2008 Woodie Awards
Lit Fest: a festival of living words
Dahlia Seroussi
Issue date: 5/19/08 Section: Features
Political, yet earnest. Global, yet close to home. LitFest was an unprecedented event that welcomed renowned writers and musicians to De Anza College.
In its first year, the festival aimed to integrate "living, breathing writers" into the teaching at De Anza, said Ken Weisner, English instructor and adviser to the De Anza literary publication, "Red Wheel Barrow."
Monday, May 5
Students and teachers paid homage to a girlfriend, a gorilla, a Bush and a Hillary.
Nature also received its due as a student read an excerpt from Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey."
A cathedral was likened to a Vietnam War zone and a mother was compared to a Hindu god of destruction.
After a short recess with cakes and Peet's Coffee, writer David Sullivan screened his most recent film, "Coyote and the 10 Gallon Hat."
The film explores the complex relationship between U.S. border patrols and coyotes, the guides who lead migrants across the Mexican border. Along the way, the film made fun of the idea of justice, good versus evil and racial stereotypes.
Tuesday, May 6
California's Poet Laureate Al Young read, talked, shook his body, nodded his head, hummed, stopped and sang with musician Dan Robbins on bass in Conference Rooms A and B.
Unlike many duets, neither Young nor Robbins hogged the spotlight. Instead they made eye contact with each other and listened to each other. Smiles were shared as they responded to each other's words and rhythm.
The duet was followed by a performance by guitarist Brian Gore, who writes poems into his music to share the songs' emotion.
He performed a tune named "Erendira," after the work of writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Innocent Erendira."
"It is a symbolic story about indenture servitude, evil grandmas and finding freedom," Gore said. "Erindira" started peacefully until the melody seemed to shift near the end where it incorporated tensions, seemingly mimicking Erindira's struggle for freedom.
In its first year, the festival aimed to integrate "living, breathing writers" into the teaching at De Anza, said Ken Weisner, English instructor and adviser to the De Anza literary publication, "Red Wheel Barrow."
Monday, May 5
Students and teachers paid homage to a girlfriend, a gorilla, a Bush and a Hillary.
Nature also received its due as a student read an excerpt from Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey."
A cathedral was likened to a Vietnam War zone and a mother was compared to a Hindu god of destruction.
After a short recess with cakes and Peet's Coffee, writer David Sullivan screened his most recent film, "Coyote and the 10 Gallon Hat."
The film explores the complex relationship between U.S. border patrols and coyotes, the guides who lead migrants across the Mexican border. Along the way, the film made fun of the idea of justice, good versus evil and racial stereotypes.
Tuesday, May 6
California's Poet Laureate Al Young read, talked, shook his body, nodded his head, hummed, stopped and sang with musician Dan Robbins on bass in Conference Rooms A and B.
Unlike many duets, neither Young nor Robbins hogged the spotlight. Instead they made eye contact with each other and listened to each other. Smiles were shared as they responded to each other's words and rhythm.
The duet was followed by a performance by guitarist Brian Gore, who writes poems into his music to share the songs' emotion.
He performed a tune named "Erendira," after the work of writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Innocent Erendira."
"It is a symbolic story about indenture servitude, evil grandmas and finding freedom," Gore said. "Erindira" started peacefully until the melody seemed to shift near the end where it incorporated tensions, seemingly mimicking Erindira's struggle for freedom.
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