GEAR | Buck Products

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Bags. Bags. Bags. More bags. While still high from my jaunt to Jackson Hole last week, I discovered Buck Products out of Bozeman, Montana and am loving their simple roll-top backpacks ($100) and re-purposed totes ($60). While it's too late to get a custom order in (you can pick out any color combination your little heart desires) for Christmas, their stock bags are pretty great too. Everything is sewed from scratch by Alex Buck in the mountains of Montana and I love the old-school mountaineer aesthetic of his bags, but more importantly, as Buck says, "they hold a cubic-buttload and are wicked tough".

Q&A | Nikki Garcia

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Photo of Nikki Garcia via Need Supply. Q&A produced by Elaina Bellis.
This marks the last Q&A of 2012, and I'm super excited to end on such a high note. Nikki Garcia not only works for Levi's, but she is also the designer behind the small-batch American label First Rite out of San Francisco. Her clothing is evocative of Coco Chanel and has a certain rustic-yet-sophisticated vibe to it. She in influenced by menswear and clothes that are easy to wear while still looking sharp. Four words for you: I love this line.  
If not in San Francisco, I would live in...Montana.
My dream holiday would be to...go on a ghost town/hot springs road trip tour around the country.
My current obsessions are...
Food: Homemade pizza, arugula on everything, and hard ciders of many flavors.
Music: The Beatles and Grateful Dead always.

Fashion: Mom jeans, pistol boots, and a collared shirt buttoned up to the top and tucked in.
Retail Stores: Voyager and General Store in SF, Assembly NY, and Opening Ceremony.  
I channel my childhood self when I... hang out with my twin sister! 
The fictional character I most relate to is...I want to say Nancy Drew but my life is just not as interesting.
If I had to be outdoors all day I would...be in the woods.

My favorite quality in a man is...thoughtfulness, humor, and beautiful blue eyes.
  
My favorite quality in a woman is...a sense of humor and an adventurous spirit. 

I'm terrified of...spiders. 

My dream car is a...woody wagon.

My cocktail of choice is...tequila, lime juice, and soda. 

My celebrity crush is...Antonio Banderas in his Desperado days.

My beauty product of choice is...Weleda Wild Rose Day Cream. 
My friends and I like to...ride bikes.
If I could go back in time for one decade it would be...the 1960's feel like an obvious choice.
As a teenager I was totally into...getting in trouble.  I tend to splurge on...shoes and denim. Especially ankle boots. 
Choosing pantsuits over dresses...is what makes me have Tomboy Style.

SCENE | Patagonia H.Q., Ventura, CA.

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When I found out I was going to be able to get a tour of the Patagonia offices in Ventura, CA., I freaked out. It's a brand I've utterly been in a relationship with since I was a kid. Really. I know that might sound weird or uncool or materialistic, but it's true. When the Patagonia catalogs would come in the mail and I would see photos of these rad girls surfing and kayaking and climbing mountains, I was truly inspired to travel and be adventurous and, well, be a tomboy.

If I'm being honest though, 10% of me was a little nervous to see the office today. When you hold something in such a high regard, it's easy to get let down. And especially when you're seeing "how the sausage is made", there's great opportunity for the magic to be lost.

But, unsurprisingly, that didn't happen today in Ventura. Patagonia is as magical and inspiring a place as I imagined it would be. I was grinning the whole time. I truly believe that despite its retail success (they do half a B in sales every year), Patagonia is still an iconoclastic company with its roots still very much in tact. In fact, its founder Yvon Chouinard, the man who founded the company in 1972, was there today eating his lunch in the small cafeteria in an old fleece and a pair of flip flops.






Color schemes from the Spring '87 line.

One of the several machines in the fabric test lab.

An original tin building on the Patagonia campus.

Solar panels in the parking lot that offset most of the energy produced by their main building.

Some of the awesome designers and pros on the Patagonia team! This site visit was one of the highlights of my year, thank you so much Patagonia!

ICON | Gwenda Hawkes

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Photo of motorcycle and car racer Gwenda Hawkes on a Trump bike with a J.A.P. engine in the early 1920s via OoCities.

