tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86036554405616775302024-02-20T20:39:12.104-08:00Integrial MediaIntegrity Integrate IntegralMeg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-43503760475476190882013-06-10T22:46:00.000-07:002013-06-10T22:47:30.260-07:00NZSA - Michael King Writers Centre, Flash Fiction Award, and Mentorship<br />
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I had a fabulous week in February staying and working at the <a href="http://www.writerscentre.org.nz/">Michael King Writers Centre</a>. This spacious wonderful old Victorian villa on Takarunga volcanic cone overlooks Devonport and Auckland Harbour. It is fully wheelchair accessible, set in a lovely garden and supported so well by the staff and volunteers. A very peaceful place to work I made a lot of progress with my prose memoir <i>a girl called brian</i>. Thirty stories written in the past 15 years or so. I spent 2 days just reading and editing the whole manuscript as it is, and found it to hang together better than I had anticipated and it is more lighthearted than I imagined. While working with a copy editor at long distance. the Michael King Writers Centre is run by the New Zealand Society of Authors and is a real hub for visiting writers, meetings and workshops, as well as (from the front anyway) a tourist attraction for those walking or busing up the mountain for the 360 degree views. Don McGlashan was the writer in residence while I was there, working on his next album. We had some great chats in the kitchen.<br />
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While in Auckland I also received second prize in the <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2013/02/flash-fiction-wins-nz-society-of.html">NZSA Queer Flash Fiction writing award</a> for a page long version of <i>a girl called brian</i>. The award was presented by author Sandi Hall as part of a Pride Festival event at the Auckland Public Library ( I used to haunt and the nearby art shops when I was 18, my small home town only had a 2 room art gallery!). Where three queer readers read their work and discussed the queerness or not, of it. Tony Simpson NZSA President, David Lyndon Brown, and Julie Helean. The latter of which proved a reunion of sorts as photos of her from 1990 made up part of my <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/p/re-tern-hokinga-mahara-meg-torwl.html">Retrospective Exhibition</a> in March in Wellington. <br />
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I received word recently I have been accepted to for a <a href="http://www.authors.org.nz/wawcs0137984/idDetails=165/Mentor-Programme-Applications-now-open-for-2013.html">NZSA Mentorship</a> with well respected NZ author<a href="http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/smitherelizabeth.html"> Elizabeth Smither.</a> We will work for 20 hours on a collection of poems in three suites:
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">A collection of poems inspired by the great New
Zealand blended-extended family holiday, historic and my contemporary New Zealand writers and artists, and the land herself - especially the back roads.</span>
Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-24491817761571939572013-06-03T17:52:00.000-07:002013-06-10T20:07:24.530-07:00 Sunday June 16 3pm VMI Reading <div style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
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Sunday June 16 3pm VMI Reading I will be reading (second on the reading order) from the wry memoir <i>a girl called brian</i> I have been working on for the past 5 months intensively of stories written in the past 15 years or so. A long with a great line up of readers! Hosted by VMI facilitator and mentor Betsy Warland. See you there! </div>
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You are invited to join us for our Vancouver Manuscript Intensive 2013 Reading on <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1835629023" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">June 16th</span></span> at the Vancouver Film School Cafe, 392 West Hastings.</div>
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The reading begins at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1835629024" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">3PM</span></span>. </div>
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Nine
dynamically diverse and talented fiction and nonfiction writers will
read excerpts from their manuscripts. The writers are : </div>
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Jane Mortifee</div>
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Carol Cram</div>
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Lorraine Kiidumae</div>
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Cynthia Woodman Kerkham</div>
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Beth Hawkes</div>
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Meg Torwl</div>
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Margreet Dietz</div>
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Meaghan Rondeau</div>
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Yaana Dancer<br />
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This photo is me at age 17, and ends one of the excerpts I will be reading from the story <i>The Power of the Suit </i>which explores the power of a woman in a 'mens' suit. I will also be reading 'black and white' based on another photograph, which came second the New Zealand Society of Authors LGBT Flash Fiction writing competition.</div>
Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-32068847931761877902013-02-04T22:22:00.002-08:002013-03-04T03:33:03.375-08:00Flash Fiction wins NZ Society of Authors prize!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I won second prize in the New Zealand Society of Authors queer flash fiction writing competition! Yay! for my piece 'black and white' (see above) photo ( : ) which locates me in my family in the prose memoir i am working on 'a girl called brian'. I am currently working on this book in the <a href="http://www.betsywarland.com/">Vancouver Manuscript Intensive with Betsy Warland</a>, and will be working on it also at <a href="http://www.authors.org.nz/afa.asp?idWebPage=40048&idDetails=17214">The Micheal King Writers Centre</a> in Auckland. <br />
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The winning entries will be published in <a href="http://www.gayexpress.co.nz/2013/02/queer-authors-honoured/">Express Newspaper Aotearoa/NZ</a>, and I get to pick up my <a href="http://www.aucklandpridefestival.org.nz/events/dialogue-and-debate/one-with-two/">prize Feb 11 at an event</a>, where New Zealand Society of Authors President Tony Simpson, himself a gay non-fiction writer, will be in conversation with two recent award-winning queer writers. Julie Helean’s first novel, Open Accounts of an Honesty Box, was published in 2010. Earlier this year, she won the coveted Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award. David Lyndon Brown is the outgoing Sargeson Fellow, finishing a book of short stories while in residence at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in Devonport.<br />
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This coincides with my interdisciplinary <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/p/re-tern-hokinga-mahara-meg-torwl.html">Retrospective Exhibition in Wellington March 5 -10, 2013, Re-Tern: Hokinga Mahara,</a> curated by Elizabeth Kerekere and Treason Seditio. More about that soon! To which I will be traveling thanks to a travel grant from <a href="http://www.canadacouncil.ca/interarts/">Canada Council for the Arts, Inter-Arts section. </a></div>
Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-53272410629663273412012-12-22T18:32:00.000-08:002012-12-22T18:39:53.248-08:002012 an Inviting Year!<div style="text-align: justify;">
( * many of the hyperlinks lead to blogposts and photo albums of the events ( : enjoy!) </div>
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2012 began with my being invited
by Director Betsy Warland, along with a handful of <a href="http://www.sfu.ca/content/sfu/continuing-studies/about/program-units/the-writers-studio-community/main.html"><i>The Writer’s Studio</i></a> at Simon
Fraser University alumni from different years, to speak to the 2012 students on
their orientation day. About our experience with TWS, writing careers goals and
plans for the future. That was fun!
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In March and June I completed my
elective paper for th TWS course, by attending <a href="http://www.betsywarland.com/">Betsy Warland’s</a> SFU classes <i>The
Reluctant Memoirist</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> and </span><i>Memoir of
Inquiry</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. Both I found very liberating, and
developed a better understanding of creative-nonfiction. If you don’t know
things because you weren’t there, writing from another characters point of
view, were too young, or weren’t born etc, use your imagination! This led me on
some wild and interesting tangents! </span></div>
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June also saw the <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/05/june-2-2012-independents-reading-and.html">launch of chapbooks</a> by members of <a href="http://theindependentspoetry.wordpress.com/"><i>The Independents</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">
(The Poetry and Lyric Prose TWS alumni 2011) at a wonderful reading we had at
(the alas now closed) Cafe Montmartre, with Jen Currin being a great MC! A
manuscript for my poetry chapbook </span><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/05/transit-of-venus-chapbook-short-listed.html"><i>Transit of Venus</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> – about love, public transit, and life transitions,
was short-listed for the <a href="http://www.doirepress.com/Doire_Press/winners.html">Doire Press prize</a>. A good time was had by all, lots of
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.433040890061818.103701.103657349666842&type=1">photos here</a>.</span></div>
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I participated in 6 anthology
book launches and/or readings throughout the year. Including in January an
Exhibition of <i><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/01/jan-24-2012-exhibition-of-creativity-by.html">Car</a></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><i><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/01/jan-24-2012-exhibition-of-creativity-by.html">egivers Creativity</a>.
</i>Leaf Press </span><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/02/feb-12-3pm-love-poems-book-launch.html"><i>The Wild Weathers</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">
chocolatey love poem anthology launch in February at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.354264311272810.89351.103657349666842&type=3&saved">Historic Joy Kogawa House</a>.
