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CW NEWS
NOTE:
Trying to remember what happened way back in the
2005 - 2006 school year? Or just nostalgic
already for last year's events? Click here for
the 2005-2006 News and
Calendar archive.
NOTE #2: An excellent, frequently updated source for news
of the general SOTA community is the
SOTA PTSA website.
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AUGUST 18, 2007
Time and again you go through it; time
and again a part of you thinks that surely this will
be the end of it; but time and again it comes back.
No, not Invasion of the Body Snatchers; we're
talking about the new school year. SOTA
reopens on Monday, August 27, and students and
parents should now be receiving emails from the
school with a letter from principal Donn Harris and
links to Academic and Performance calendars for the
2007-08 year. Keep checking here for the
Creative Writing News and Calendar page for the new
school year -- it will be up as soon as a few more
CW-specific details are made final. In the
meantime, we now know the date for CW's first
performance of the year: Friday October 12, on the
Main Stage.
Link to the schoolwide Academic Calendar 2007-2008
Link to the schoolwide Performance Calendar
2007-2008
JULY 22, 2007
A couple of items for C-dubs and anyone
else checking in on the site this fine mid-summer.
First, a new piece has been posted
on the First Person page. It's a transcript of
an electronic interview of Nicholas Sanz-Gould
'07 conducted this past spring by Sarah Lenoue,
curator of the annual, citywide school arts
festival. The occasion was Nick's awards
in multiple categories of the event. See the
May 5 news item immediately below for details of the
festival, and go to First
Person to read the interview.
And second, a heads-up on what looks
to be a worthwhile summer event for creative writers
and creative readers in San Francisco: the
San
Francisco International Poetry Festival, three
days packed with events on July 27, 28, and 29.
The event's website provides this summary:
Join
us for the San Francisco International Poetry
Festival July 27-29, 2007. The festival will
showcase 15 poets from around the world, reading
together with poets from San Francisco's own
literary community. This truly international group
of poets represents a wide spectrum in the world of
poetry, from recognized masters to emerging new
talents, who are redefining the art in our evolving
times.
Check out the website and full
calendar of readings and events
here.
MAY 5, 2007
Good news for connoisseurs of fine
literature, art, and photography (and also for those
who like good writing, drawings, and pictures):
The 2006-2007 edition of umläut,
a journal dedicated to the above and edited by CW
students, has been sighted in the hands of C-dubs
and will soon be available to the general public.
Volume 4, titled Why Can't We Be Friends, is
138 pages long, including eight pages of color
plates. A release party may be in the offing,
and the website order form will be updated to
include the new edition. Keep checking this
News page for details.
And another newsflash: the
department has again done exceeedingly well in the
literary division of the annual San Francisco school
arts festival. The festival, previously known
as the Youth Arts Festival, now goes under the name
Young at Art: A Citywide Celebration of Creativity
in the Schools, and entries come from public and
private schools throughout San Francisco.
C-dubs took Golds, Silvers, and Bronzes in many
categories, and the name of Nicholas Sanz-Gould
'07 appears in eight separate lists. The
awards ceremony for literary arts will be May 12 at
the deYoung -- see Calendar above for details.
Here are winning members of the
Creative Writing department:
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SHORT STORY
GOLD: Nicholas Sanz-Gould '07
BRONZE: Tanea Lunsford '09
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SHORT SHORT STORY
GOLD: Nicholas Sanz-Gould '07 |
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EXPOSITORY/JOURNALISTIC
WRITING
SILVER: Nicholas Sanz-Gould '07
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DRAMATIC SCRIPT
GOLD: Adrian Kane '08
SILVER: Tess Spinola '07
BRONZE: Nicholas Sanz-Gould '07
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HUMOR
GOLD: Nicholas Sanz-Gould '07
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POETRY
GOLD: Nicholas Sanz-Gould '07
BRONZE: Marico Moredo '07
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SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY
GOLD: Nicholas Sanz-Gould '07
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GENERAL WRITING
PORTFOLIO
GOLD: Naomi Neal '09
SILVER (tie): Tiffany Fuller '07, Sloane
Martin '07, Nicholas Sanz-Gould '07
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APRIL 26, 2007
A potpourri of items today -- a few words
on the playwriting shows; more awards for C-dubs;
and ... finally some new movie clips!
