March 2003

For the first several years that I lived in New England, March was a disappointing month. In the subtropical clime of South Texas where the seasonal clock of my psyche was set, March is already sunbathing season. In the Berkshires, March is generally the month of the last few spring storms — distinguished from winter storms only in that we feel fairly certain there won’t be too many more of them!

But these last few years I’ve come to like the inexorable crawl towards spring. Once the first thaws come and go, it’s sugar season, which means a return to the seasonal sugar shack brunch joint at Ioka Valley Farm (I’ve been craving their mini corn muffins with maple butter since last year’s final melt). March brings my birthday, on the spring equinox. And this year, March brings a ton of excellent Inkberry stuff.

On Wednesday the 5th, we’ll be co-presenting A Reading for Peace (with the MCLA English Department) at 7pm at Smith House at MCLA, as part of the international poets-against-the-war movement. (Learn more about that at http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org.) Bring a poem or a short piece of prose, by yourself or by someone else, and lend your voice to our chorus.

On Thursday the 6th, we kick off Emily’s two-session workshop on Fine-Tuning a Voice, designed for intermediate writers “ready to focus on the finer details of craft.” Space is still available, so if you’re curious to get into the nitty-gritty of how a narrative voice is established, sign up now.

On Friday the 7th, we’ll be participating in the First Friday Festivities by joining the Art Walk: several businesses downtown will hold art openings that night, with refreshments, and our opening will feature the work of painter Beth Budwig, including the grand public debut of the mural she painted for the Inkberry classroom. Swing by Inkberry between 7 and 9pm, and enjoy the food and wine and fabulous art. (Plus, check out the other openings, curated by the Contemporary Artists Center, and enjoy the other cool First Friday events on offer.)

Then we get a breather until late in the month…which is a good thing, because our two other March events fall on the same day! On Saturday, March 29th, at 11am, we’ll be presenting our first-ever reading specifically for families with small children: Jeannine Atkins, author of Wings & Rockets, Aani and the Tree Huggers, and Mary Anning and the Sea Dragon, will give a special interactive reading and activity session. We’re co-presenting that with The Family Beat, and we’re delighted to be broadening our programming to suit the needs of families with young’uns.

That evening, at 7:30pm, we’re hosting a reading from Crossing Paths: An Anthology of Poems by Women, a beautiful new letterpress anthology from Mad River Press. The contributors each have an essential connection to western Massachusetts, and they reflect a wide range of styles, subjects, and reputations. Readers will include Janet Aalfs, Trudy Ames, Amy Herring, Patricia Lee Lewis, Susan Stinson, Carol Varner, Anne Love Woodhull, Genie Zeiger, and others.

As we’ve been ramping up for March, we’ve also had neat things going on during February, including a lovely reading and question-and-answer session by Clara Park (on one of the most bitterly-cold nights of the season!) and a reading by the winners of the teen writing contest we co-presented with The Advocate and the Hoosic River Watershed Association. February also brought the end of our six weeks with Effy, our first-ever intern. (The office is quiet without you, Effy!)

Meanwhile, I’ve been reading books sent to me by wonderful women in my life, among them Vikram Seth’s The Golden Gate (sent to me by Hanne Blank, who taught the master class in erotica here last summer) and Jane Gardam’s The Queen of the Tambourine (sent to me by my mother). Vikram Seth’s book is stunning in its audacity: a novel about the ins and outs of contemporary single life in San Francisco during the dot.com era, written entirely in sonnets. No, really, that’s what it is. I enjoyed it; his mastery of the form is unquestionable, and some of the sonnets are especially lovely (and some of the characters really interesting). In the end, I wonder whether these characters might have seemed more fully-drawn if I’d encountered them in ordinary prose; but whatever flaws the book may have, it’s definitely original.

Jane Gardam’s book is in an unorthodox form, too, although slightly less so than the Seth: it’s an epistolary novel, showing us a one-sided glimpse into the correspondence of Eliza Peabody, a woman who has become unbearably isolated in her home in South London. The book starts out hilariously funny, so I assumed it was going to be a kind of Jane-Austen-esque modern-day comedy of manners. Over the course of the letters, though, it becomes clear that something is deeply wrong with Eliza and her perception of the world. By the end, her life is altogether changed. I won’t give away how, since I hope some of you will read this one. After her book group discussed The Queen of the Tambourine, mom sent me her copy; I’m afraid I’m not sending it back, because it’s a keeper!

Anyway, that’s the news from Inkberry. Drop a line or drop in and see us sometime! Our resource library is open from 1-5pm, Wednesdays through Saturdays; come say hello.

— Rachel