w
riting festival encourages would-be authors
Ry Sarah Sicler
More than 200 Nebraskans of all ages attended
the fourth annual Writing and Storytelling Festival
for Older Nebraskans in Lincoln at the Nebraska
Center for Continuing Education Saturday.
The purposes of the festival were to encourage
would-be authors to write and to support the efforts
of more experienced writers.
Ten workshops were offered to help people develop
their abilities in various types of writing and story
telling. The morning workshops were storytelling,
fiction writing, poetry writing, oral history, history
writing, journal writing, writing for publication,
writing stories of your life, developing a writing
group and an author's roundtable. Some advanced
workshops were offered in the afternoon.
The workshops were more than lectures. Most of
them were set up to involve the participants imme
diately in the process of creating. Judith Sornberger,
leader of the workshop on poetry writing, had each
of her participants write rough drafts of poems and
then share them in small groups for encouragement
and suggestions.
The workshop leaders were Les VVhipp, professor
of English at UNL and director of the Nebraska
Writing Project; Sornberger, teacher of creative
writing and composition at UNL; Nellie Snyder Yost,
author of several books about the Old West; Kay
Young, folklorist; Lois Droady, teacher of writing at
Southeast Community College; Sue Outson, who has
conducted several workshops for the Lincoln YWCA
New Directions Center; Gene Harding, storyteller,
writer, and musician; and Al Pagel, professor of
journalism at UNL.
Writing is an activitiy beneficial to both the writer
and the readers, according to one of the festival
coordinators, Joy Ritchie. Writing helps an author
sort through his experiences and discover the value
and meaning of his own life, she said. Encouraging
older people to write produces "a group of people
wo don't see themselves as useless, but who, because
they are writing, are actively involved in life," Ritchie
said.
The I
An older person's writings also benefit society in
general, Ritchie said, because they are "the record of
one individual's past that becomes a part of our
heritage."
One permanent outcome of last year's festival is a
compilation of the writings of around 400 Nebraska
authors titles "A Flowering: A Festival," Vol. IV. The
book currently is available for sale to the general
public.
The Writing and Storytelling Festival for Older
Nebraskans was sponsored by the UNL Division of
Continuing Studies and funded by gifts and a
matching grant from the Nebraska Committee for
the Humanities.
This festival was one of the three such events
scheduled in Nebraska this month. The first took
place in Scottsbluff on May 1 2 and the third will take
place June 2, at Mid-plains Community College in
North Plate. Anyone interested in attending the fes
tival in North Platte should contact the Nebraska
Center for Continuing Education, Department of
Conferences.
ove song: Never, goes out oj style
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No matter what happens in the world of music
whether it be a new technological advancement,
another "new wave" explosion, or what have you
there will always be a place for that old mainstay:
The love song. While some come off as drippy and
overly sentimental, others can still be very good
after all of these years.
Just when it seems that all of the variations on
this theme have been (over)worked, some band
manages to do a good job. Two cases in point: Wang
Chung and Franke and the Knockouts.
While Wang Chung should definitely not be consi
dered a "ballad band," they do include some songs
about relationships on their latest album Points on
the Curve.
"Don't Let Go" is a bouncy little number that
comes across a tad sweet, but the vocals by Jack
Hines and the guitar work by Hines and Nick Feld
man add a touch to make the song a bit more legiti
mate. A good dance number, the song broke Wang
Chung here in the states.
But it is the second single "Dance Hall Days" that
has brought the trio further into the spotlight. The
image of the bad as slick and fashionable comes
through in their own lyrics.
We were so in phase
In our dance hall days
We were cool on craze
When I, you, and everyone we knew
Could believe, do and share in what was true
A lot of parallels between Wang Chung (which
means "perfect pitch" in Chinese) and The Fixx can
be drawn musically, lyrically and visually except
Wang Chung doesn't go as far to the left.
"Wait," "True Love," "The Waves" and "Talk It Out"
are very strong cuts on a very good second album.
On the other end of the scale we have a five-man
band from Philly called Franke and the Knockouts.
These guys get dangerously close to cliche, but man
age to save themselves with solid musicianship and
the strong vocals of front-man Frank Previte.