March the lively </span><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/03/enpipe-line-book-launch-march-23-7pm.html"><i>Enpipe Line</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/285811584821394/">book launch</a> of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Enpipe-Line-70000-kilometers-of-collaborative-resistance-poetry/107609049310002">opposition to the Endbridge oil pipeline proposal</a>. August I was
invited by </span><a href="http://poetryisdead.ca/"><i>Poetry is Dead</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> to
represent them at a reading for </span><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/08/fri-aug-17-630pm-magscene-on-main_13.html"><i>MagScence on Main</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> on a hot summer evening. The the standing room only </span><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/11/poetry-is-dead-magazine-queer-issue.html">Queer Issue of Poetry is Dead Magazine</a><span style="font-style: normal;"> in November with a lively interactive <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.500880003277906.121042.103657349666842&type=1#%21/media/set/?set=a.500880003277906.121042.103657349666842&type=1">launch</a>. I was invited
by curator <a href="http://aileenpenner.com/">Aileen Penner</a> to participate in </span><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/12/dec-14-2013-poetry-and-science-readling.html"><i>The Science of Poetry Vol. 1</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">. An amazing collaboration between 5 poets
and 5 scientists, resulting in 10 new poems and beautiful limited edition
chapbook. A barely standing room only reading at which my working partner and
I, Adrienne Drobnies read our work to the accompaniment of an audio mashup I
designed, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.511936828838890.123301.103657349666842&type=1">photos from my </a></span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.511936828838890.123301.103657349666842&type=1"><i>Views from Cancer Town</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.511936828838890.123301.103657349666842&type=1"> series, and an installation</a> of illuminated body
casts used to immobilize people during radiation ‘treatment’. </span></div>
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On the audio-visual front I was
invited to present my water photography based new media installations <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/p/meg-torwl-new-media.html">aqwai, tiarika and going coastal</a><span style="font-style: normal;"> in the July mixed media </span><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/07/homecoming-exhibition-gibsons-bc.html"><i>Homecoming Exhibition</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.472706479428592.114185.103657349666842&type=3">Gibsons Public Art Gallery</a>. In
August I completed the video poems </span><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/08/video-poem-jest-or-malice.html"><i>Jest or Malice</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> and </span><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/08/video-poem-freedom.html"><i>Freedom</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">, which have been languishing on my hard drive for a number of years,
without music and titles, and posted them online!</span></div>
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September I was invited to fly to
Canmore, Alberta as one of two
professional artists representing the province of BC, at the <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/09/beyondaccess-canmore-october-2012.html"><i>BeyondAccess2012</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> gathering of 14 artists from across Canada who work
inside and outside disability and arts and culture. Had a great time <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/11/dacac-disability-arts-and-culture.html">amongst my peers</a>, worked really hard, met great artists across disciplines. We resolved to
form DACAC – Disability Arts and Culture Canada. In preparation for this event
and next 2013’s Retrospective Exhibition in NZ ( see below) I created a 90
slide power point presentation tracing my development across artistic
disciplines in the past 20 + years. Using the themes of my arts practice: -
collaboration, cross-cultural, mentorship, and interdisciplinary. It is
interesting to observe your own work in that way and see how things and people
come back around in different forms years later. </span></div>
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The year was completed by <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.513923411973565.123641.103657349666842&type=1">my graduating from SFU, along with about 10 of my fellow 2011 graduates,</a> our
certificates presented by new TWS Director Wayde Compton. I especially enjoyed
the speech by writer and publisher Mary Schendlinger whose very informative SFU
course <i>Getting Published: From Manuscript to Book</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> I recently completed. She talked about the need for both amateurs and
professionals in writing, the 10, 000 hours it takes to become a good writer,
the importance to language to children’s development, and some very humorous
asides! </span></div>
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2013 is already shaping up to be
a good year! I applied to and was accepted into <a href="http://www.betsywarland.com/vmi/">Betsy Warlands VMI program - Vancouver Manuscript Intensive</a>. I will be working with her in the Creative
Nonfiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Mixed-genre group, (with fellow TWS Poetry
and Lyric Prose alumni Yaana Dancer). Yay! On a manuscript of 33 plus
auto-biographical stories in <i>a girl called brian</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, (because my life is far stranger than anything I could make up!)
Below an excerpt from a flash fiction opening premise. I am very much looking
forward to shaping this manuscript with Betsy, especially given her current </span><a href="http://www.betsywarland.com/excerpts-from-oscar-of-between/"><i>Oscar of Between</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> project. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnoHpwER1voB1cQ8YzX_U_Y_8aNsr0SWVfPfGsIbzXA0lxodoXh0iFDxn9h3199APn1OF0h7f_3mgSg43b_TaO5vQ8FLnyETQW6wcF_tLEqqF2rlTz5hF8K9H4dKJTMisrSvQXy8w-MZk/s1600/twins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnoHpwER1voB1cQ8YzX_U_Y_8aNsr0SWVfPfGsIbzXA0lxodoXh0iFDxn9h3199APn1OF0h7f_3mgSg43b_TaO5vQ8FLnyETQW6wcF_tLEqqF2rlTz5hF8K9H4dKJTMisrSvQXy8w-MZk/s200/twins.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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“<i>Black and White</i><span style="font-style: normal;">: A photo you will find when you are twenty-five
years old. Two older women with babies on their knees’, everyone is laughing.
It will defi(n)e everything you have been told. This is what you need to know:
you will grow into something beautiful. Something in-between. When you are six
your older sister will call this something, Brian. Even though your birth
certificate says you are a girl.....”</span></div>
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I have been commissioned to
complete a number of Video Poems for Stage Left’s 2013 performance festivals. I
will likely work on 2-3 of my <i>Views from Cancer Town</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> video poems. </span></div>
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The ultimate event for me in
2013, which I have been working on all this year in terms of logistics,
funding, press, with curators Elizabeth Kerekere and Treason Seditio is <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/p/re-tern-hokinga-mahara-meg-torwl.html"><i>Re-Tern: Hokinga Mahara – A Meg Torwl Retrospective</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">.
In association with the <a href="http://www.fringe.co.nz/">New Zealand Fringe Festival</a> 2013 Wellington, and <a href="http://www.laganz.org.nz/">LAGANZ</a>
present an interdisciplinary exhibition of my video, new media, performance,
photography, audio, writing. <a href="http://www.thistlehall.org.nz/index.html">Thistle Hall Gallery March 5-10</a>. It’s going to be
a great experience, I hope to attend! I also received support with this project
from the NZ </span><a href="http://www.mixandmash.org.nz/"><i>Mix and Mash competition</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">.
