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CONTENTS
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Pictured Susan Sibbet. Blake More, Christina Chang, Nels Christianson, Daryl Chinn, Michele Krueger, Terri Glass, Taylor Altman , and Susan Terrence at Board retreat Dec. 4. 2010 in San Francisco |
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Board Update |
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT -- Michelle Bitting |
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Terri: Describe your writing/ artistic background. Michelle: I grew up singing in the choir and acting in community theatre plays. I danced a lot, played instruments and had a major affair with painting and photography. In college I fell in love with Dylan Thomas and this combined with a stint as a restaurant line cook in my late twenties all meshed to make the perfect fuel for becoming a poet. Around the time my son was diagnosed with autism, I had begun to write poems in earnest, wherever I could, schlepping him and his baby sister around to school and appointments, late at night while I held them nursing at my breast and scribbled thoughts with my free hand. A few years ago I went back to school and took an MFA in Poetry at Pacific University, Oregon. Terri: How did you first find out about CPITS? Michelle: I think I first heard about CPITS talking to other poets at various writing retreats like Squaw Valley and Esalen. The idea of going into schools as a free agent to pass the poetry fire on to young students seemed like magical and necessary work. Terri: When did you apply and who trained you? Michelle: In May of 2009. I was finishing up my masters and eventually came to a CPITS retreat in Santa Barbara. Someone connected me up with Shelley Savren, Ventura County Area Coordinator and we made plans to keep in touch. Soon after, she trained me. I drove up to Ventura from Los Angeles to intern with her. She was a fantastic mentor. I loved watching how she got the kids to respond. Her enthusiasm was infectious and she knew how to cast her spell and control the classroom. From her, I acquired a solid base for my own teaching and have gone on to embellish and shape my lessons to fit my style. Terri: How did you find funding for the school you now teach in? Michelle: I took a wild stab and contacted someone I knew controlled a private California foundation that might be interested in funding poetry teaching in a local public school. I was right. I worked together a proposal and budget and they accepted. Terri: What about the LA area is a deterrent or an advantage about establishing yourself as a CPITS poet teacher? Michelle: I don't know a ton of details about LAUSD budget and politics but I know, as everyone does, that this district is hurting and that funding for the arts has been slashed to the bone. It's also a HUGE monster of a district so it will require focusing on an area or school and then growing it outwards. We need lots of resourceful poets starting fires in several places and then fanning it in hopes of maybe spreading the heat. Terri: Describe your favorite anecdote about teaching so far. Michelle: One of my classes created a book of Odes To A Poetry Teacher and gave it to me as a gift for the time I spent with them. Some of the things they said took my breath away in that they expressed how profoundly moved they were by the experience of studying and writing poetry together. It was the best Christmas present I've ever received. Terri: Thanks, Michelle, for your verve pursuing that family foundation. It is a good example of what a new poet can accomplish in a short amount of time. |
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EVENTS & ANTHOLOGIES |
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Events
Local Anthologies
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Lea Aschenas published an article on Cuba in Perceptive Travel magazine about a real-life message-in-a-bottle story of a bottle thrown by a Sausalito man and found by a little girl in Cuba, and the friendship and cross-cultural connection that ensued. Visit here to read the article. return to top |
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POEMS OF THE MONTH |
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Ode to My Feet My feet are silver bullets bursting through the sky. I can go with them everywhere. They are as fast as lightning shooting over the stars, drifting around the planet like a rocket. Without my feet I would be nothing in the middle of nowhere. My feet are a G.P.S. so I can find my way home. Joshua Barad, 4th grade Marquez Charter School, Pacific Palisades Michelle Bitting, Poet Teacher What The Driftwood Wants Not to be seen Not yet To know the sand Before I know the fire. Kathy Evans, Poet teacher San Francisco |
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