Creative writing sampler series inspires
Jaclyn Gallo
Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: College Life
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The Writing Center was full of students and faculty eager for the event. Some (including myself for most of the night) had to stand half in the door and half in the hallway, or connected room just to listen. Everyone was so close together that it became very warm, but no one gave up and left.
The brilliant Stephanie Coyne DeGhett took the podium first of the two professors. She started with a new work of fiction titled "The Oldest Little Girl." Her detailed account of the tale was simple, yet complex. Her works are easy to understand and picture, and you can visualize the story perfectly with all of her specifics.
DeGhett then moved on to poetry, another of her obvious strong areas. Her style and lyrics just flow flawlessly. She never hesitates to implement visual and sensual devices, letting the audience feel the wind she speaks of. She is remarkably imaginative and artistic. After reading her selections, she asked the room for requests from her "stash" of works, and Dr. Judith Rich requested a favorite of DeGhett's.
A break for free refreshments broke the night up into two sections between readers. After I swallowed down two cups of soda and some cheese and crackers, I hurried back to the room to get a spot to stand and watch the much-anticipated Dr. Steinberg.
As I had expected, Steinberg did not disappoint. In fact, he blew me away. I see this man every Tuesday and Thursday morning for an hour and fifteen minutes, and I couldn't wait to hear his creative writing pieces. I knew the kind of mind I was dealing with because everything he has to say is intriguing.
His first piece was an absorbing bit based on the word "score." In a conversational tone, Steinberg spoke in the first person as a man who kept learning a new meaning to the term as he aged. Every ten years, the word "score" meant something else, changing from drugs to sex, sex to sheet music, music to divorce, divorce to being cheated, and so on.
His newest work "The Tattooed Nurse" is based on a "labor of love," so to speak. I felt like a child in pre-kindergarten sitting in a reading circle, and I couldn't get enough of the story. Steinberg has such a brazen sense of humor that no one can ignore or compete with it. He turned a common joke about childbirth into a unique and fantastic storyline. I don't want to give away too much of his works because they really need to be read. Any human being would understand the truth and sarcastic humor of the classic idea of "The Tattooed Nurse."
Get out and start attending the events that you see posters for all over campus. You don't know what you're missing until you've seen it. Your professors are outstanding people with major accomplishments (and sometimes, published books). Many of these great people are known for things other than being SUNY Potsdam professors, and we are lucky to have them. There are two more of the Creative Writing Sampler Series readings this year. See what professors have been working on and get inspired.
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