Through which I applied for and received a Mentor for 2012, <a href="http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/news/tbi-qna/124544-tbi-qa-elisabeth-vaneveld">Elizabeth Vaneveld,
ED of </a></span><a href="http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/news/tbi-qna/124544-tbi-qa-elisabeth-vaneveld"><i>The Big Idea</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">, </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/">Aotearoa/NZ’s online arts community</a> </span><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></div>
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Let me know how your 2012 went
and your plans for 2013? </div>
Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-42725667375403888902012-12-10T20:13:00.001-08:002012-12-18T14:04:36.888-08:00Dec 14, 2013 Poetry and Science Reading Vol 1.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeJeaPKFKGNQykSSXuSXUgmUACd66VU0qiAfee6mI_N05gJLQTH4ux93YPw1tgGgQ0ftC_X7nyJOmpc_AAaLje_ayGtCvFhsOBvLOcMrdXnG_UNWJKgPdgckrxilIW9uX-BlqgUZeWi5g/s1600/poster+poetry+and+science+final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeJeaPKFKGNQykSSXuSXUgmUACd66VU0qiAfee6mI_N05gJLQTH4ux93YPw1tgGgQ0ftC_X7nyJOmpc_AAaLje_ayGtCvFhsOBvLOcMrdXnG_UNWJKgPdgckrxilIW9uX-BlqgUZeWi5g/s400/poster+poetry+and+science+final.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZhLkFrqF6Slg2Cyn-amMzrw7-bYUMN1xMtLh6v_TBg3fmXD5vfRK-qbVCJ2WWS2FO1uAx32vRUPdEr73knPKgybnEY4RuyQFdBU8c936RHdlmaOQU4qb0cm8lYTyC_dNaWZAxFwlqOk/s1600/7.+rosehips+better.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZhLkFrqF6Slg2Cyn-amMzrw7-bYUMN1xMtLh6v_TBg3fmXD5vfRK-qbVCJ2WWS2FO1uAx32vRUPdEr73knPKgybnEY4RuyQFdBU8c936RHdlmaOQU4qb0cm8lYTyC_dNaWZAxFwlqOk/s320/7.+rosehips+better.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meg Torwl photo. Views from Cancer Town series.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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What happens when you have 5 scientists, and 5 poets, and ask them to write poems together? Creative chaos! Come and see! I have been having so much fun working on this project with my writing partner genome scientist and accomplished poet Adrienne Drobnies! We may collaborate in the future, so many possibilities! The project was facilitated by <a href="http://aileenpenner.com/">Aileen Penner</a>, scientists, poet, environmental communications specialist. There will be a limited edition handmade chapbooks available at the event with a poem by each of the 10 scientists and poets, as well a a collaboratively written poem. We each wrote poems in response to discussion we had, and we will read them together verse for verse, they comment on each other in an interesting way. Adrienne Drobnies will read her new poem <i>day in the lab, night in the cemetery</i>, and I will be reading a new poem <i>enviro-mental</i>, part of a suite of poems I am working on in my <i>Views from Cancer Town </i>series. (see a sample poem below) We plan an audio mashup, a installation with body casts, and photos from my <i>Views from Cancer Town</i> series - photos taken from West 10th, and West Broadway. (see sample photo above) My poem <i>enviro-mental</i> explores health and the environment, references, <a href="http://www.rachelcarson.org/">Rachel Carson</a>, and the movies <i>Karate Kid</i>, and <i>Eat, Pray, Love!</i> There is humor involved! Come check it out! It's gonna be one rockin evening! <a href="http://www.facebook.com/events/484747461569320/permalink/487230774654322/">Facebook Invite:</a><br />
<br />
It was a GREEEAAAT evening! Checkout photos of the event on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.511936828838890.123301.103657349666842&type=1">Facebook: Integrial Media</a><br />
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Gallery 1965 Main St, Vancouver, BC. Wheelchair Accessible<br />
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6:30pm doors open. <br />
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7:30 pm – Welcome by Vancouver Poet Laureate Evelyn Lau<br />
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7:35 pm – Introduction By Aileen Penner – Curator<br />
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7:40 pm – Readings by first two poet-scientist pairings<br />
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stem cell researcher + poet & novelist<br />
Ben Paylor + Leanne Dunic<br />
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landscape architect + Métis/Icelandic poet<br />
Kelty McKinnon + Jonina Kirton <br />
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* 10 min break *<br />
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8:10 pm- Readings by last three poet-scientist pairings <br />
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chemist-poet + poet & artist<br />
Adrienne Drobnies + Meg Torwl <br />
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biochemist researcher + poet & personal coach<br />
(Pamela Lincez) + Olive Dempsey<br />
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microbiologist + poet & anthropologist<br />
Lynne Quarmby + Carol Shillibeer<br />
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8:40 – Reception with DJ and Cash Bar<br />
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<b>POEM: VIEWS FROM CANCER TOWN: 1</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/events/484747461569320/permalink/487230774654322/"></a></div>
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<b></b>you think you know
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the view from cancer town</div>
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fluorescent lit rooms</div>
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surgical scars</div>
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bald chemo heads</div>
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<i>bodies</i></div>
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lie on a slab</div>
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<i>people</i><span style="font-style: normal;"></span></div>
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live in cancer town</div>
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there are cigarette butts</div>
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and hand-knitted blankets</div>
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autumn leaves</div>
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sunshine</div>
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snow</div>
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the view from cancer town</div>
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- the best in
the city</div>
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north shore mountains</div>
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with their snow and wind turbine</div>
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burrard inlet</div>
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anchored oil tankers</div>
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compassed</div>
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by the tide. </div>
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Meg Torwl.</div>
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Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-29767972985119280652012-11-24T02:31:00.000-08:002012-11-30T03:52:52.677-08:00D.A.C.A.C. - Disability Arts and Culture Association of Canada<style>p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style>
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<br />
The national <b><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/09/beyondaccess-canmore-october-2012.html">BeyondAccess 2012
gathering in Canmore</a>, Alberta was amazing</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">!
A week with professional colleagues with disabilities working across a range of
artistic disciplines. Bliss! Lots of hard work. Learnt a lot. Great
connections. The gathering was convened and facilitated by <a href="http://www.stage-left.org/">Stage-Left</a> Artistic
Director Michele Decottignies, along with <a href="http://www.halicamedia.com/shain/">Alan Shain</a>. (Stage Left commissioned my solo interdisciplinary spoken word show <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2009/12/calgary.html">That's so gay!</a> in 2009). </span></div>
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In the mornings we talked about
the 40 year history of disability arts and culture practice in Canada, worked
towards establishing common ground, and aesthetics. </div>
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In the afternoons, one or two
people or groups each took turns to present our visual, media, dance, or
theatre work. Our artistic decision making processes, and where possible
practical workshops, like integrated dance. I presented on media with filmmaker
and academic <a href="http://www.daniellepeers.com/KingCrip/aboutus.html">Danielle Peers</a>.<br />
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The other participant from the province of BC was Dr. Kirsty Johnston who wrote the groundbreaking book <a href="http://mqup.mcgill.ca/book.php?bookid=2890">Stage Turns</a> - Canadian Disability Theatre. How Canadian theatre artists are challenging traditional theatre practices and re-imagining disability on stage.</div>
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You can see the list of
<a href="http://www.beyond-access.org/participants.html">participants online here</a>. Along with the <a href="http://www.beyond-access.org/purpose.html">purpose</a> of the event.<br />
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On Thursday night we each
screened 10 minutes of work, or excerpts from our work in film, dance or
theatre. That was a highlight for me to see the stunning professional solo and
collaborative work we all do. I went back to my roots and operated as the
<a href="http://www.designbybillie.com/outonthecoast/">projectionist</a> as we sourced work from the web, DVD’s and our laptop
computers. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In the evenings, we often shared
a meal in one of the lovely hotel suites we were accommodated in, got to know
one another, networked and discussed possible future collaborations.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
At the conclusion of the
gathering we resolved to form D.A.C.A.C. - Disability Arts and Culture