The songs on Makin 'the Point follow closely along
the lines set down by their previous three albums
that included hits like "Sweetheart" and "Without
You."
While both of these songs were slow and melodic,
the first single off of Makin 'the Point is a little edgier
and more upbeat. "Outrageous" is not a bad song
except that it's nothing new for this band and the
words are again a little soft.
'Cause you 're so outrageous
Now, you 're ready to ignite
You're so outrageous
You 're like a double dose of dynamite
You 're so. outrageous
Now, it 's time to make your move tonight
"You Don't Want Me (Like I Want You)," "Come
Rain or Shine," and "You're all That Really Matters"
are not bad songs at all, but you could probably hear
them in various other forms by any number of bands
recording today.
Expected releases by Bruce Springsteen, Bom In
The USA, out June 4 and a new offering from Rod
Steward called Camouflage with a guest appearance
by Jeff Beck are two of the major summer releases to
be watching for in the near future.
Going for broke on the campaign trail
As the spring semester ended, Celeste Underwood,
presidential candidate, had just finished hosting a
dinner for President Reagan. After the clean-up, she
rushed back to Lincoln just in time for the primary.
Disappointed, but not daunted, she and her friends
are now sitting on their front porch, drinking
whisky sours an d plotting their next move.
"Celeste, I think we shall have to increase the
scope of our campaign activities if we are to capture
the White House," said Addison Steele, her cam-
Mary Louise
Knapp
paign manager. "Thus far, we have exactly 2 dele
gates, all of them under the age of four."
"Well, we cannot neglect the younger generation,"
Celeste said, fanning herself with a copy of the
National Intruder.
"What we need now is money," grumbled her
roommate Harley Davidson. "Do you have any idea
how much that dinner cost? Edwin Meese's soup
alone was more than our month's rent."
"Speaking of rent, did we ever pay ours this
month?" lazily inquired Otis P. Davenport, who also
shared Celeste's abode. "I seem to remember several
angry letters from our landlord, but I think I used
them to light jay cigars."
"We have exactly $13.75 in our slush fund," Harley
said, doing a bit of quick figuring on the back of a
Jack Daniels crate.
"Great! Let's all go to the Dairy Queen!" Otis
exclaimed.
"I myself am in debt to the tune of at least 400
pounds," Addison said. "Oh, don't let me forget the
two dozen orchids I ordered for Celeste's party
Daily Nebraskan
tonight. I must have a new tuxedo, as well This one's
been seen altogether too often."
"There's always Antoinette's diamond," Harley
murmured. "That might bring at least $100 at Dirty
Dick's."
"My dear Otis," Addison remonstrated, laying a
manicured hand on Otis' sleeve, "Never even think of
such a thing! If you pawn the Hope Diamond, you
are pawning the very soul of the campaign! Do you
want us to go about in drab blue suits like the rest of
those misguided contenders? No, in matters of
grave importance, to paraphrase dear Oscar, style,
not economy well, you know the rest."
"Oh, I'm sick of arguing. Let's have another drink,"
Harley said, throwing his pen aside in disgust. "One
thing's for certain, I won't be drinking any more of
this cheap hooch once I'm a high-ranking presiden
tial adviser."
Celeste stared at him. "You're the last person I'd
want to advise me! If I listened to you all the time, I
wouldn't have a penny to my name!"
"How much i&ot do you have stored away now,
Celeste?" Harley asked.
"Weil, none, of course," she admitted. "But the
expenses of being a public figure are so high
especially all the payments I made to The Plagiarist
au nicjr wuuiuii t any ua.u umigs &uuul me.
"I heard from Bernina Kenmore Singer today,"
said Antoinette Chateaubriand, steak heiress and
vice-presidential candidate. "She's presently trying
to funnel money from her parents' company to help
our campaign."
"How successful has she been?" asked Celeste.
"So far, not very," said Antoinette. They're send
ing us 100 used sewing machines with complimen
tary thread."
"Maybe we can make banners with them or some
thing," Otis said.
Addison rose languidly and pulled on his gloves.
"I'm off to my club now," he said. "I shall try to resolve
our iinaxtcisj problems over several glasses or cog
nac, which Pierre is still willing to let me have on
credit." .. -
TuQsdcr. May 22. 1934
Page 10