"On a cold, rainy November morning in 1921 a small crowd gathered to watch Gwenda Hawkes, a slight, intense young Englishwoman, confidently straddle a curious two-wheeled American machine called a Ner-A-Car, which belied its pretensions to close relationship with the automobile by its appearance. At best it was a mere motorized scooter. It ran on all of one cylinder and its only means of stopping was a single rear-wheel brake. Under official scrutiny in daily runs of 190 miles, Mrs. Hawkes miraculously survived 1,000 grueling miles on the fragile machine over icy roads without a spill or breakdown...This was precisely the kind of challenge Mrs. Hawkes liked best. It was unusual, a little mad, and it was equal to anything any man had ever performed on the same machine—an accomplishment that she found especially satisfying." —Sherry Keen in an excerpt from Sports Illustrated's A Lady In A Man's Game: Racer Gwenda Hawkes broke speed records as some wives break dishes, 1958.

Photo of Gwenda Hawkes (then Stewart) in 1930 via Morgan Motor Company.

BOOKS | Robert Mapplethorpe: Certain People: A Book of Portraits

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Scanned photo of Catarine Milinaire by Robert Mapplethorpe, 1979.

My mom gifted me the out-of-print 1985 Robert Mapplethorpe book Certain People: A Book of Portraits for Christmas this year and it's been sitting at the ready on my desk ever since. So many incredible people and photos in there, but this profile shot of Caterine Milinaire in 1979 really spoke to me.

Susan Sontag's introduction is expectedly profound, but I especially love how she made me think about the meaning of the title. She writes, "There is certain in the sense of some, and not others; and certain in the sense of self-confident, sure, clear."

The book is available used on Amazon and eBay. Thanks Mom!

Finalists for the Cider Press Review Editor's Prize

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For the inaugural Cider Press Review Editor's Prize, eight finalists were selected in August from the hundreds of manuscripts submitted. Here is the list, alphabetically, and I'm pleased that my manuscript My Dear, Dear Stagger Grass was included:

     After Jay
     The Green Cup
     My Dear, Dear Stagger Grass
     On the Desire to Levitate
     Planetary Nights
     The Principle of Flickering
     Significant Others
     Snow White, When No One Was Looking


I'm grateful, too, that my manuscript has been a finalist in several other book contests during the three years that I've circulated it. During that time it has also been a semifinalist for The Washington Prize (Word Works) and the Elixir Press Antivenom Poetry Award, as well as a finalist for these:

     The National Poetry Series
     Prairie Schooner Prize in Poetry
     Robert Dana-Anhinga Prize for Poetry
     Cider Press Book Award

Circulating a manuscript is hard work, and I want to thank these presses/contests for their encouragement along the way.

Cider Press Review Editor's Prize

To contact us Click HERE
I'm pleased to announce--no, actually I'm ecstatic--that my manuscript "My Dear, Dear Stagger Grass" will be published by Cider Press Review after winning their inaugural Editor's Prize. The day that Ruth Foley, managing editor of the press, called me with the news I was speechless, stunned with joy. And I'm still celebrating.

Congratulations, too, to the runner-up and honorable mentions:

      Runner-Up:
           Snow White, When No One Was Looking, Donna Prinzmetal

      Honorable Mentions:
           The Green Cup, V. P. Loggins
           The Principle of Flickering, Laura Donnelly
           Planetary Nights, Jeanne J. LeVasseur

My Dear, Dear Stagger Grass will be released in the fall of 2013.

I've followed the recent history of the press and admire so much the work that they're doing, the authors that they are publishing. I had the pleasure of hearing Landon Godfrey, author of Second-Skin Rhinestone-Spangled Nude Souffle Choffon Gown, read last fall; I've enjoyed reading Liz Robbins's Play Button; and I fell for the poetry of Joseph Fasano, author of Fugue for Other Hands, when he won the Rattle Poetry Prize a few years ago. Landon, Liz, and Joseph are all past winners of the Cider Press Book Award.

If you're not familiar with this press, please do check it out:

Cider Press Review website

Mark Smith-Soto has won this year's James Applewhite Poetry Prize

To contact us Click HERE
Congratulations to Mark Smith-Soto, winner of the 2012 James Applewhite Poetry Prize for his poem "Last Retreat to Topsail Beach." The winning poem and those of the finalists will be published in the North Carolina Literary Review (NCLR). Mark's poem was selected by poet James Applewhite from the work of six finalists chosen by NCLR Poetry Editor Jeffrey Franklin. Almost fifty poets submitted to the competition.