Association of Canada. Which will be launched publicly with an online presence
in the spring of 2013. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I realized what a rare experience
it was for me to have my knowledge, skills, and artistic practice in disability
arts valued. Although of course I also work in the arts community generally.
Having at times worked in mainstream media organizations as the lone
‘disability voice’ can be a very wearing and at times combative experience when
working for policy change to be inclusive of artists with disabilities.<br />
<br />
We talked about the importance of sharing our knowledge and skills as senior artists in our local, national, and international communities. To that end upon my return I joined the Board if Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture - who have been trying to entice me to join for some time. I worked for Kickstart 2009- 2010 on their festivals, workshops, <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2010/11/earsighted-audio-description-first-in.html">Audio Description Program,</a> (<a href="http://vocaleye.ca/">Vocal Eye</a> formerly EarSighted) and <a href="http://www.kickstart-arts.ca/bc-regional-inclusive-arts-network/">BC Regional Inclusive Arts Network</a> (BRIAN). Joining the Kickstart Board continues my commitment to a vibrant inclusive arts community in BC and providing professional development opportunities to artists. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Congratulations to Alan Shain who
post conference was appointed to the position of Disability Arts Officer with
the Canada Council for the Arts, in Ottawa.</div>
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<br /></div>
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We spent a few hours one
afternoon in an improvisational dance workshop outside interacting with a
standing stone sculpture by local artist Lucie Bause. I volunteered to document
the gathering as much as possible in photographs and video, so you can see
photos of dance, the gathering participants, and beautiful Canmore on my
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.500923136606926.121047.103657349666842&type=3">Integrial Media facebook page</a>. I was particularly impressed by the
collaborative dance work and choreography <a href="http://www.dance.ualberta.ca/iDANCE.aspx">IDANCE</a>, <a href="http://propellerdance.com/">Propeller Dance</a>, and <a href="http://www.muuve.tk/">Frank
Hull</a> are doing. You can see a short improvised dance playing with the Albertan wind on the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTZ0optUifk&feature=plcp">BeyondAccess2012 Youtube channel.</a><br />
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With the rare free time we had I
made the most of the great paved bike paths and zoomed along in my chairiot
enjoying the fresh air, mountain and river views. </div>
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The location of Canmore was
stunning, with mountains all around us. We were treated to great hospitality,
snow, rain, sunshine - and the
northern lights to welcome us on our first night.<br />
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I survived the long intense work
days by the knowledge that come 10pm I could go to the hot tub and soak away
the aches and pains of sitting all day, and quiet the whirling mind.</div>
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I wrote this poem while I was
there which sums up the experience for me. </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>BeyondAccess</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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we scan the room</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
ensuring</div>
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everyone has</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
what they need</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
to be present</div>
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adjustments are made</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
smiles</div>
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across the table</div>
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eager to meet</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
know</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
share food</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
belong</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
disrobing</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
in the hotel</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
hot pool</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
to skin</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
and bone</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
bikini clad</div>
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spa patrons</div>
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chat </div>
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amongst themselves</div>
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avert their eyes</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
in my dreams</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
we take over</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
the empty at night</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
kids water fountain</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
play area</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
behind the blue tiled wall</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
dancing</div>
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swirling circles </div>
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around one another</div>
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splashing</div>
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filming</div>
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laughing. </div>
<br />Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-66565377040427524942012-11-23T22:16:00.001-08:002012-11-23T22:26:58.486-08:00Poetry is Dead Magazine - Queer Issue November 2012<style>p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style>
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<br />
<br />
I was humbled and honoured to
have my poem <b>'close encounters'</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">
included in the great Queer Issue of Poetry is Dead Magazine, guest edited by
the wonderful <a href="http://alexleslie.wordpress.com/">Alex Leslie</a>, who <a href="http://poetryisdead.ca/content/queer-issue-come-one-come-all-letter-editor.html">blogs about the issue</a>. It has great art work by
<a href="http://www.snapme.ca/artists/2010/07/04/alex-sebag">Alexandra Sebag</a>, and Sarah Leavitt in a poetic collaboration with Jen Currin,
which <a href="http://www.sarahleavitt.com/comics-and-writing/comics/illustrated-poetry/">Sarah Leavitt Blogs about</a>.</span></div>
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All in all it was a great
experience! I represented Poetry
is Dead at a Magscene on Main reading in August <b><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/08/fri-aug-17-630pm-magscene-on-main_13.html">‘Write the body</a>’</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> with Adrienne Gruber and others. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Gave an online interview on the
Poetry is Dead website in September, along with many of the other contributors
to the Queer Issue, on the topic of failure as success. <b><a href="http://www.poetryisdead.ca/blog/queers-fail-better-qa-meg-torwl.html">Queers Fail Better</a></b><span style="font-weight: normal;">: ‘In her book ‘The Queer Art of Failure’ Judith
Halberstam offers alternative ways of knowing and becoming. Instead of valuing
the conventional paths of belonging, achievement and completion, she thinks
about and champions the ways of “failure”: losing your way, giving in, being
excluded, forgetting, awkwardness, coming apart. Not just rejecting the
“normal,” Halberstam shows alternatives to success as paths that have always
been there, moving away from mastery and coherence. In this series of Q&A’s
with contributors to our upcoming Queer issue, we play with these ideas. When
we aren’t trying to finish first (or finish anything) where do we end up?’</span></div>
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<b>The Queer Issue of Poetry is
Dead Magazine launch</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> and reading November
14<sup>th</sup> 2012 at Project Space Gallery went really well! An appreciative
crowd packed the space for a lively multimedia presentation! Check out the
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.500880003277906.121042.103657349666842&type=1#%21/media/set/?set=a.500880003277906.121042.103657349666842&type=1">photos I took of the event here</a>, or the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/poetryisdead#%21/media/set/?set=a.10151975848495476.508669.600355475&type=1">photos Rachel Bauman took here</a>.</span></div>
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I decided to make people laugh
more than cry for my reading, so turned to some older work, and took a stroll
through the misunderstandings that can happen on androgyny lane. Got some great
feedback besides the laughter. Fellow contributor <a href="http://www.arsenalpulp.com/contributorinfo.php?index=187">Amber Dawn</a> said I have
perfect timing. It’s true I do like to really look at the audience and play
with the energy in the room, hold them in the palm of your hand, and then
release them. Fellow writer <a href="http://www.openbooktoronto.com/news/2012_bpnichol_chapbook_award_winner_adrienne_gruber">Adrienne Gruber</a> said her partner is not always fond
of poetry readings but is still raving about my performance at the Magscene on
Main event. Good to know! I do like to think I can make anyone like poetry! I
really enjoyed the other contributors readings too! It was a great night to be
a part of.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><a href="http://poetryisdead.ca/subscribe">Get your issue of Poetry is
Dead here</a></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
or at Chapters or other bookstores
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<br />Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-86090974474796606412012-09-19T17:39:00.001-07:002012-11-24T01:09:26.829-08:00BeyondAccess Canmore October 2012<div style="text-align: justify;">
