Nickole Brown & David Jauss at the Big Rock Reading Series

57º ~ cold air coming in the windows, yep, cold air, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

While I wanted to post this yesterday, it turns out that I was flattened by exhaustion and a busy day at school.  Still, the glow of a wonderful event lingers. 

I'm thrilled to say that our first reading in the Big Rock Reading Series was a definitive success!

Nickole's poems and Dave's short fiction balanced each other well.  The images from both linger in my brain as I return to my senses. 

During the reading, I made a big point of the fact that these two writers live among us right here in Central Arkansas.  I made this comment for the sake of our PTC students, many of whom encounter literature for the first time when they enroll in an ENGL class with us.  For many of those students who attended the reading, it was their first chance to hear writers at work.  We had the audience fill out a survey so we could collect data for more fundraising.  Their comments blew me away.

Nickole Brown & David Jauss

Based on the data we collected, we could identify those in the audience who were PTC students.  Here's what a few of them had to say (anonymously) for the question, "What did you most appreciate about tonight's event?"
"The way the readers seemed to open up from a sacred place with there [sic] work."
"This is my first time attending a reading.  I enjoyed it a great deal.  It is inspiring to hear people share themselves in a setting like this."
"It is just wonderful to have local writers present their works in person."
"True honesty in there [sic] stories.  So real!"

Ok, so we still need to work on the there/their/they're error, but the sentiment here is what counts.   Wow.  This is why we do what we do. 

Many thanks to Nickole and Dave for helping us launch this series!  Next up will be Alison Pelegrin, a poet from southern Louisiana and a good friend of mine.  I can't wait to grow the literary community even more on October 11th!