end-of-year hub party 2007
The core community of Writers House people gather in late April to celebrate the year's achievements and say goodbye to those leaving the area.
Monday, April 23, 2007
What I learned from the 2007 Hub Party in just under 1,000 words...
- Jessica Lowenthal is officially the new permanent Director of the Kelly Writers House.
- Everyone is really happy Jessica is the new permanent Director.
- Jessica promised she would not cry; she didn't.
- Arielle Brousse promised there was a 98.9% chance she would not cry;
she was about 98.9% correct.
- Anna Levett didn't promise anything and lost some composure talking about Jessica.
- Anna said Jessica was her shopping partner; Jessica shopped for a Johnny Cash collection for Anna.
- Johnny Cash's daughter Roseanne Cash was featured at a songwriting symposium at the Writers House earlier this year.
- The songwriting symposium wasn't on Jessica's list of favorite things for the year
- 7-Up on Bitter was on that list.
- Richard Lawrence is bitter.
- Richard is also surly, grumpy, particular, not a fan of cheese, bearded, environmentally conscience, and the grill master.
- Richard is also very caring and thoughtful, as Jamie-Lee highlighted with several anecdotes (mostly involving food!)
- Richard is also very concerned with the issue of riding mopeds rather than cars.
- Jamie-Lee Josselyn was inspired to write a five-part tutorial discussing this issue.
- It can be assumed Jamie-Lee did not have Pia Aliperti do any work in any way in writing, formatting, or printing this tutorial.
- Pia took her first Fellows course this year and "had something to say."
- Ben Crair took his third Fellows course this year. This makes him both the "wallpaper" of Al's room and the "air" Al breathes.
- There was no wallpaper breathed at any point during the party.
- There was "NO WEED" for Jeff Greenwald. Not at the Hub party, not on the Fellows camping trip. None!
- There was tobacco presented by Erin Gautsche to Adam Franklin, if, for no other purpose, than to send up smoke signals from outside the house when he cannot be found.
- If Adam cannot be found via smoke signals, fear not, he is probably drafting up another "Word from the Bird...mass e-mail to the few" (a.k.a. the KWH staff) and deliberately hindering others' attempts to exterminate the mice that are simply misunderstood.
- If Peter Schwarz had bought Arielle a cat, the mice problem would be solved.
- Peter bought Arielle a kitty collar and kitty toy.
- Peter also bought Arielle pomegranate martini mix. That was not for the kitties.
- Peter also did not buy mojito mix, a book, or jewelry.
- Nick Montfert already wears jewelry: a pinkie ring. According to Steve McCloughlin, he is the only man that can pass this off.
- Chris Mustazza wants jewelry, too: a bracelet inscribed with the letters "WWAD," obviously standing for "What Would Al Do?"
- If the answer is Chris, anyone would be happy because Chris can fix any technological problem.
- Chris has managed the Podcasts for years. His favorite program was poet Donald Hall.
- Pia wants to be a poet.
- Pia and Sam Donsky were both honored for their submissions to the College Alumni Society Alumni Society Poetry Prizes.
- Pia and Sam both composed poetry collections for their thesis projects. So did Anna. They were the first three students to every compose poetry collections for their theses.
- Greg Djanikian wrote a poem to honor Sam entitled the "Ode Reciting the Incalculable Damage Done to Fine Young Book Love Sam Donsky by the Needlessly Revengeful Van Pelt Corporation of Material Culture" to recognize the fact that Sam was not permitted to take books out of the library.
- Greg bought Sam 'library books' (books about libraries).
- Jessica bought Jamie Alter a book of poetry exercises.
- Jessica also bought Jamie an Easy Button. The gift came a couple months too late, as it would have come in handy every Saturday during Write-On when young children flooded the Writers House.
- Jamie never really needed the Easy Button.
- Speaking of easy, Adam wrote that the "new year before us" shouldn't be anything to worry about - "it's easy peezy lemon squeezy."
- In college, Adam learned that when people disagree to the point of violence, it is not because they are evil or stupid but because they live in very different worlds. He finds the comforting.
- Anna says the Writers House represents warmth and security amidst the scariness that Penn can be.
- Arielle said the Writers House was her home for the past four years.
- The Writers House was the home that Bob Lucid built. Sadly, Bob passed away this past year. "We lost a great friend, the person who conceived of the idea of the Writers House in the first place," remembered Al.
- There has been a fund established for $50,000 in Bob's name to create programs for budding novelists and fiction writers.
- The co-university experimental fiction program was also one of Jessica's favorite events of the year. So was the complete reading of On the Road from one scroll of script and the Dick Polman lunch series.
- Dick proved that it is never too late to edit, correcting Jeff on writing "balling" instead of "bawling" two and a half years after the piece was written.
- Jeff often wondered in the Fellows class how many of his classmates would become famous.
- Ben's dream is to return years later as a Fellow, coming full circle. In the meantime, Ben would like the course to end because he will not be there next spring.
- Ben also took Al's Holocaust course and English 88, brining his total to five courses with Al.
- Al revived the Writers House Freedom Singers.
- Al spent most of the BBQ in the Arts Cafe rehearsing with Greg, Bob Perelman and Kitsi Watterson.
- Bob and Kitsi escaped the party before the Freedom Singers performed their closing act.
- Al and Greg led the audience in a stirring rendition of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released."
- According to Al, Bob Dylan ranks right behind Emily Dickinson and William Carlos Williams on people who truly represent the Writers House.
- Within the Writers House family, according to Anna, there are no assholes.
- The Writers House is really defined by kindness and family.
- The outgoing seniors and staff members will be dearly missed, but certainly not forgotten.