Poem For A Graduate

Ambitious arts festival debuts

Participants had a good time, so organizers hope to do it again next year.

The first Summerset Festival of the Arts was held this weekend on the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County campus. The four-day event kicked off with concerts Thursday night, then continued with an almost overwhelming variety of workshops and presentations on painting, sculpture, drama, cinema, poetry and even fine food. Much of the program offered hands-on experiences and audience participation for all ages.

Early Saturday, retired Baraboo High School art teacher Rochelle Robkin led a group of young actors from the Stage III drama group sponsored by the Al. Ringling Theatre. The budding thespians warmed up with theatrical exercises before performing the children’s story "James and the Giant Peach."

The festival included three ongoing exhibits, one of which was a display of costumes including locally designed garments used in the Great Circus Parade and Baraboo stage performances.

Baraboo resident Nijole Etzwiler was walking through the exhibit with her grandson, Eric Etzwiler, 15, of Des Plaines, Ill. An elaborate evening dress by Baraboo native and UW-Stout graduate Helen Stieve caught her eye.

"Oh, It’s gorgeous," she exclaimed. "I’m so glad they did this. This is so beautiful."

In the artist demonstration tent, Baraboo resident Mike Heath helped his daughter Emily, 5, form stars and other objects from clay. The family spent the day enjoying various festival activities.

"We’re looking forward to the Irish dance and the Madisalsa performance tonight," he said. "It’s a great event, good for families and good for kids."

On the quad, the UW-Madison-based Women in Redzine literary journal held a reading of poetry and prose. The magazine was founded by UW-Baraboo graduates Keeiann Ehlen and Chloe Clark.

UW-Madison student Dan Pankratz shared his unfinished poem, "The Epic of Gale and Thunder." It is the tale of a young pirate captain who is betrayed by his crew, survives being tossed into the sea and eventually becomes a baron.

In the campus’ R.G. Brown Theatre a group of young filmmakers, the Ho-Chunk Players, displayed some of their work.

Their short films included a tale of teen social anguish in which a girl accidentally sends a text message critical of a friend’s dancing to the girl she’s criticizing. Another has one girl telling her friend "he left me," and the punch line comes when she talks about "washing him" and viewers realize her dog has run off.

Lee B. Hopkins Poetry Award Teaching Toolbox: 2008 Honor Book ...

This book amusingly describes various things a preteen or teen go through. Everything from a bad hair day to science class, to volleyball practice is mentioned in this book of poems. The poems are uniquely written to make pictures out of the words. For example, there is a poem about graphing where the poems is written up and down to look like a line graph. The poems sort of ramble just as a teenage girl would. Any teenager, and reminiscing adult could relate to the events of the book.

It is co-sponsored by Mr. Hopkins himself, the Pennsylvania State University Libraries, the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, and an additional sponsor, Pennsylvania School Librarians Association.

Since its inception, the winning poet or anthologist has received a handsome plaque and a $1000 honorarium made possible by Mr. Hopkins, himself a poet and anthologist. “good poetry is imaginative. It deals with emotion and has significance beyond the act of creation. It uses figurative language, yet is compact in thought and expression. Good poetry has an element of beauty and truth which appears unstable outside of the poem. The book which wins the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award for Children's Poetry must be accessible to children and its presentation must serve the poem or poems in an attractive and appropriate manner.

The Man in the Moon. a Poem ... by an Under-Graduate of Worcester College, Oxford.

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