1st & 3rd Wednesdays @ 3:00pm, LA108
Author: gccazcrw
Open Mic Event! — Two days away!
Before some of you head off into what’s sure to be a luxurious Spring Break, mark your calendars for the next open mic event at GCC.
- When: Wednesday, March 23rd at 7:00PM
- Where: GCC Main – Student Union, Room 104E
- Why: It provides your daily dose of vitamin C.
The event is free, open to the public, but not recommended for children. So, bring what you’ve been working on and regale everyone with your talent. Hosted by Shawnte Orion, the open mic portion of the evening will begin at 7PM, and the night will conclude with a reading from featured guest, Joel Salcido.
Born a Los Angeles cockroach and smuggled to the Westside of Phoenix, Joel Salcido translates the poetry of the barrio pigeons into surrealist prophecies. He is blessed with a beautiful wife and two sons as well as a cadre of talentedly mad brothers, friends, coconspirators and fellow hood radicals. He writes poetry and prose and is working towards a mastery of arts while building a boat out of editor’s rejection letters to float back to the moon. Joel is an MFA candidate in poetry at Arizona State University.
Reminder! Saturday Workshop: He Said, She Said
What do your characters sound like? What would they say in situations you haven’t anticipated them encountering? The answer might surprise you. Come to the dialogue workshop and find out what your characters really want to say. Learn how cultivating each character’s unique voice can help you uncover hidden personality traits. Discuss examples of effective dialogue from various genres and explore how you can use dialogue to create compelling plot moves and authentic character development.
- When: Saturday, March 5th from 10:00AM to Noon
- Where: GCC Main Campus, LA-141
- Why: Because We Said So
The He Said, She Said workshop will be conducted by Jeff Sanger. Jeff studied writing at the University of Pittsburgh, but learned what he knows about dialogue from his work in community mental health. His play “Crazy” was based on some of those experiences and produced for the stage as part of the 2011 Pittsburgh New Works Festival. His work has also been published by Akashic Books, The Compleat Mother, Mt. Lebanon Magazine, and Souf Oaklin’ Fo’ Life. When he’s not teaching English composition for GCC main and north campuses he enjoys playing Minecraft with his three children and cooking with his wife. He’s been married for over 14 years, proof he knows how to listen to what people say!
Announcing: The Traveler Winners!
Please join us in congratulating this year’s Traveler winners. We received many, many strong submissions, but after much deliberation, the following pieces and writers were selected:
Fiction
- First Place: “Leela” by Maneesha Lele
- Second Place: “Stray Dogs and Leftover Bagels” by Dexter Ferrie
- Third Place: “Immersion” by Maneesha Lele
Poetry
- First Place: “Civility’s End” by Charles Hisey
- Second Place: “Grandfather’s Gift” by Charles Hisey
- Third Place: “Obsession: Always Climbing” by Karina Pineda
- Honorable Mention: “Learning the Ways of the South” by Roderick McIver
- Honorable Mention: “Flora” by Taylor Robinson
Nonfiction
- First Place: “Fag Country” by Jamie Heath
- Second Place: “Victims of the Time” by Tina Daquilante
- Third Place: “Suicidal Reasoning” by Charles Hisey
Drama
- First Place: “One Shining Moment” by Eric Bond
Flash Fiction
- First Place: “Ghosts of John” by Daisy Cannon
- Second Place: “A Pair of Galoshes” by Roderick McIver
To everyone who submitted to The Traveler: Thank you for letting us read your work. We hope you return next year and continue to make these decisions so difficult! To our student staff and our faculty judges: Thank you for your time and your commitment to writing here at GCC.
Stay tuned for more news about The Traveler as production commences!
District Writing Competition Winners!
This week, the winners of MCCCD’s writing competitions were announced, and GCC is proud to see that four GCC students have been selected by the the judges. We are also thrilled that there is such a healthy crop of writers across the district, and we want to offer special congratulations to GCC’s own:
- Phillip Boddy Jr. for winning 1st Place in the Essay category!
- Eric Bond for winning 1st Place in One-Act Plays/Scripts!
- Raymond Nokes for winning 2nd Place in Fiction!
- Jamie Lee Heath for winning 3rd Place in Fiction!
We hope to see an even greater GCC presence with these awards next year. For a full list of winners, see below.