In a few days I will be heading for sunny Canmore, Alberta, to participate in a week long gathering of sixteen professional artists with disabilities from across Canada. I will be one of two senior artists representing the province of BC. We will be getting to know each other, talking about and showing our artistic practices. Others around the country will be joining in by skype. We will be having a discussion I have wanted to have for a long time about 'Disability Art (practiced by disabled artists), Integrated Art (practiced by artists with a disability and their non-disabled allies), and Art & Disability (practiced by people with a disability who define themselves as artists, period and by their non-disabled allies)'. Generating a report to feedback to stakeholders and funding bodies about how best to further the professional development of the above groups. The event is the brainchild of Michele Decotignes of <a href="http://www.stage-left.org/">Stage Left Productions</a> which amongst other things ran a successful disability arts festival in Calgary for 10 years. I was lucky to be commissioned to do a solo interdisciplinary show <a href="http://www.balancing-acts.org/ba9/meg.htm">"That's so gay!"</a> at the 2009 festival.
<br />
<br />
I will also be working on a new Video Poem for an event later in the year.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.canmorealberta.com/">Canmore</a> is beautiful!. I did go there once in 1998, here I am rapeling near there.(dressed in green with blue helmet)</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh59QGlgdcd4ofKuT2Ke-2Sbp-lLhfb9hR2y-vuMiPvqu4ZCBGapTCNH3yPcabgfD6ovfvXAnRiuLx0a0BQUszTHR3FzxgHkTC87i0mtDDMZqkw-OyTo2aV4dqmT9mnZrF9F7LBNvEu5yk/s1600/rapel+1998+1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh59QGlgdcd4ofKuT2Ke-2Sbp-lLhfb9hR2y-vuMiPvqu4ZCBGapTCNH3yPcabgfD6ovfvXAnRiuLx0a0BQUszTHR3FzxgHkTC87i0mtDDMZqkw-OyTo2aV4dqmT9mnZrF9F7LBNvEu5yk/s400/rapel+1998+1.jpg" width="300" /></a>
Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-22132115089977929652012-08-13T20:22:00.002-07:002012-09-19T16:45:44.719-07:00Fri Aug 17, 6.30pm MagScene on Main Reading: Write the Body<a href="http://patrickmccoy.typepad.com/lost_in_translation/2006/09/one_party_at_ve.html">Photo from Lost in Translation</a><br />
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<br />
I will be one of 6 emerging poets reading at the below event, representing <a href="http://poetryisdead.ca/">Poetry is Dead</a>.<br />
More info at <a href="http://magsceneonmain.com/schedule">MagScene on Main</a><br />
<br />
Sparkly sandals, wheelchairs, Cindi Lauper, and Joan Armatrading will appear in my poems!<br />
<br />
$10 at the door gets you in to three MagScene on Main events happening on Georgia and Union Streets that night.<br />
<br />
<b>
Fri Aug 17, 6.30pm MagScene on Main Reading</b><br />
<br />
<b>Feeling it out: Emerging Poets Write the Body</b><br />
<br />
<b> Time:
6:30 - 8:00 PM</b><br />
<br />
Host Magazine(s):
PRISM International, Poetry Is Dead<br />
<br />
In collaboration with:
Wolf Mountain Writing Collective<br />
<br />
Venue:
221A Artist Run Centre
221A E Georgia Street<br />
<br />
Six emerging poets delve into the world of arms, legs, torsos, breasts and knees, and from that turn their focus outward to eating, breathing and sexing. When poets take on the body beauty and/or raunch are sure to follow.<br />
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Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-68598668299946108412012-08-01T22:01:00.001-07:002013-02-25T20:47:14.529-08:00Video Poem: freedom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyZkpQE4iz2KzTsEtBTXKPuCAMOqTNCr1PdiJMYU1QXY_W8YdlUzleejGW32PpdStMU1GN6zmFM3LMZti1wvQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
A poem about escaping violence.Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-45984909538788368022012-08-01T21:49:00.000-07:002012-08-13T19:40:41.605-07:00Video Poem: Jest or MaliceThis poem is about how people from a dominant culture in society respond to differences in accent, language, spirituality, culture, appearance, etc.<br />
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<br />Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-6417248015823297882012-07-26T22:57:00.000-07:002012-07-26T23:38:10.499-07:00The Poet and The Cleaner: NZ National Poetry Day <style>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><b>The Poet
and The Cleaner</b></span></div>
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while the cleaner</span></div>
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scrubbed the toilets</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">the poet
spoke loudly</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">in meter</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">about truth</span></div>
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</span></div>
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as the cleaner </span></div>
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polished the mirror</span></div>
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in swirling circles</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">the poet
leant close</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">to it’s
sheen</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">and
whispered</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">about
justice</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">her breath</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">making</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">a small
patch</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">of
condensation</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">the poet
repeated</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">to remember</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">her poems </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">
to the rhythm </span></div>
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of
the cleaners mop</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">musing on
difference</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"> or
identity</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">standing
back</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">to finish</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">her poem</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">in the
mirror</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">with a
flourish</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">
the cleaner</span></div>
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slowly
clapped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">
her hands</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">the poet
bowed low</span></div>
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one hand still holding the mop.</span>
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Above is the re-imagining of a poem I wrote when I was 17 and working cleaning a school, after my school day. I don't have the original it's in an archive far away...It's in honour of <a href="http://www.booksellers.co.nz/awards/new-zealand-post-book-awards/poetry-day">National Poetry Day in NZ July 27</a>. People are going crazy for poetry all over the country! Read a poem aloud! It would be 15 more years after the above poem, before I finally started saying my poems out loud in public! I am celebrating 30 years of writing poetry myself, by re-joining the <a href="http://www.authors.org.nz/">New Zealand Society of Authors</a>.</div>
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I am reminded of teaching a poetry class a few years back. On instinct, on my way out the door, along with my books by Canadian poets, notes, and weblinks, I picked up photocopies of some poems I had published anonymously in the school magazine around the same time as the above poem. In a break in the class a man asked me what was the purpose of poetry, we chatted some and then I handed him the poems from aged 17 and told him to read as few or as many as he liked, 2 of the 8 poems were about writing poetry. After the break he was still studying the poems, closely. We wrote, and then who ever wanted to, read their work aloud. He like me, was an immigrant to Canada, and read about what he had left behind, what he found when he arrived, what he hoped for. It was a class in which people often shared their struggles, but later the tutor told me that in two years, this was the first time he had ever shared anything personal. I marveled that the words of a teenage white girl from the other side of the world, from 25 years ago, could inspire a middle aged black man to reveal himself in words. As I too have been inspired by so many poets from so many backgrounds. </div>
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Then we looked at video poems on the web, by young and old, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaWLq9VmFp8">performance poets</a>, in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0VBvKNd6hE">American Sign Language</a>, all kinds of formats. The tutor was so enthused she made a video poem right then and there with a poem she had previously written and some photos she had in her laptop. </div>
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Be enthused about poetry! </div>
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<br /></div>Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-39868607083935539852012-07-09T00:30:00.001-07:002012-09-19T16:48:48.925-07:00HOMECOMING EXHIBITION GIBSONS, BC<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzz6FmNjeLI2ARedes0eezaqnhQAcVCzvXbjJs9KjjUnLkjfoaGDiQG7l0hJxHh0O7m5D2j4CgPZZacPyUxHoaxE4zrFbDOl3baEtiGNx1Wmcr-6VUIjaH3zb6zHWUHhUGLccp2FHGDZA/s320/Sarah+Lipi_B-1+%281%29.jpg" width="253" /></div>
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You can find my work back on the Sunshine Coast again this summer!</div>
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My water photography based <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/p/meg-torwl-new-media.html">meditative installations</a>, <i>Aqwai</i>, <i>Tiarika</i>, and <i>Going Coastal</i> will be in the invitational HOMECOMING EXHIBITION</div>
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<a href="http://gibsonspublicartgallery.ca/">Gibsons Public Art Gallery</a></div>
