you like reading books that are set where you live?

Congrats Guido!

Steve Downing is a contributor to KAXE - providing us with arts information on Thursday mornings with Scott Hall and recording essays for Between You and Me on Saturday mornings.

And, it turns out, also a poet of acclaim. Steve's poem from http://www.mnartists.org/ was picked up by the popular blog MinnPost. MinnPost is:

A nonprofit journalism enterprise that publishes MinnPost.com and MinnPost in Print. Our mission is to provide high-quality journalism for news-intense people who care about Minnesota. We intend to focus sharply on that mission, and not get distracted by trying to be all things or serve all people.

Check out Steve's poem, "The Case for Intelligent Design"