1.
Sometimes a well-used word is still the best,
and after the playwriting performances on Friday and
Saturday, April 13 and 14, the word that comes to
mind is "bittersweet." Sweet, because the work
was exceptional, and because the department was once
again able to extend to the larger SF artistic
community by performing one of the events at
Intersection for the Arts. Bitter, because
these were the last shows for the CW class of 2007,
and because they marked the end of this year's unit
with playwright Octavio Solis.
Octavio's previous work is
well-known, but if you need a refresher, check his
bio on our Faculty
page. In the year ahead, watch for him and his
work in December at South Coast Rep (annual
Christmas play La Posada Magica); in
January 2008 at the Denver Center for Theatre, which
premieres his new play Lydia; in March
2008 with Campo Santo at Intersection for the Arts;
and in May 2008 when he directs My Name is Vera
Cupido, by Stephanie Fleishmann, with Crowded
Fire Theatre.
2.
More contest winners: Sloane Martin '07
received an Honorable Mention in the 2007 California
Coastal Art and Poetry contest. Read her poem,
"California," at
this page on the California Coastal Commission
website. And, Adrian Kane '08 won third
place and a generous check in the national Jack
London Writing Contest, sponsored by the Jack London
Foundation. Her short story will appear later
on the
foundation's website.
3.
Movie clips from the January 19th poetry reading at
Intersection for the Arts have now been posted.
Go here for
readings by Marico Moredo '07, Max
Peterson '10, and Yael Green '09.
For tips on viewing, and a list of other movies from
previous years, see the
video clips main page.
MARCH 26, 2007
Community involvement is an important part of
the CW experience, and usually a rewarding one for
C-dubs. It's nice to hear from time to time
that the rewards are mutual. Recently, SOTA
principal Donn Harris received a letter from Thomas Graven,
assistant principal at Hoover Middle School, and passed it
along to Creative Writing. An excerpt:
"Three SOTA creative writing
students, Max, Isabel and Travis come to our school
every Monday afternoon and do creative writing work
with the [remedial reading] class students.
This has been a tremendous success thanks to the
dedication of your students. Our reluctant
readers in this class are now producing works of
poetry and look forward to their Monday morning
class with enthusiasm..."
Now, in a
CW Website exclusive,
we have obtained photos of these fabulous C-dubs at
work, as well as some thank-you Valentine
cards/poems from the Hoover students. You can
see them, along with more excerpts from Mr. Graven's
letter, on the website's photo page.
FEBRUARY 10, 2007
Time for a round-up of C-dub activities, honors,
and awards.
First off, the entire department --
which I'm sure will excuse a tired metaphor, though
not in its own work -- truly raised the bar in its
January performances. Both readings, organized
by seniors and in particular by Sloane Martin '07,
were smooth presentations of high-level work.
And both drew spillover crowds.
A number of C-dubs have also been
recognized for individual efforts. A
nonfiction piece by Adrian Kane '08, written
originally for a unit taught by artist-in-residence
Dan Hoyle, was published on the website Wiretap.
Adrian also won Honorable Mention in a recent
contest sponsored by the Bay Area Travel Writers;
her winning piece can be found at the BATW website
here. Sloane Martin '07 appears in
Baby Remember My Name, a new anthology edited by
Michelle Tea, another repeating CW
artist-in-residence. Publication is
upcoming in 2008 for Hannah Shr '08, whose
poem "The Secret Life of Turtles" will appear in a
Candlewick Press anthology of young adult writing
edited by Betsy Franco. And Mama, a
play by Tanea Lunsford '09, is a winner in
the San Francisco Young Playwrights contest, pending
editing for length. Mama won another
major contest last year; you can read about it in
the April 19, 2006 entry in our
2005-2006 archives.
Finally, four students have been
awarded scholarships to the
San Francisco
Writers Conference. Tiffany Fuller '07,
Seph Kramer '07, Isabel Poling '08, and Eli Wolfe
'09 will attend the conference, now in its
fourth year, which will run from February 16 - 18.