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July 19 to August 20 2012 </div>
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This public art gallery is located in Historic Gibsons Landing, BC</div>
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201 – 287 Gower Point Road or from Molly’s Lane up the stairs.</div>
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HOURS: Thursday to Monday 11 am – 4 pm</div>
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RECEPTION: July the 21st 2 pm</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Seven artists who have been influenced by their life on the
Coast share their vision. Photography, oil, watercolour, video, animation, glass, inkjet
prints with collage and acrylic combine to form a rich and complex image of where we live and
what it has added to our lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">BRUCE
EDWARDS. CLAIRE
FEARNLEY. ELIZABETH HAINES. ROSEMARY
HANNA</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> SARAH
LIPI. AGNETE NEWMAN and MEG TORWL</span><br />
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You can check out photos of the HOMECOMING EXHIBITION on Integrial Media FacebookMeg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-23439947166118419382012-05-31T19:09:00.001-07:002012-05-31T20:41:44.480-07:00Transit Of Venus Chapbook short listed by Doire Press Ireland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjorVxsEJabxVFY8XcJFTxY7n1lT641Os4SbcS_mFl0mlamp_s81dgzn7AGKCGSdi_S3P1qd8Zqz8Y7rKEnuX0hr-dAgQSL5VHohtEMOnHsQ8NtG6kqANqY8yQlMdk18MUmIKmQGRHgPrU/s1600/transit+of+venus+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjorVxsEJabxVFY8XcJFTxY7n1lT641Os4SbcS_mFl0mlamp_s81dgzn7AGKCGSdi_S3P1qd8Zqz8Y7rKEnuX0hr-dAgQSL5VHohtEMOnHsQ8NtG6kqANqY8yQlMdk18MUmIKmQGRHgPrU/s320/transit+of+venus+cover.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
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My chapbook of poetry, <i>Transit Of Venus</i>, being launched <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/05/june-2-2012-independents-reading-and.html">June 2 2012 in Vancouver</a>, was short listed by <a href="http://www.doirepress.com/Doire_Press/winners.html">Doire Press</a> in Ireland for their poetry chapbook publishing prize.<br />
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Twenty six new poems about love, taking public transit, and life transitions. <a href="http://www.edu.pe.ca/stjean/playing%20with%20poetry/Hickey/Free%20Verse.htm">Free verse</a>, <a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5787">prose poems</a>, <a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5792">sestina</a> and <a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5780">found poems</a>. <br />
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Love from <a href="http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/2011/11/long_running_le.php">New York restaurants</a>, to <a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/the-big-bang-theory/">the Big Bang Theory</a>, and the back of an ambulance. Interactions and philosophy on public transit through the doors of <a href="http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/5minbud.htm">buddhism</a>, memory and strangers notebooks. Life transitions like illness, disability, mortality through the lens of <a href="http://www.ndp.ca/jacklayton">jack layton</a>, <a href="http://www.fridakahlofans.com/">frida khalo</a>, the <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/science/weather/japan-tsunami-2011.html">2011 Tsunami in Japan</a>.<br />
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You can check out me reading the sestina poem <i><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2011/08/portalportage-opening-august-3-2011.html">bear</a> </i>at the bottom of a previous blogpost.<br />
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ENJOY!Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-4983655951585317152012-05-15T18:07:00.000-07:002012-06-11T22:59:11.813-07:00June 2 2012 The Independents Reading and Chapbook Launch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZkvgTPNwW9-ec0XS0Y3MEPf-4PXGbA1U76voCzV91ZoQe7uNXxqZ-zmF15TXJcO5zMogiNEsRkfvJUvD90VPhIVCK_902IWjAHqIxCnZbP9PoN9z2RX-5Wp1M_-l8bbV2A5Khy9Gnoc4/s1600/Book+Launch+Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZkvgTPNwW9-ec0XS0Y3MEPf-4PXGbA1U76voCzV91ZoQe7uNXxqZ-zmF15TXJcO5zMogiNEsRkfvJUvD90VPhIVCK_902IWjAHqIxCnZbP9PoN9z2RX-5Wp1M_-l8bbV2A5Khy9Gnoc4/s320/Book+Launch+Poster.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<b> Saturday June 2 2012</b><br />
<b>6pm to 8pm</b><br />
<b>Montmarte Cafe</b><br />
<b>4362 Main St (at 27th) </b><br />
<b>Vancouver</b><br />
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The <a href="http://theindependentspoetry.wordpress.com/">Independents</a> writing collective will be reading new work, poetry and prose and launching our handmade chapbooks, should be a fun evening!<br />
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Hosted by award winning poet and raconteur <a href="http://jencurrin.com/">Jen Currin</a>, The Writers Studio at SFU poetry and lyric prose mentor.<br />
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Readings by:<br />
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Yaana Dancer<br />
<a href="http://www.dhana.ca/">Dhana Musil</a><br />
<a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/">Meg Torwl</a><br />
<a href="http://www.leannedunic.com/">Leanne Dunic</a><br />
Cole Nowicki<br />
Katie Quakenbush<br />
Jaime-Lee Kirtz<br />
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I will be reading from my new chapbook, <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/05/transit-of-venus-chapbook-short-listed.html"><i><b>Transit of Venus</b></i></a>, which explores themes of love, public transit and life transitions. It was short listed for the poetry chapbook publishing prize by <a href="http://www.doirepress.com/Doire_Press/winners.html">Doire Press Ireland</a>. Come celebrate early the <a href="http://www.transitofvenus.org/">transit of venus</a> (which is occurring on June 5th 2012, won't happen again until 2117, and has only been noted 6 times in recorded history!) - when the planet venus passes in front of earth's sun.<br />
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Checkout photos of the event on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Integrial-Media/103657349666842#%21/media/set/?set=a.433040890061818.103701.103657349666842&type=1">Integrial Media Facebook</a>Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-72895933195032095062012-03-21T16:16:00.000-07:002012-06-01T00:02:23.346-07:00Enpipe Line Book Launch March 23 7pm<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheTTx7i422cgoNsvytkrFcCPyPwdP5LKmpPwNYsi26iPU27wUdagCPnV8kLW8G3BLc_isVL7dw36udX4R_w-SlSlBwRDocAwYXLJ8CYWQYb-8xQdpNxGtOscVV3noGqFDz0iMUl4JmKtE/s1600/-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheTTx7i422cgoNsvytkrFcCPyPwdP5LKmpPwNYsi26iPU27wUdagCPnV8kLW8G3BLc_isVL7dw36udX4R_w-SlSlBwRDocAwYXLJ8CYWQYb-8xQdpNxGtOscVV3noGqFDz0iMUl4JmKtE/s320/-1.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>100 poets oppose the proposed Enbridge oil pipeline. Along with many TWS alumni I have 2 poems in the book. </b></div>
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<b>Vancouver / Coast Salish Territory launch</b></div>
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When: March 23, 2012</div>
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Where: 505 Burrard Street (in front of Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipelines office), with a reception at Artspeak, 233 Carrall St</div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/285811584821394/" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/<wbr></wbr>events/285811584821394/</a></div>
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More info about the book and the pipeline and to download a free ebook until March 22, or order online. <a href="http://enpipeline.org/">http://enpipeline.org/</a></div>
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Also available at the Launch as a hard copy, and at The Peoples Coop Bookstore.</div>
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<a href="http://www.peoplescoopbookstore.com/"><cite>www.<b>peoplescoop</b>bookstore.com</cite></a></div>
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<br /></div>Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-32063839071040514832012-02-04T19:28:00.000-08:002012-02-19T15:25:01.001-08:00Feb 12 3pm Love Poems Book Launch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUJEYNwzh4G8LzmNtndvmdM5yaCFF6qM1YkQJXHjSr5BLlB1iDaU59JAtx_lJYwvbq-lBDqSEkOqKUAzsOv_oJfQfySbX7hLGO2TZom1ri91DuedsUtc4MRmAjAEvizfAvcrs7-da53-8/s1600/Book+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUJEYNwzh4G8LzmNtndvmdM5yaCFF6qM1YkQJXHjSr5BLlB1iDaU59JAtx_lJYwvbq-lBDqSEkOqKUAzsOv_oJfQfySbX7hLGO2TZom1ri91DuedsUtc4MRmAjAEvizfAvcrs7-da53-8/s1600/Book+Cover.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff2237;">Romance is in the air at Historic Joy Kogawa House. Come celebrate Valentine’s Day with love poems, chocolate and vino, and help launch Leaf Press’s anthology <i>The Wild Weathers</i> with readings from Peter Trower, Daniela Elza, Susan McCaslin, Elsie Neufeld, Berenice Freedome, Jocelyn Pitsch, Meg Torwl, Leanne Dunic, Lenore Rowntree, and Robin Susanto. Vancouver’s poet laureate Evelyn Lau has been invited and the Kogawa House writer-in-residence, Deborah Willis, will attend.</span><span style="color: black;"></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff2237;">When: 3 to 5 pm, Sunday, February 12</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff2237;">Where: Historic Joy Kogawa House is located at 1450 West 64th Avenue (2 blocks east of Granville)</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff2237;">Cost: Tickets are $15 and include a glass of the best vino and all the chocolate in the house</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff2237;">Please rsvp to <a href="mailto:kogawahouse@yahoo.ca" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">kogawahouse@yahoo.ca</a>. See you there!</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff2237;">This anthology features my recent poem <i>Sheldon.</i></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff2237;"><i>For more info and to order from <a href="http://www.leafpress.ca/The%20Wild%20Weathers/The-Wild-Weathers.htm">Leaf Press</a> </i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #ff2237;"><i>Photos of the launch on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.354264311272810.89351.103657349666842&type=3&saved">Facebook</a> </i> </span></div>Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-19854130317962099492012-01-22T13:44:00.000-08:002012-02-04T19:20:22.313-08:00Jan 24 2012 Exhibition of Creativity by Caregivers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFzuQVR5IAbTk7Kj4sv1qoddvt4kVoM2F45-Iqi4P9fCzxexySvRkxIEK2owMFC77u-CcSVF4_4eBMRLJFsMIKkltFGJhsJc5nQCGlkhwYATaOyzIdEj4V1opd8oU98T5LIBJDhT4RNqs/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFzuQVR5IAbTk7Kj4sv1qoddvt4kVoM2F45-Iqi4P9fCzxexySvRkxIEK2owMFC77u-CcSVF4_4eBMRLJFsMIKkltFGJhsJc5nQCGlkhwYATaOyzIdEj4V1opd8oU98T5LIBJDhT4RNqs/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Two of my poems, <i>Remote</i> and <i>acts</i> considering caregiving from those receiving and giving it, will be on display in an exhibition celebrating creativity by caregivers.<br />