Here are the finalists:

• 2nd place: Laurence G. Avery’s poem “Only Yonaguska”
• Honorable mention: Grace Cloris Ocasio’s “Little Girlfriend”
• Other finalists:
• Richard Betz’s “Picking Blackberries on Yellow Mountain Road” 
• Samantha Lee Deal’s “North Carolina, This Will Be The Last Poem”
• Susan Laughter Meyers’s “Banding Hummingbirds” and “Beggar’s-Lice”

NCLR has further details at its website.

2013 Poet's Market

To contact us Click HERE
At the end of last May, editor Robert Lee Brewer put out a call for submissions of unpublished poems, with plans to select 20 and publish them in the 2013 Poet's Market. In the fall he announced the 20 poems selected, and my poem "Wind Chimes, Minus the Wind" was one of them. How exciting for me to have a poem published in Poet's Market! Thank you, Robert Lee Brewer.



Here's a list of the 20 poets and their poem titles. Congratulations to all the other poets:

• Kelli Russell Agodon, "On Some Other Planet We're Newlyweds"
• Nin Andres, "Ghosts"
• Pris Campbell, "Sackcloth"
• Jessie Carty, "The Painter's Pantoum"
• Sage Cohen, "Dear Fritz Guest House"
• Iris Jamahl Dunkle, "Photography Lesson, Pt. Reyes"
• Terri Kirby Erickson, "At the Bowling Alley"
• Patricia Fargnoli, "When I Re-Read His Letters"
• Jen Karetnick, "Arrival: A Love Villanelle for Haiti"
• Jeffrey H. MacLachlan, "Sea Ghost, Fire of the Sea"
• Susan Laughter Meyers, "Wind Chimes, Minus the Wind"
• Heather M. Moore Niver, "Flinging the Unsaid into the Surf or Seeing You Again . . . "
• Shann Palmer, "Occluded"
• Nancy Posey, "Follow the Leader"
• Nate Pritts, "Frost at Midmorning"
• Karen Rigby, "Echolocation"
• Rebecca Givens Rolland,
• Linda Simoni-Wastila, "Greetings from Motel 6"
• Kelli Simpson, "Hands to"
• Joannie Stangeland, "As a Beginning"

You can go to the Writer's Digest website for more information about this newly released edition of Poet's Market, as well as information for ordering a copy.

What I'm Loving Now

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I LOVE the knitted coffee cozies I am seeing all over Etsy right now! Not only are they so cute, but they are great for the environment instead of the cardboard holders and will keep your coffee or tea warmer longer. I really like this one shop Natalya's Studio. 


 She makes these adorable cozies in several colors.

She also has patterns you can purchase to make your own. So maybe it is time for me to get the old knitting needles out and make one for myself.  Check out her shop for knitted cowls also.. I have really wanted one, but it hasn't been that cold here in the South the last two Winters. Hopefully it will be this year so I can buy, or make one for myself.


Have a wonderful day!





Linda

March 19, 2012: Ed Madden's MFA poetry workshop at USC

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Tomorrow Bryan Penberthy and I will be guest teachers in Ed Madden's MFA poetry workshop at the University of South Carolina. We're both looking forward to the experience, meeting with the students while Ed is away in Ireland. We'll read a few poems, talk about our writing process and publication experience, and teach a brief mini-lesson. My mini-lesson will be on "The Usefulness of Silence in a Poem."

Finalists for the Cider Press Review Editor's Prize

To contact us Click HERE
For the inaugural Cider Press Review Editor's Prize, eight finalists were selected in August from the hundreds of manuscripts submitted. Here is the list, alphabetically, and I'm pleased that my manuscript My Dear, Dear Stagger Grass was included:

     After Jay
     The Green Cup
     My Dear, Dear Stagger Grass
     On the Desire to Levitate
     Planetary Nights
     The Principle of Flickering
     Significant Others
     Snow White, When No One Was Looking


I'm grateful, too, that my manuscript has been a finalist in several other book contests during the three years that I've circulated it. During that time it has also been a semifinalist for The Washington Prize (Word Works) and the Elixir Press Antivenom Poetry Award, as well as a finalist for these:

     The National Poetry Series
     Prairie Schooner Prize in Poetry
     Robert Dana-Anhinga Prize for Poetry
     Cider Press Book Award

Circulating a manuscript is hard work, and I want to thank these presses/contests for their encouragement along the way.