JANUARY 8, 2007
The SF Chronicle's theater critic, Robert
Hurwitt, has given a rave review to "Tings Dey
Happen," the new one-man show by CW
writer-in-residence Dan Hoyle. Hoyle
spent a month in the fall of this year with CW II
students, his third stint with the department.
During his residency, students got occasional
advance glimpses of "Tings," and the entire
department attended the show's opening night at The
Marsh theatre. Hurwitt's review, which
appeared in the Chron's Datebook section today, can
be
read online at SF Gate.
JANUARY 1, 2007
Happy New Year, and welcome back to C-dubs and
their parents. Three dates are coming up fast.
First up is Audition Day on Saturday, January 6.
Check your department email and respond if you're
able to help meet prospective students and parents.
The next two dates involve the annual "Poetry Cafe,"
which this year makes a break with the past.
The 2007 edition is split over two nights on two
weekends, and will be held in two different venues.
See the Major
Performances info above, and be sure to order
your tickets in advance -- seating is limited on
both nights.
DECEMBER 20, 2006
And now for something
completely different: Creative Writers doing sports.
Sasha Schmitz '09 is an avid fencer.
She has travelled extensively this past year to
compete in various tournaments, including the Junior
Olympics. In February of 2007 she will repeat
in the Junior Olympics, to be held this time in
Denver. (Please note our editorial restraint
in avoiding "the pen is mightier than the sword"
jokes.)
Lacking official sports teams at their own campus,
SOTA students are allowed to play for what would be
their neighborhood school. In the case of
soccer player Seph Kramer '07, that school is
Mission High School. Lucky for him: Mission
has one of the best soccer teams in the league.
"In fact," Seph writes, "we have been city and
transbay champions two years running. Not only
have we been successful in the league, but being on
the team has led to other tournaments and
opportunities, including summer soccer camp at UC
Berkeley. Plus, I have a really cool letterman
jacket to show for all of this."
OCTOBER 31, 2006
Photos of the October 13 Despot
Roller Disco extravaganza, snapped by CW parent
Mae Moredo -- thanks, Mae! -- are now arranged and up
in the Photo Gallery.
Have a look.
OCTOBER 13, 2006
CW's first performance of the
year was a fabulous, and fabulously attended,
winner. Aidan Gardiner '07 led the way as
Kim Jong Il hosting his own show, and the
despot-themed skits were flat-out funny. But
to quote Heather Woodward's comments afterwards,
"The core of the evening was the strong work of the
writers, and then everything just radiated out from
there. There was a good balance of poetry and
prose, the poignant and the amusing, the serious and
the flat-out crazy....And parents, you are the best.
For those of you working the event, your
good-natured, community spirit was palpable.
And to all the parents who brought food -- and some
of you went to great lengths -- thank you very, very
much." The DVD will be coming before long, but
in the meantime, why not check out clips of older
shows on the Video Gallery
page?
SEPTEMBER 1, 2006
A contest-winning video by C-dub Natasha Weidner
'09 and Anabel Hirano, also SOTA Class of '09,
is now viewable online. Natasha and Anabel won
an award for Artistic Expression in KQED's High
School Digital Storytelling Contest last spring.
Go to the KQED
Showcase Stories page and scroll down for "Holy
Bunion." QuickTime is required for viewing.
The URL for the page:
http://dsi.kqed.org/index.php/contest/about/C75
fall
2006
This fall
Creative Writing begins
its fifth year as an arts discipline at SOTA, and
this website embarks on its second year as a go-to
spot for information, sharing, and shameless
cheerleading. As always, CW students and
parents should look first to their own emails and
hand-outs to keep up with what's happening.
But this website promises to stay current with the
latest news and calendar changes, and to be useful
to department insiders and outsiders alike.
All pages will be updated as necessary to reflect
program, faculty, and calendar date changes for the
new year. If you find errors, or if you're a
C-dub wanting to contribute a First Person piece, or
if you just want to say hi, email webmaster Steve
Kane at
wbmstr_cw@sbcglobal.net. And, oh yes --
MySpace we ain't, but photographs (JPEG
format) of C-dubs in their native habitat are always
welcome!
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