<br />
Tuesday January 24 2012. Garden Room. West Vancouver Community Health Centre. <br />
2121 Marine Drive<br />
West Vancouver<br />
6.30pm to 8.30pm<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nscr.bc.ca/index.html">North Shore Caregivers Resource</a>sMeg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-69706680510476970832011-12-11T16:52:00.000-08:002012-02-19T15:27:16.966-08:002011 A Great CREATIVE Year!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2UAB8vRd1Ff_C1CVXltj7mD3kwnIzUR4krKfJOiOLPfgJBn7GT-RhztX9qvaeF6A34u6Yl3p8zeHi4nADv_21Jp7Yo3PRYOiiVKp_d-k2BRPj8rdshJUnHksvLhEtSL1LgD7uEJmyNtA/s1600/lee%252Ctoewl%252Cwebb214SFU.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2UAB8vRd1Ff_C1CVXltj7mD3kwnIzUR4krKfJOiOLPfgJBn7GT-RhztX9qvaeF6A34u6Yl3p8zeHi4nADv_21Jp7Yo3PRYOiiVKp_d-k2BRPj8rdshJUnHksvLhEtSL1LgD7uEJmyNtA/s400/lee%252Ctoewl%252Cwebb214SFU.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meg Torwl reading July 2011 at the SFU Writing and Publishing Graduation with Trish Webb, Karen Lee</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" 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center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" 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</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">2011 was a good year for me creatively! I got to work or exhibit in several disciplines - writing, performance, audio, video, new media and curate.<br />
<br />
I wrote an audio <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.com/2011/10/podplay-workshop-october-2011.html">Podplay</a> in a workshop with <a href="http://colossalsquid.blogspot.com/">Jan Derbyshire</a> with <a href="http://neworldtheatre.com/productions-podplays.html">Neworld Theatre.</a> About dealing with cancer while going to university. How depression holds hands with illness behind your back and tries to convince you every day is the same. Meanwhile your creativity tries to see the sun and remember everyday is new and full of possibility - even as Fukushima burns. <br />
<br />
Two of my films screened. <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.com/2011/10/act-your-age-screens-oct-20-2011.html"><i>Act Your Age!?</i></a> with the <a href="http://www.qmunity.ca/older-adults/">Generations Project</a> Local Docs Series. <i><a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.com/2011/08/short-film-screening-august-16.html">Where have all the lesbians gone?</a></i> with an <a href="http://www.queerfilmfestival.ca/viewshowtime.php?stid=519">Out On Screen Retrospective Vancouver Visionaries</a> screening.<br />
<br />
I curated and exhibited a new media exhibition in Sechelt for a month - <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.com/2011/08/portalportage-opening-august-3-2011.html"><i>PORTAL/PORTAGE.</i></a> A wonderful <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.com/p/portalportage-media-exhibition.html">collaboration</a> with meditations on nature with three other women artists whose work I admire very much, <a href="http://www.enmedia.ca/">Claudia Medina-Culos</a>, <a href="http://www.lilianakleiner.com/begin.html">Lilianna Kleiner</a> and <a href="http://www.dianetanchak.com/home.html">Diane Tanchak</a>. With the S<a href="http://www.suncoastarts.com/profiles/scartscouncil/">unshine Coast Arts Council.</a><br />
<br />
I completed <a href="http://www.thewritersstudio.ca/index.html">The Writers Studio 2011 at Simon Fraser University</a>, with the wonderful Poetry and Lyric Prose mentor <a href="http://jencurrin.com/">Jen Currin</a>. Such a great group of fellow students too! My work grew and expanded so much in the fecund environment! I submitted 60+ pages for work-shopping and polished <span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"> and shaped my final manuscript of 25 pages for deadline, with the help of Betsy Warland’s excellent Minding Your Manuscript class. </span><style>
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</style> My final poetry manuscript is a narrative arc through an intimate relationship, illness, to life transitions of all types. There are three inter-related sections 1. The Synesthete and the Kinesthete (intimate relationships, aging, illness). 2. The Autistic Rheumatologist (disability, illness) 3. Transit of Venus (things thought while traveling – family, disability, spirituality, bliss, happiness, mortality).<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I took a fabulous elective paper at SFU - The Poems Story and Silence – with <a href="http://www.betsywarland.com/">Betsy Warland,</a> the out-going Program Director of the Writers Studio. I wanted to write about a magical childhood encounter with a flock of moths, and ended up writing a new suite of 13 poems on the joys and tensions of the great NZ extended family summer holiday! The diversity and talent of the other women in the class was inspiring when we all gave a 10 minute presentation at the last class, each of us with visual elements to our work.</span><style>
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</style><span style="font-size: small;"> It is always wondrous as a mentor </span><span style="font-size: small;">what Betsy </span><span style="font-size: small;">is able to draw out of us.</span></div><br />
I read my poetry at 5 public reading events, and had 9 poems accepted for publication. With <a href="http://www.thewritersstudio.ca/emerge-2011-student-anthology.html"><i>Emerge</i></a>, <a href="http://thursdayspoems.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/writers-caravan-anthology-chapbook-launch/"><i>The Writers Caravan</i></a>, <a href="http://enpipeline.org/?p=1541"><i>Enpipe</i></a> and <i><a href="http://www.leafpress.ca/The%20Wild%20Weathers/The-Wild-Weathers.htm">The Wild Weathers</a>.</i><br />
<br />
I am looking forward to what 2012 brings, so far in the works seeking a publisher for a poetry book, a collaborative performance commission from Calgary, a Mentorship from NZ, and possibly a retrospective exhibition. <br />
<br />
Namaste and gratitude.</div>Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-64475474507872891952011-11-13T21:01:00.000-08:002012-05-31T23:21:59.262-07:00The Writers Caravan 5th Chapbook Launch Nov 18 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPHHyYsnUne0VqCl-OE2FajtOiGJjJjMNQQEkbd-is8zCz8QzXdX5wo-VzDy77BDXdT2IZxjDw2DzZr7IC6ZInfBc0201VuRV9uTCYxPX7t0UGkquIi-1KmhcnuNSWynWaYXykioB4oog/s1600/260226_222815741084335_103657349666842_721938_3038388_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPHHyYsnUne0VqCl-OE2FajtOiGJjJjMNQQEkbd-is8zCz8QzXdX5wo-VzDy77BDXdT2IZxjDw2DzZr7IC6ZInfBc0201VuRV9uTCYxPX7t0UGkquIi-1KmhcnuNSWynWaYXykioB4oog/s320/260226_222815741084335_103657349666842_721938_3038388_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Thursdays Writing Collective launches its 5th Chapbook<br />
<br />
Friday Nov 18, 8:15pm at the Memory Festival at the Roundhouse Community Centre<br />
<br />
Thursdays Writing Collective and guest editor Michael Turner invite you to a reading and launch of<br />
"The Writers Caravan Anthology," a cross-community publication with UBC Law, The 2011 Writer's Studio and Write Club!<br />
<br />
Please join us to celebrate the authors, including TWS's Rua Mercier, Dhana Musil, Yaana Dancer and Meg Torwl, at this free event.<br />
<br />
Read more about <a href="http://integrialmedia.blogspot.com/2011/06/june-22-reading-new-work-at-roundhouse.html">The Writers Caravan here</a><br />
<br />
- I'll be reading from my prose poem in the chapbook '<i>eight doors to happiness'</i> about Buddhist lessons learned while taking transit.<br />
<br />
Come on out and listen the the authors read their work, buy a copy of the chapbook, celebrate inter-community writing.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.302851729747402.79956.103657349666842&type=3&saved#%21/media/set/?set=a.302851729747402.79956.103657349666842&type=1">Photos of The Writers Caravan Anthology Launch on facebook </a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://thursdayspoems.wordpress.com/">Buy</a> a copy of the The Writers Caravan Anthology 2011 here<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc31OJPvLvgFM5EW6MvWaZ9ROxEK7WiOJ-ebH9A24nF1NzN-1ucibr0wsbBbrTie6VJ_jR-zhLhzulVgT0mexJ6LElamq6OhCjzWKA2qLS5qrsfMVTuK-eIvVPxrD3of1dFVvZiqBGWrw/s1600/writerscaravancover110411-rgb-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc31OJPvLvgFM5EW6MvWaZ9ROxEK7WiOJ-ebH9A24nF1NzN-1ucibr0wsbBbrTie6VJ_jR-zhLhzulVgT0mexJ6LElamq6OhCjzWKA2qLS5qrsfMVTuK-eIvVPxrD3of1dFVvZiqBGWrw/s1600/writerscaravancover110411-rgb-2.jpg" /></a></div>Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-14470291583201405472011-10-29T21:56:00.000-07:002011-11-02T15:18:14.839-07:00PodPlay Workshop October 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLWQyVBrhxsd7Owqg8z6HVKD_GPSemax4eyCs-XiqDvZX1S5puKIyPub3pBLiukXMBLoni0CCzXH3WD8lKI5cbHG2F-rEOp_q_vF7EqXf6Nlvr0OGPNIrYWE7otP9_E5k2VYj6KCC9aTs/s1600/adam+spiral+cu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLWQyVBrhxsd7Owqg8z6HVKD_GPSemax4eyCs-XiqDvZX1S5puKIyPub3pBLiukXMBLoni0CCzXH3WD8lKI5cbHG2F-rEOp_q_vF7EqXf6Nlvr0OGPNIrYWE7otP9_E5k2VYj6KCC9aTs/s320/adam+spiral+cu.