It was Michael's idea. Michael Wertz, chair of illustration.
In the fall of 2022 you could always find me in the De Haro garden. Between classes and meetings, I'd trawl the grounds with a crusty old hose, dousing the beds in hopes of returning the place to a state of glory I'd only ever heard of but was determined to recreate.
Michael was teaching his Form(ing) Ideas class that semester. Whenever we bumped into each other, we inevitably wound up lamenting the condition of the garden. It was his idea to spend a Saturday tending it together.
We invited all the students and faculty. Maura Krause stopped by for a while, but in the end there were only four of us: Michael, me, the then-first year Thomas Dunn, and Denise Newman.
Michael brought a hand saw and a pair of gardening shears. Thomas brought his trademark good cheer. I brought a flask of cherry cider and several large bags of chicken manure. I made some quip about my shitty contribution and the air soon filled with its unmistakable perfume.
Denise showed up with a plastic bag. It was pale grey with no logo. Or maybe there'd once been a logo but she'd used and reused the bag so many times that the letters had worn away. All that use had also softened the plastic into something resembling tissue paper.
She untied the bag and withdrew her offering: a succulent she'd cut that morning from her garden at home.
I knew that of the two of us she was the more experienced gardener, but I remember taking one look at that severed succulent and thinking, “Oh, what a sad, unpromising thing.”
We spent three hours in the garden together. I have a vivid memory of Michael climbing one of the scrawnier trees to hack off its dead limbs as Thomas--standing two feet away with his hands encased in my rose pruning shears and clasped in front of him like an altar boy--"helped." Denise I remember in her blue bucket hat, cheerfully wading through piles of dead leaves to prune shrubs and deadhead flowers. She gardened the way she taught: with reverence, joy, and love.
I left with twigs and spider webs encrusted in my hair, having laughed more than I had in a very long time. It was one of the best days I'd ever spent at CCA. Still is.
Denise in the garden that day
I've been thinking about all this because I have been thinking so much about Denise. Ever since we got news of the car accident in which she was hurt over winter break, she's never been far from my mind.
Iranians have a saying that when a loved one is away their place is empty. Denise's place has been empty. I know you've all felt it, even if your only interaction with her so far has been a quick hello between classes. She's that rare, near-magical person, a gentle presence exuding kindness and enthusiasm no matter what happens to be playing out around her.
On a recent Zoom call to update folks on her recovery, Eric Olsen said that the best thing we can do now and until she returns is to be more like her. “Be present,” he said, summing her up perfectly.
I've been writing you this letter in my head for days. Wondering if it's too soon to write about Denise, if it's the right thing to do, if it could be helpful. I think I can only write about Denise because I know she's steadily recovering and because every new note I have from her feels livelier, sweeter, wiser--more Denise.
For now her place is empty, but go to the garden and you will see Denise's succulent. How will you find it? It's the most beautiful thing growing there.
If you'd like to send her a note or package, here's Denise's current address:
Denise Newman Millbrae Care Center 33 Mateo Ave Millbrae, CA 94030
VERY GOOD NEWS
CURRENT STUDENTS
Simran Malhotra was chosen as a a semi-finalist for the highly-competitive Headlands Artist in Residence.
Aimee Phanrecentlyappeared at a special Lunar New Year celebration at the Mechanic's Library, one of San Francisco's great literary treasures. Joining Aimee were Kathryn Ma, Mina Kim, and the uber-iconic Maxine Hong Kingston. Aimee's new book The Lost Queen comes out in Maycan be preordered here.
A fantastic review of Joseph Lease's latest book of poems, Fire Season, has this to say about it: “Fire Season is one crucial answer and multi-faceted instance in a season of outstanding books of poetry that are, in part or completely, a writing into this time when aspects of life on earth, for our own species and far too many others, is becoming less and less tenable.” Read it here.
For those headed to AWP in Los Angeles this March, don't forget to calendar panels & readings by CCA MFA Writing's own Faith Adiele, Yalitza Ferreras, and yours truly. Check out the full schedule. Also, if you want a primer on AWP and how to prepare for it, I made a YouTube video about it a while back.
Faith Adiele will be in conversation with Nnedi Okorafor at the LitQuake Event “Death of the Author” on Feb 13 at 7:00 pm at Books, Inc. in San Francisco, CA. Closer to home, she appears as part of CCA's VCS Forum on Feb 24 from 5:30—7:00 pm. She's teaching an online course Applying to Residencies & Fellowships on March 11 at 8:00 am.
I (Jasmin) was awarded a Creative Citizens in Action grant for my spring seminar The Art of Witness. I'll use the funds to collaborate with the San Francisco-based Voice of Witness Organization, putting on a public oral storytelling showcase with my students (date to be determined). I was also recently commissioned to write an essay about Julia Child for Branson Magazine, which you can read here.
ALUMNI
Olga Gonzalez Latapirecently published her first poetry collection, Silla Amarilla. Writing in both Spanish and English, Olga's work has appeared in dozens of journals and magazines globally. Read her alumni interview below.
Evan Schnairis on the English faculty at the private Branson School in Marin County.
Laura Soriano has been working as a Senior U/X/Content writer in the Bay Area, whose clients include Google and many others.
Kevin Whiteley is a now a content editor with Commonwealth Capital LLC, in New York City, following a gig with Salomon Brothers.
Congratulations everyone! Keep those successes--and news items!--coming!
New Visiting faculty member
We're thrilled to welcome Zeina Hashem Beck to our community this spring!
