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.

what would you do if you knew?

If you knew that your time here was fleeting. Not just that you might have an illness or a disease, but that your mind was slipping. Your knowledge of your own life would be gone in a matter of months really.

I'd like to think that I'd do everything that I'd always meant to do. That's the cliche, isn't it? Skydive? Run a marathon? Run the chainsaw on my own? But actually, I'd just like to savor what I already have....maybe slow down a little. Definitely spend more time with family. With friends. And a lot of time in coffeeshops with my notebook. And I'd eat only things that I absolutely loved.

It's a scary thought and one that most of us don't want to even contemplate. We can chalk Alzheimer's up as an "old person' disease" but that wouldn't be the truth. About 4 million people are living with Alzheimer's disease and 5% of them develop symptoms before age 60.

In Lisa Genova's novel "Still Alice" we come to know what it would actually be like to be diagnosed at 50 and live with the disease. If you knew the end would come and by then you wouldn't realize it, would you take the steps to do something? Lisa Genova has a PhD in neuroscience and in her research of people with early onset Alzheimer's disease ALL of the people she talked with had contemplated ending their own lives before it became too late. She found that staggering. I think I understand it, don't you?

Lisa is my guest this week on Realgoodwords. Check out this video on "Still Alice"....

What's up this week on Realgoodwords

I'll be talking with authors of two very different books this week on Realgoodwords. Lori Armstrong is the author of No Mercy, a new mysery series featuring Mercy Gunderson. Mercy is a former Army sniper who comes home after her dad dies to take over the family ranch in South Dakota. Life on the ranch is almost as dark and bloody as her time in Iraq.

Wendy Tokunaga is the author of Love in Translation. It's the story of American Celeste Duncan as she sets off on a wild goose chase to find some answers in her puzzling past in of all places, Tokyo. The clash of cultures is very fun in this novel. She finds herself not only getting some answers about her own heritage but at the center of a wildly popular Japanese reality show. Check out the video trailer of the novel below.

KAXE listener book recommendations

Last Saturday we started 2010 out right on Between You and Me with a book recommendation show. Here's a list, add your own suggestions!

Elaine from Chisholm:

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
Missing Mark and Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer
The Devil's Bed by William Kent Krueger

Willy from Grand Rapids:

Louis L'Amour's Sackett series
The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson

Joe from Elk Grove, California:

The Great Game by Leopold Trepper
The novels of Alan Furst (set in pre WW II Europe)
The Family - The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlat

Lowell suggested:

Man-making: Men Helping Boys on their Journey to Manhood by Earl Hipp
The Good Men Project: Real Stories from the Front Line of Modern Manhood essays
The Dead Get By With Everything & Coming Home Crazy by Bill Holm

Barb from Bovey

Chain Letter of the Soul and Eccentric Islands by Bill Holm
The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

Jan suggested:

Olive Kittredge by Elizabeth Strout
Seeking Peace - Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World by Mary Pipher
Shelter Half by Carol Bly

DJ the DJ from Grand Rapids:

No Man's Land by Duong Thu Huong
anything by E. Annie Proulx

Bonnie suggested:

Chasing Fireflies and When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin

Cori from Bigfork:

The Easter House and Driftless by David Rhodes
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Michael from Mule Lake:

You Don't Have to Be Wrong for Me To be Right - Finding Faith Without Fanaticism by Brad Hirschfield
Neither Wolf Nor Dog and The Wolf at Twilght by Kent Nerburn

Gary from Taconite:

When Society Becomes an Addict by Anne Wilson Schaef
The Adjusted American - Normal Neurosis in the Individual and Society by Snell and Gail Putney
One Minute Wisdom by Anthony De Mello

Ruth suggested:

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline
Here if You Need Me by Kate Braestrup

Eivor recommended a new book by her granddaughter:

The Career With You by Ingrid Stabb

Randy from Pokegama:

The New Frugality: How to Consume Less, Save More, and Live Better by Chris Farrell
The Healing of America - A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper and Fairer Health Care by T.R. Reid
Dragon House by John Shors
So Brave Young and Handsome by Leif Enger

Tarry suggested:
Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy

Jennie suggested:

Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

Janet from Raspberry Island:

Into the Forest by Jean Heglund

Krista from Bovey:

Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz

Kathy suggested:

Altar of Eden by James Rollins

Sandy from Canyon:

Anna Pigeon series by Nevada Barr

Laura from Little Falls:

The Martin Beck Mysteries

Melanie from New Brighton:

Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer

Renee from Cook:

Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer

Donna from Deer River

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Under the Flaming Skies by Daniel James Brown
The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown
anything by Lee Child or Vince Flynn for action, intrigue and suspense


also see Heidi's best of 2009 list and Margaret's list on the KAXE Blog.