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">For two weekends in October I went on a fabulous <a href="http://neworldtheatre.com/productions-podplays.html">PodPlay Workshop</a>, facilitated by the wonderful <a href="http://colossalsquid.blogspot.com/">Jan Derbyshire</a>. A collaboration between <a href="http://neworldtheatre.com/productions-podplays.html">Neworld Theatre</a> and <a href="http://www.kickstart-arts.ca/">Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> '<i>PodPlays is a hybrid of technology and performance and combines sound, story and text. Load PodPlays onto your portable media player, then step outside where the plays become a soundtrack to life on the streets of Vancouver</i>.' (Neworld Theatre).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Playwrights choose a location and use cues from the urban or natural environment to write a play, often musing on life's large or small questions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Six of us participated in the workshop, recording first draft readings of our short plays, and then we all went on the PodPlays route to check out the results. Marvelous! We wrote on topics as varied as a missing cat, lost love, life and death, justice and judgment and two a collaborative poem inspired by Occupy Vancouver. Photos <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.282062175159691.76446.103657349666842&type=3&l=ae0c270f3">here</a>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">You can check out Jan Derbyshire's Westend PodPlay <i>Dog of your understanding</i>, and other PodPlays commissioned for Vancouver's 125 year anniversary on the <a href="http://neworldtheatre.com/productions-podplays.html">Neworld Theatre PodPlay site</a>.</div>Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-8524112122354163862011-10-11T20:48:00.000-07:002011-10-25T23:51:31.505-07:00Oct 22 2011 8pm Emerge Book Launch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5T4q25Rh9M-Wk_94JkiqkAdiW2WwtMUEg5cQpMJDiS8kPfJsa44lLDBkNCsIuI9jJmubDjWW5BFPfa6pkEqEkDQHAy7zPOvCdmSm_rPjKSi99j1pvGjEO17vPm_8LMQbY3ANtQ5avO4w/s1600/Emerge_2011_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5T4q25Rh9M-Wk_94JkiqkAdiW2WwtMUEg5cQpMJDiS8kPfJsa44lLDBkNCsIuI9jJmubDjWW5BFPfa6pkEqEkDQHAy7zPOvCdmSm_rPjKSi99j1pvGjEO17vPm_8LMQbY3ANtQ5avO4w/s320/Emerge_2011_cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<b>Sat Oct 22 8pm - 10.30pm , Emerge Book Launch and Reading<br />
<br />
Room 2555, World Art Centre SFU WOODWARDS </b><br />
<b>149 West Hastings (enter of Cordova St.) </b><br />
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<b>The <a href="http://www.thewritersstudio.ca/">Writer's Studio at SFU</a> presents the 2011 student anthology, Emerge, edited by <a href="http://www.hiromigoto.com/">Hiromi Goto</a>.</b><br />
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Students will read from their new work, fiction, non-fiction, poetry. Meg will read verse and prose poetry on relationships in a writers life. <br />
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Doors Open 7:30pm <br />
Suggested Donation $10<br />
Door Prize* <br />
Special Launch Price for the Book<br />
This event will be followed by a cash bar reception.<br />
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*Free Creative Writing Course from the Writing and Communications Program at SFU<br />
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Read more about what I and others have to say about The Writer's Studio course at SFU, at the blog of <a href="http://www.marketingsmartt.com/supporting_the_written_word/">SmarttNet</a> who kindly sponsored the printing of the book launch program and video of the event.<br />
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Register online if you can for catering purposes.<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://www.thewritersstudio.ca/emerge-2011-student-anthology.html"> http://www.thewritersstudio.ca/emerge-2011-student-anthology.html</a>Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-56065934398812991162011-10-11T19:31:00.000-07:002011-10-11T20:04:33.535-07:00Act Your Age!? Screens Oct 20 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvmnlHbICtX5tmAPQSU7U97XJwc9TVPIsT4E7DdCH3Id9wnONFntkhEJF7nd-oLBFruAGOWerJccajHcUeCcavSLdh7qYvvmGHlrJtZpf1-ZFYrKVAhA9xjStNToNSjhzEWn8RLZJwLHU/s1600/actyourageposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvmnlHbICtX5tmAPQSU7U97XJwc9TVPIsT4E7DdCH3Id9wnONFntkhEJF7nd-oLBFruAGOWerJccajHcUeCcavSLdh7qYvvmGHlrJtZpf1-ZFYrKVAhA9xjStNToNSjhzEWn8RLZJwLHU/s320/actyourageposter.jpg" width="294" /></a></div><br />
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<a href="http://www.videoout.ca/catalog/act-your-age">Act You Age!?</a> screens Thurs Oct 20, 7pm - 9.30pm<br />
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<a href="http://www.qmunity.ca/older-adults/">Qmunity Generations</a>: 1033 Davie, Room 103<br />
1033 Davie St, Room 103, Buzz 103<br />
Vancouver, British Columbia<br />
Entry by donation. <br />
Wheelchair Accessible.<br />
<br />
Part of Qmunity's LOC DOC series. Documentaries by local filmmakers, who attend the screening. Director Meg Torwl, and some of the films participants will be in attendance for a discussion after the screening. <br />
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10 women aged 16 to 80 talk candidly about age, ageing, ageism, beauty, disability, friends, lovers. Music by Mik Syroid.<br />
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<a href="http://www.xtra.ca/public/Vancouver/Event/Documentary_and_Discussion-7037-Event.aspx">More info and Map here.</a>Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-46886546161181214452011-09-13T23:13:00.000-07:002011-09-13T23:19:37.419-07:00Miss Hap: Mashup Prose Poem<div style="text-align: justify;"><b> The Great New Zealand Remix and Mashup Competition</b> - <a href="http://mixandmash.org.nz/the-competition/categories/remix/literature-remix/">Literature Remix</a> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX57xGYAKUNS4PkDpMuGEUebGpGVCuBak-stz-FN-N5CdpRs_IUxW40kHvPfUIklUmP18o9IJrhUTB8U9SUuS1nEriRAIF608zEAm4YdAPw7lSOOcZ82CtlFspJTKRuzw3ZhXyikmtXxw/s1600/Siso_pg6_medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX57xGYAKUNS4PkDpMuGEUebGpGVCuBak-stz-FN-N5CdpRs_IUxW40kHvPfUIklUmP18o9IJrhUTB8U9SUuS1nEriRAIF608zEAm4YdAPw7lSOOcZ82CtlFspJTKRuzw3ZhXyikmtXxw/s320/Siso_pg6_medium.jpg" width="192" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">At fifteen I was drawn by my body. the heavy body, the light body. was it only yesterday. on the walls of the kauri villa. once a desiccated seahorse. Small-scale sand bars... ripple. we are on the other side. We hear the wind, but never each others’ voices; It is always huge and we are always ants. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">A child, I skipped alone, over cracks in concrete. I took my shadow home with me. stared directly at the sun. Shadow stands up, filigree shadows lie. I press my ear to, any promise of warmth. A pale faced dark haired mother blows smoke, standing still. In this soporific state are those who have been dead for decades. Around the curve No. 3 line, escape when I was growing up. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">At eight I learned the word, ‘potion’. like spell. Breath of Heaven. Across the road, down to the creek. Into the goat cave high up a mud wall. We stayed until it got dark. You fill it up. Don’t lean away. None of the hair I have now, knew you when. I shave parts of my skull to the scalp. To the floor. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Starting things is so easy. Less of a bleeding cacophony, more of a groove. stand still and wait for a while. I like the simultaneous association/disassociation...they are narratives in their own right. It's hard to keep up with the flow of ideas, and I have to write very quickly. I’m not exaggerating or making it up. what we have built has fallen from lack of care. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">It's Sunday evening here in High Street, central Auckland on a warm muggy evening which is typical of this time of year. I've spent the weekend in what has become a series of habits, reading, or just musing. the usual subject, art - new zealand - lit. stroking, Auckland city. And it works! As I write, the storm has broke.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw15PrnVLcSYg-eVpfPWKd1sOW16CRwtqzk6JvCUjxosFzKn4enqeKeqlo36R3a3dWGplSPHEiQKyGd65ujSPgmRHQnqDaJnxewPEI-3C9avDL2aiIj4Kj3PWYcWV3QzeTQc1poc_GKrQ/s1600/022-Emily_medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw15PrnVLcSYg-eVpfPWKd1sOW16CRwtqzk6JvCUjxosFzKn4enqeKeqlo36R3a3dWGplSPHEiQKyGd65ujSPgmRHQnqDaJnxewPEI-3C9avDL2aiIj4Kj3PWYcWV3QzeTQc1poc_GKrQ/s1600/022-Emily_medium.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Sources: (in order of usage)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Dylan Horrocks, Siso. Hinemoana Baker, Self-portrait at fifteen. Bernadette Hall, Sastrugi. Helen Heath, On getting away. Lynn Jenner, She used to ask me, what is it like up there? Renee Liang, Crossed Cultures. Ian Wedde, Shadow Stands Up. Airini Beautrais East of the river. Helen Lehndorf, Tincture. Emma Barnes, Don’t Lean Away. Sarah Laing, The novel beast. Russell Brown, Debrief. Cheryl Bernstein, "This is about earthquakes". Pip Adam, The Anzac Centenary Bridge. Paul Reynolds, Weekend wandering. Emily Perkins, 'Dream'. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/88x31.png" style="border-width: 0pt;" /></a><br />
This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand License</a>. </span></div>Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8603655440561677530.post-65531342208925422232011-08-12T15:28:00.000-07:002011-08-12T15:28:48.471-07:00Short film screening August 16 Vancouver Visionaries<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">August 16 Meg Torwl's mockumentary <a href="http://www.videoout.ca/catalog/where-have-all-lesbians-gone">‘where have all the lesbians gone’</a> is part of a <a href="http://www.queerfilmfestival.ca/viewshowtime.php?stid=519">‘Vancouver Visionaries’</a> retrospective with Out On Screen. Tinseltown 9.30pm. August 16 2011. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Wheelchair accessible. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">$8, $11, with $5 membership. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Enjoy the Out On Screen Queer Film and Video Festival! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.videoout.ca/catalog/where-have-all-lesbians-gone">http://www.videoout.ca/catalog/where-have-all-lesbians-gone</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"> </span> Meg Torwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03266521164996696363noreply@blogger.com0