Write here, write now: Naropa writing program encourages young artists to push boundaries

Colorado Daily staff

Posted: 06/19/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

Since the summer of 1974, the Summer Writing Program (SWP) at Naropa University has embraces a unique heritage of fostering a conglomeration of artists on the cusp of breaking their own mold.

In the spirit of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and the myriad of other "Outrider" artists who helped pave the principles of scholarship and counterculture that still govern the SWP today, students gathered this week to participate in the month-long event.

"The program is organized by week to provide the perfect mix of diversity and perspective for the students attending it," said Lisa Birman, SWP Director, who spends the entire academic year preparing, organizing, and selecting the dozens of visiting artists, writers, poets and performers to come to the SWP each summer. "We try to maintain a balance of setting high standards for our students while at the same time being inclusive to all experience levels--that way everyone can be challenged and still find a home here."

According to Birman, visiting artists are selected first and foremost based on being faithfully active to their medium. Although it is a Naropa philosophy that every student has something to teach and every teach has something to learn--for the SWP, the artists are artists first--not teachers.

Artists such as Amiri Baraka, the "Last Poet Laureate of New Jersey; Thulani Davis, journalist, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter; Tracie Morris, interdisciplinary poet, sound artist, writer, and multimedia performer; and Steven Taylor, member of seminal poetry rock group the Fugs—are just a few of the myriad of artists who have been hand-picked for the event.

Birman went on to describe how artists are also selected according to how their art challenges the mainstream. In creating a selection of artists whose work pushes boundaries--in regards to genre, style, and society--students have easier access to expanding their own artistic perspectives.

One such student is Kim Castanon, a 25-year-old grad student who will receive her MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa upon the completion of her time at the SWP. Kim told the Colorado Daily that, just within her first week at the program, she has integrated breakthrough experiences with Bhanu Kapil, SWP Speaker and Poet, with her own personal work.

"It's been a great opportunity to work with Bhanu," said Castanon, who also spoke as a student panelist on the topic of the implications of finding one's identity as a writer in Boulder. "She knows what kind of questions to ask that I would never think to ask myself."

Lou Florez, a Naropa undergraduate studying Interdisciplinary Writing in the context of Psychology, Religious Studies and Visual Arts, said that his time at the SWP has allowed him to explore different avenues of finding his own voice as a writer.

Referencing his experiences with Selah Saterstrom, SWP Visiting Author, Florez cited her interpretation of the Biblical story of Daniel translating the proverbial "writing on the wall" for a king who desecrated sacred chalices for his own party.

"We talked about how, metaphorically, when there are contradictions in the world--the world at large or our personal world--through them something significant can happen: the writing on the wall appears," Florez said. "It's an experience that has happened to me as a writer before, but I had never put it in that context."

"Being at the program has given me more experience in finding myself in words," he continued. "It has helped me figure out who I am and what I want to say."

In this, the 34th year of the SWP, breakthrough such as that of Florez and Castanon have strengthened foundation of what the program was originally based on.

"His spirit still hovers here," said Bobbie Louise Hawkins, Prose Fiction Faculty at Naropa University, speaking of Ginsberg--as they were both at the original SWP in 1974. "Our students continue to be uneven, which is ideal--the environment is richer with other artists around."

The broadening of artistic horizons at the SWP, however, is not only limited to the students. The public at large has an opportunity to be witness to cutting edge literary readings and performances throughout each week.

"Most people's preconceived notions of poetry upset me," said Castanon. "When the readings happen, people walk away thinking about poetry completely different."

For a schedule of readings open to the public, or to learn more about the SWP, visit Naropa's SWP website at www.naropa.edu/swp.

Contact Lance Vaillancourt about this story at (303) 443-6272, ext. 125 or vaillancourt@coloradodaily.com.