Month: March 2013

Claire Vaye Watkins Wins Story Prize for Short Fiction

Kerong Kelly

Contributing Writer

Claire Vaye Watkins, assistant professor of English, won The Story Prize of 2012 for her short fiction piece titled “Battleborn.” This piece is comprised of 10 stories, covering a variety of backgrounds and characters and combining historical context with the contemporary West.

From the California Gold Rush of 1849 to the set that was once home to the Manson Family (a quasi-commune established in California in the late 1960s), Watkins covers a broad scope of events in her writing. In addition to being the first woman to win this award since Mary Gordon, author of “The Stories of Mary Gordon” in 2007, Watkins is also the third debuting author to win.

The Story Prize, established in 2004, annually honors a short fiction collection. The $20,000 award is the largest first-prize amount of all annual U.S. book awards for fiction. At the award ceremony, held at The New School in New York City, the 2012 finalists read from and discussed their collections with Larry Dark, director of The Story Prize.

During her teenage years, Watkins spent a significant amount of time in Las Vegas and in other more remote areas of Nevada. Her father, Paul Watkins, a former member of the Manson Family and author of “My Life with Charles Manson” (1979), testified against Charles Manson, a criminal and leader. Later on, Watkins earned her MFA from Ohio State University. She then received fellowships from the Writers’ Conferences at Sewanee and Bread Loaf.

Watkins currently teaches courses on fiction and creative writing at the University.

“Professor Watkins has taught me that even though there are guidelines in writing, creating art is a personal matter and you should definitely follow your passion as an individual to ensure the uniqueness of your work,” Sara Chuirazzi ’16 said. “She’s taught me important elements of craft, such as how to establish setting, create round characters and utilize scene, but most importantly she’s taught me how to recognize my strengths as a writer while also viewing my own work with a critical eye.”

Watkins provided advice to aspiring writers.

“First, read like a fiend. Read everything you can without regard for genre or canon. Pay attention to what moves you and how it does it. Keep a notebook and use it to train your ear, to get a feel for words you like, phrases that stick with you, stories that haunt you. Most importantly, cultivate your inner curiosity and vulnerability. Keep your eyes and ears open to the world around you,” she said.

“Her workshop style is much different from what I’ve experienced with other professors. She helps me not be a reader or critic, but an asset to the ambition of the story that I am editing. If there is anything that I appreciate, it is her willingness to develop an author’s story on the story’s terms, not her own,” Leo Tonaki ’13 said.

By W. Morris Fierman

Residents of Kress Hall returning from various areas around campus were greeted by a swarm of firefighters and police surrounding their dormitory on the evening of March 19 after a small fire in the basement kitchen caused an evacuation of the building.

Lewisburg Fire Co. Chief Stephen Bolinsky said in an interview after the building was reopened to residents that a small grease fire in the basement kitchen caused little damage. One person was being treated for minor burns.

Eric Ulmanis ’16, who was studying with a group of friends in the common area adjacent to the basement kitchen, had begun to pack up his things after smelling something burning, expecting the fire alarm to be set off. He walked to the kitchen to see two female students, one of which was carrying a flaming pot of oil over to the sink.

“Before I could tell them not to, they turned on the water, which set off a huge explosion,” Ulmanis said.

Pouring water on a grease fire, which is caused by heating oil past the point where it will combust, causes a large and instant fireball, as the Discovery Channel’s “Mythbusters” once spectacularly proved.

Chris Sorrentino ’15 was also studying in the common area when she began to smell something burning.

“There was a loud whooshing sound,” Sorrentino said. “I ran into the kitchen and there were flames rising out of the sink, up the wall and into the vent. There were also flames crawling across the ceiling. I realized that this was serious–it wasn’t a drill–and we ran out of the building.”

“The fire alarm went off 10 to 15 seconds after the explosion,” Ulmanis said. “And Public Safety was pulling up almost immediately after we were out of the building.”

Fire trucks were on the scene within minutes, though the fire had already extinguished itself, Bolinsky said.

“Thankfully we are well coordinated with the Bucknell Public Safety Department and so we were able to respond very quickly,” Bolinsky said.

The student cooking at the time of the fire declined to comment.

Sarah Antonacci

Contributing Writer

Campus spirit and anticipation have escalated since the men’s basketball team made it to the NCAA March Madness Bracket after defeating Lafayette 64-56 in the Patriot League Tournament final. The University is the No. 11 seed in the East Region and is scheduled to play Butler, the No. 6 seed, on March 21 at 12:40 p.m. If the Bison win, they will play either Marquette or Davidson on March 23.

There has been talk of a possible parade in Lewisburg if the Bison win their upcoming games.

“If they win one or two games, I’ll have a fire-truck parade through downtown,” Judy Wagner, mayor of Lewisburg, said. “I’m sure we’ll have a very great welcome home for them.”

“The prospect of the mayor throwing a parade for the men’s team shows extreme support from the town of Lewisburg for Bucknell,” Anna Jones ’16 said.

Siobhan Murray

Staff Writer

Author of “Loud Dreaming in a Quiet Room” Betsy Wheeler finished her book tour with a poetry reading at Bucknell Hall on March 19. The event was organized by the Stadler Center for Poetry and the Writing Center as part of the Annual Drew Darrow Memorial Poetry Reading.

Wheeler is also the author of “Start Here,” a poetry chapbook. Her poems have appeared in “Bat City Review,” “The Journal” and more. She was a Stadler Fellow from 2006 to 2008, and received her MFA in poetry from The Ohio State University in 2006. She is now an editor for a poetry chapbook publisher, Pilot Books, and is also the managing director of the Juniper Summer Writing Institutes.

Wheeler began her reading by first describing “Loud Dreaming in a Quiet Room” as “a private intimate collection … that teeters on the line of surrealism and that embodies the intersection of what we know and do not know.”

The book was published in April of 2012 by the National Poetry Review Press.

Wheeler said that the most important aim of her poetry is to form meaningful connections with her readers.

“I want to present [the readers] with some idea, or image, that will resonate with them and mean something to them at a later time,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler’s reading included the poems “Non–Sonnet for a Ruffled Bird,” “Non-Sonnet for the Phrase ‘But I Believe,’” “Day Sail,” “Non-Sonnet for a Night Sail,” “Robert Lowry House” and “Start Here.”

“She had a really interesting personality, and I liked being able to hear the ‘inside stories’ that she provided about the inspiration for each poem—I don’t think I could have had the same understanding of her poetry without that knowledge,” Tori Jamieson ’15 said.

“She was such a great reader of her poetry, which was a major reason we came to the event,” said Adjunct Professor of English Katie Hays, who worked on poetry with Wheeler while she was at the University.

Wheeler said that most of the writing of “Loud Dreaming in a Quiet Room” took place during her time on campus.

“It’s really fitting that this is the last reading on the tour,” Wheeler said.

In a later interview, Wheeler added that her favorite places to write while living in Lewisburg were Cherry Alley Café, Zelda’s Café and Bucknell Hall.

“I think about this place often,” Wheeler said of Bucknell Hall. “It definitely resides in my memory.”