Cider Press Review Editor's Prize

To contact us Click HERE
I'm pleased to announce--no, actually I'm ecstatic--that my manuscript "My Dear, Dear Stagger Grass" will be published by Cider Press Review after winning their inaugural Editor's Prize. The day that Ruth Foley, managing editor of the press, called me with the news I was speechless, stunned with joy. And I'm still celebrating.

Congratulations, too, to the runner-up and honorable mentions:

      Runner-Up:
           Snow White, When No One Was Looking, Donna Prinzmetal

      Honorable Mentions:
           The Green Cup, V. P. Loggins
           The Principle of Flickering, Laura Donnelly
           Planetary Nights, Jeanne J. LeVasseur

My Dear, Dear Stagger Grass will be released in the fall of 2013.

I've followed the recent history of the press and admire so much the work that they're doing, the authors that they are publishing. I had the pleasure of hearing Landon Godfrey, author of Second-Skin Rhinestone-Spangled Nude Souffle Choffon Gown, read last fall; I've enjoyed reading Liz Robbins's Play Button; and I fell for the poetry of Joseph Fasano, author of Fugue for Other Hands, when he won the Rattle Poetry Prize a few years ago. Landon, Liz, and Joseph are all past winners of the Cider Press Book Award.

If you're not familiar with this press, please do check it out:

Cider Press Review website

Mark Smith-Soto has won this year's James Applewhite Poetry Prize

To contact us Click HERE
Congratulations to Mark Smith-Soto, winner of the 2012 James Applewhite Poetry Prize for his poem "Last Retreat to Topsail Beach." The winning poem and those of the finalists will be published in the North Carolina Literary Review (NCLR). Mark's poem was selected by poet James Applewhite from the work of six finalists chosen by NCLR Poetry Editor Jeffrey Franklin. Almost fifty poets submitted to the competition.

Here are the finalists:

• 2nd place: Laurence G. Avery’s poem “Only Yonaguska”
• Honorable mention: Grace Cloris Ocasio’s “Little Girlfriend”
• Other finalists:
• Richard Betz’s “Picking Blackberries on Yellow Mountain Road” 
• Samantha Lee Deal’s “North Carolina, This Will Be The Last Poem”
• Susan Laughter Meyers’s “Banding Hummingbirds” and “Beggar’s-Lice”

NCLR has further details at its website.

2013 Poet's Market

To contact us Click HERE
At the end of last May, editor Robert Lee Brewer put out a call for submissions of unpublished poems, with plans to select 20 and publish them in the 2013 Poet's Market. In the fall he announced the 20 poems selected, and my poem "Wind Chimes, Minus the Wind" was one of them. How exciting for me to have a poem published in Poet's Market! Thank you, Robert Lee Brewer.



Here's a list of the 20 poets and their poem titles. Congratulations to all the other poets:

• Kelli Russell Agodon, "On Some Other Planet We're Newlyweds"
• Nin Andres, "Ghosts"
• Pris Campbell, "Sackcloth"
• Jessie Carty, "The Painter's Pantoum"
• Sage Cohen, "Dear Fritz Guest House"
• Iris Jamahl Dunkle, "Photography Lesson, Pt. Reyes"
• Terri Kirby Erickson, "At the Bowling Alley"
• Patricia Fargnoli, "When I Re-Read His Letters"
• Jen Karetnick, "Arrival: A Love Villanelle for Haiti"
• Jeffrey H. MacLachlan, "Sea Ghost, Fire of the Sea"
• Susan Laughter Meyers, "Wind Chimes, Minus the Wind"
• Heather M. Moore Niver, "Flinging the Unsaid into the Surf or Seeing You Again . . . "
• Shann Palmer, "Occluded"
• Nancy Posey, "Follow the Leader"
• Nate Pritts, "Frost at Midmorning"
• Karen Rigby, "Echolocation"
• Rebecca Givens Rolland,
• Linda Simoni-Wastila, "Greetings from Motel 6"
• Kelli Simpson, "Hands to"
• Joannie Stangeland, "As a Beginning"

You can go to the Writer's Digest website for more information about this newly released edition of Poet's Market, as well as information for ordering a copy.