Essay:
- Phillip Boddy Jr., GCC, “Our Summer of Love with the Goddess”, 1st Place*
- Amanda Burns, SMCC, “The Frozen Chosen”, 2nd Place
- William Alewyn, MCC, “Lucy’s Nick”, 3rd Place
- Stephen Byrd, CGCC, “The Smell of Freedom”, Honorable Mention
Fiction:
- William Alewyn, MCC, “And in Purgatory”, 1st Place*
- Raymond Nokes, GCC, “New Home”, 2nd Place
- Jamie Lee Heath, GCC, “Fag Country”, 3rd Place
- Spencer Litman, PVCC, “The Monster”, Honorable Mention
- Chaudhry Vidhushi, SCC, “The Shawl Seller”, Honorable Mention
- James Wright, PC, “Ironic, Ain’t It”, Honorable Mention
- John Chakravarty, PC, “Brake Lights”, Honorable Mention
Poetry:
- Valerie Neal, MCC, “Carousel Transitioning into Stage Three”, 1st Place*
- Matthew Hoober, SCC, “Perigee”, 2nd Place
- William Pluchel, SCC, “The Rattle”, 3rd Place
- Howard Gershkowitz, MCC, “A Survivor’s Story. A Railcar’s Introduction”, Honorable Mention
- Kylyn McCarty, MCC, “On the Third Street”, Honorable Mention
- Joy Bickman, MCC, “Hid in a Soft-Sided Suitcase”, Honorable Mention
- Charlotte Coburn, MCC, “Relative Distance”, Honorable Mention
One Act-Play/Script:
- Eric Bond, GCC, “Potted Plants”, 1st Place*
- Caleb Asay, MCC, “A Moment of Clarity”, 2nd Place
- Ariel Tomb, RSC, “Before You Go”, 3rd Place
Reminder: Saturday Morning Workshop!
The first Saturday Workshop of the spring semester comes your way on February 13th. David Nelson, one of our English and creative writing instructors at GCC, will cover concepts related to point of view in writing.
Where: GCC Main Campus, LA-141
When: 10:00AM to 11:30AM (the start time has changed from previous workshops)
Next Free Association Reading: Bilingual Edition!
Our next Free Association Open Mic will be Wednesday, Feb. 17 beginning at 7PM in the Student Union room 104E.
This evening’s reading will be a special bilingual English/Spanish edition.
Participants are invited to reading in Spanish or in English (or both!).
Todos son invitados participar en Espanol o Ingles o los dos!
Members of the Cardboard House Press will host the bilingual evening along with Shawnte Orion.
Please share this information with your students!
All are welcome in the community, but the event is not recommended for children.
Please contact Kimberly Mathes at kimberly.mathes@gccaz.edu with any questions.
Join GCC Reads!
GCC Reads is an organization on campus open to students, faculty, and staff who like to read and discuss literature. For Spring 2016, GCC Reads has chosen The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. Students can participate as much or as little as they like, and membership comes with a free book!
Meetings and book distribution begin the week of February 2nd. Head here to pre-register.
About the Book:
Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.
This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.
There’s Still Time to Register!
The Spring 2016 semester is right around the corner, but there is still time left to register for creative writing goodness. There are only so many seats left, so don’t wait too long! Here is what’s on the docket for GCC in the Spring:
- CRW120 – Introduction to Writing Children’s Literature
- CRW150 – Introduction to Creative Writing
- CRW160 – Introduction to Writing Poetry
- CRW170 – Introduction to Writing Fiction
- CRW190 – Introduction to Screenwriting
- CRW220 – Intermediate Children’s Literature
- CRW260 – Intermediate Poetry Writing
- CRW270 – Intermediate Fiction Writing
- CRW272 – Planning and Structuring the Novel
- CRW273 – Writing the Novel
- CRW274 – Revising the Novel
- CRW290 – Intermediate Screenwriting
Find official course notes, meeting times, instructors, and open seats at GCC’s Find a Class. For additional course descriptions written by the instructors themselves, take a look at our Upcoming Classes page on the blog. If you find a course that you like but it’s full, email the instructor! We’re friendly people, so you might be able to get an override.
We hope to see you in some classes and at all of the great events we have planned for Spring!
Tonight! 7 p.m. Celebrate Poetry at GCC
Annual Glendale Community College White Elephant Poetry Exchange
TONIGHT!!! Celebrate Poetry!!!
When: Weds., Dec. 9th at 7:30 p.m.
Where: GCC, Main Campus, Room MA 142
Hosted by Shawnte Orion
What: Come prepared to read some of your favorite poems. Bring a used book of poetry to exchange, or come without a book and just recite your favorite poem from memory.
Note: This event is not an open mic. The next open mic at GCC will be January 20, 2016.
GCC Creative Writing 