Filling in the Gaps at Kalamazoo College: English Faculty Reading

**Edit: 2/2/10

¨We are here to generate a little heat and light.” said Gail Griffin at the opening of the Winter 2010 English Faculty Reading at Kalamazoo College. It was an embryonic experience; imperfect and intimate. Not every performance was strong, but the program sandwiched drier scholars between more boisterous performers. Each faculty member who stepped up to the intimidating podium put their vulnerability on display— for a room full of witnesses who will see them in class— as if to convey that they are on equal footing, and growing alongside their students.

Kalamazoo College's English Department reading was comprised of ten individuals, each of whom contributed a completely unique set of experiences and projects. Andy Mozina began the event with an excerpt from his short story “My Non-Sexual Affair” his saucy prose provided an excellent contrast to arduous observations about marriage. Following Mr. Mozina was visiting professor Beth Marzoni whose poem “Rothko Room” orbited around the Rothko Room in London's Tate Museum. Her cadence was self-conscious, but suggested that the audience should be a set of lungs taking in metaphors with her breath and sending them to every part of the body.

Marin Heinritz and Gail Griffin both read from their creative non-fiction works, and both were stunning. Ms. Griffin, in an inky voice and borrowed glasses, revisited a murder-suicide that haunts Kalamazoo college. Moments of heavy description mirrored the reality of emotional weight, and simultaneously allowed statements like, “all of us were survivors” to hit their mark without gushing. Ms. Heinritz read from her memoir, “Coming of Age With Cancer”. She dissected a murky relationship with her mother in a clear, strong delivery that gave the impression of unsympathetic empathy. Her tone resonated with concise assessment and analysis of observations about her mother.

Glenn Deutsch also read from a non-fiction piece that will appear in “Literary View”. “Monkey Version of My Father” is told from the perspective of a young boy. During his reading Mr. Deutsch paused to interject bits of humor or orienting facts. In his biography on the English Department's web page he says, “I also try to show the value of writing that avoids abstractions, generalizations, and judgments ...The point, of course, is that well-written, character-based literature lets us live other peoples’ lives vicariously.” Mr. Deutsch's portion of Wednesday's reading was particularly successful in this way.

Amy Rogers and Babli Sinha were the most academic readers, but both women avoided seeming out of place in the line-up with rich, relevant content. Ms. Rogers read from a 'process piece' in which she observed that, “writing about someone who actually existed is not so different from creating a character.” Ms. Sinha read from a conference paper on South Asian Media and understanding the “new woman”. Her quiet delivery made the eloquent writing and smart humor a little difficult to catch, but her work is well worth straining to hear.

Di Seuss and Amelia Katanski rounded out the evening with energizing, animated confessional and narrative poetry, and Bruce Mills brought it to a close. Mr. Mills was brilliant. He delivered what he called the "epigraph for the evening" infusing hard subjects with silly grace and “filling in the gaps”. He read from “Archeology of Yearning” which called the audience to Iowa with its abandoned farms and his own house littered with artifacts of Autism.

The reading overall was a thoughtful collection of juxtaposing elements placed in a casual framework which acted as an easy framework for so many personalities.