Zeina Hashem Beck is a Lebanese poet. Her third poetry collection, titled O,was published by Penguin Books in July 2022. It won the 2023 Arab American Book Award for poetry and was named a Best Book 2022 by Lit Hub and The New York Public Library.
Her second full-length collection, Louder than Hearts(Bauhan Publishing 2017), won the 2016 May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize. Poet Naomi Shihab Nye wrote about this book, “Everything Arabic we treasure comes alive in these poems. Readers will feel restored to so many homes, revived, amazed. Zeina Hashem Beck writes with a brilliant, absolutely essential voice.”
Zeina is also the author of two chapbooks: 3arabi Song(Rattle 2016), selected from 1720 manuscripts as winner of the 2016 Rattle Chapbook Prize, and There Was and How Much There Was (smith|doorstop 2016), chosen by Carol Ann Duffy, who praised her “remarkable gift for storytelling” in this pamphlet rich with women’s voices. Her first book, To Live in Autumn (The Backwaters Press 2014), centered on Beirut, won the 2013 Backwaters Prize.
Zeina’s poem, "Maqam," won Poetry Magazine's 2017 Frederick Bock Prize. Her poetry has been featured on The Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Dayand has appeared in The Atlantic, The Nation, The New York Times, Poetry Magazine, and elsewhere. Zeina’s invented a bilingual poetic form called The Duet, in which Arabic and English exist both independently and in conversation with each other. She is the co-creator and co-host, with poet Farah Chamma, of Maqsouda, a podcast in Arabic about Arabic poetry. After a lifetime in Lebanon and a decade in Dubai, she recently moved to California with her husband and two daughters.
“Zeina Hashem Beck is graceful in [her] defiance. She embraces the multitudes – mother, citizen, poet, warrior – and presents herself to the reader as one whole.” —NPR
Pitch And Publish!
A New Program at CCA MFAW
This spring, Stephanie Peters is kicking off a new initiative to help make your literary dreams come true.
Writes Stephanie:
As full-time students, we’re dedicating a lot of our time and energy to our creative work, school assignments, jobs, families, and other responsibilities. It’s easy for things to fall through the cracks. Things like:
Submitting to literary journals
Entering writing contests
Applying for residencies
Applying for grants and fellowships
Applying for post-graduate studies
Applying for internships and jobs in the literary field
If you have the best of intentions to perform extra administrative work related to the business of being a writer, but find time slipping by at a frenetic pace and these tasks left undone week after week, please consider joining Pitch and Publish, Wednesdays from 3-4 in the H&S Conference room. We will meet for an hour each week to tackle these tasks together. Whether you’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, or know exactly what you have to do and need a little kick in the pants to sit down and do the work you’re avoiding, Pitch and Publish is for you. Community support. Body Doubling. Shared resources.
We’re kicking off Wednesday February 5th. Hope to see you there! A zoom link will be provided for those who prefer to join us virtually.
Feel free to spread the word, and reach out to me at stephanie.peters@cca.edu if you have questions or comments.
In recognition of the countless and continual cultural contributions of Black artists, scholars, and writers around the world, the second edition of Voices: A Community Open Mic Night is a gathering of community that will celebrate Blackness through the power of words.
Please email Isaiah Diaz-Mays at diazmays@cca.edu if you'd like to reserve a performative spot in advance. You can find more information about the event here.
alumni SPOTLIGHT
WHY CCA?
—
What attracted me the most about studying at CCA was the open concept of the school, in all terms of the word. I adored the idea of being a writer there and coming into contact with, not only other writers, but designers and painters and filmmakers all in one open space. The way that classes were organized around the campus and student exhibitions were accesible and at sight from anyone who attended or visited the school. That was highly inspiring. The school encourages this broadening of our art and thus embraces the idea that our best creativity, our best art and our best selves come from the interconnections between arts (or people) that may seem impossible to go together but in the end prove to belong in the same space.
And what finally sold me was the artist's studio. What a gorgeous space to write!
ADVICE FOR CURRENT STUDENTS?
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Try as many different classes as you can. Even if you don't see how it could connect to your art, it will enrich you. I took a screenwriting class, for example, not expecting how it would help with my dialogue work and also with the way I framed plot in my mind. You may think dialogue might not be present in surrealist poetry but it does root down to communication and how human beings express themselves, how a human voice sounds authentically. Caroline Randall, my sister in words while I was there, took pottery as well. Just make sure to take advantage of the many different types of art that surround you. They may unlock something in your writing that wouldn't have happened otherwise.
Also, go to all the potlucks and visits from writers and readings. Make sure you get there a little bit earlier and stay a little bit later. And final piece of the puzzle: talk with anyone who is there in the room with you. Make connections, trade stories. Even if you think that as a new writer you may not have much to add to a conversation with a visiting writer with awards under their belt, believe me, you do. You are part of that space as much as anyone. So step up and have a conversation. Make yourself known, because people will feel lucky to know you.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR YOU?
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In this exact moment preparing for my book presentations. I have two lined up so far. I always remember how our professors still got nervous before book presentations and that makes me feel a little bit better. I'm not gonna lie, it's tough being a new writer on the block. But it is terribly exciting to do the work (even as I am completely terrified). I am laying my trust in my work, because I love what I do.
I am also continuing my daily reading of one of my poems on Instagram. I am loving the idea of my word floating out there where people can reach them.
More longterm, I am working on my next collection so hopefully that dream will come true too. And I am settling more roots here in Madrid, slowly building my community.
photo album
Maxine Hong Kingston holding Aimee Phan's forthcoming novel, The Lost Queen
