Digital Commons Network^™

Remembering Gina Berriault, Marianne Rogoff

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

"Near Sequoia movie theatre in downtown Mill Valley, in the space now occupied by Champagne French Bakery, I shared many lunches with the late, great Marin County writer Gina Berriault. I was her student then (MA in English: Creative Writing, SF State, 1983) and she was my thesis advisor, a one-to-one mentor relationship that did not involve a classroom full of other needy writing students. I cherished this focused attention: all about me. The professor’s long fingers often reached up to move her straight, dark hair away from her face so she could emphasize a point with serious eye contact; …

Twelve Rules For Drinking, Kevin Mcwilliams Coates

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Prohibition had an unexpected side effect: writers who wanted to see themselves as creative nonconformists began to flaunt their relationship with alcohol, adopting the persona of the charmingly and recklessly defiant individualist. Alcohol has been imagined as the writer’s muse and has assumed a prominent role in countless works of fiction. My culminating project is a collection of stories and poetry with that common thread: alcohol. Borrowing from the Humanist Alternative of the Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve Steps, the collection is arranged into twelve sections, each headed by and inspired by a step in the program. My intent is not to …

Haiku In West Coast Poetics: What Kigo?, Judy Halebsky

Faculty Authored Books and Book Contributions

"

When I attended the Meguro International Haiku Circle last year, I asked for ideas for presentation topics. Someone suggested that I explain why poets in the U.S. are not overly concerned with kigo. Coming from a lineage of California poets influenced by haiku and Japanese poetry, I am not sure if I understand the subtleties of this challenge. However, the question of kigo brings up a larger issue: the cultural translation of haiku in the work of English language poets. Today, I would like to touch on the issues that have shaped how free verse poets in California translate …