Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / April 26, 2001, edition 1 / Page 5
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April 26,2001 The Blue Banner Page 4 Features Review Poems Reflect Asian Heritage Mason Currey Features Reporter Acclaimed poet Li-Young Lee gave an excellent reading April 23 in the Highsmith Center Lounge, insightfully exploring issues of love, family, tradition and the sacred through his poems and accompa nying commentary. The event, in celebration of Asian- Pacific American Heritage Month, was sponsored by UNCA Cultural and Special Events, the Creative Writing Program, the P.B. Parris Visiting Writers Series, Multicultural Student Programs and Asian Students in Asia. After a pair of brief student intro ductions, one in English, the other in Chinese, Lee took the podium, lightheartedly asking if anyone in the audience knew enough Chinese to understand the second introduc tion. Upon the showing of only a few hands, he joked, “she said some glowing things, you guys missed it.” Lee said he would begin by read ing love poems, and added, “I think when you read love poems, you show yourself at your most vulner able.” He commented that, in his expe rience, love poetry is often divested of its eroticism in academic set tings, and that he was interested in poetry’s ability “to eroticize a lis tener.” He also spoke briefly to the audi ence about his idea that poetry is a double medium, composed not only of language, but of silence as well. “I hope the words can make you feel different qualities of silence,” Lee said. “He respects the balance between language and silence,” said Clare Cain, a senior creative writing ma jor, adding that this balance is a feature of the poetry itself, not just his reading style. Following this opening comments, Lee read the poem “Biaiding” from his 1986 book of poems, “Rose,” which won the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Award. Divided into six cantos, the poem centers around the speaker’s expe rience of braiding his wife’s hair, ending with a meditation on the passing of time: “Love, how the hours accumulate. Uncountable. / The trees grow tall, some people walk away / and diminish forever. / The damp pewter days slip around without warning / and we cross over one year and one year.” Travel Review Fun on a Budget Over the Border Scott Adams Guest Writer WALTER FYLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Li-Young Lee signs his book for Highsmith Center Lounge April Rebekah Suiock, a UNCA alumna, after his poetry reading in 23. Lee read the poem slowly and qui etly, separating each canto with a brief pause, to an utterly silent room of nearly 100 people. His reading style was perfectly suited to his poetry, as he imparted a sense of intimacy through his gentle, meditative tone, taking ample pauses between phrases, letting each word sink into the listener’s conscious ness. In fact, later in the reading, Lee addressed his interest in elevating the reader’s consciousness through poetry. In response to a question about the influence of traditional Chinese po etry on his work, Lee spoke about a concept in Chinese poetry known as the “raising of the head.” It is that moment in a poem where one suddenly becomes aware of the immense context of the subject, pro ducing, in effect, a raising of con sciousness in the reader. For Lee, moments like these make poetry a way to contemplate the universe and sacredness. Lee made the assertion that “poetic presence is sacred presence,” saying that his ambition is to practice this sacred presence in his poetry. Lee added, however, that he did not claim to always achieve sacred presence—explaining why he often prefaced his reading of a poem with the comment, “if this is a poem”— but the reading proved that, at the very least, he could convey the sa credness of language’s ability to express powerful emotions through poetry. Lee also read the poem, “This Room and Everything In It,” from his collection, “The City in Which I Love You,” which was the 1990 Lamont Poetry Selection of the Academy of American Poetry. After that, he turned to some of his. more recent work, reading from a long series of poems col lectively titled, “The Book of My Nights.” “These are tentative,” Lee told the audience. “If you have any suggestions later, you can let me know.” Introducing the'third poem in the series, “A Dwelling,” he said that, after reading it once, a woman ap proached him, and told him that it was a “dysfunctional” poem. “Maybe romantic love is dysfiinc- tional,” Lee said before reading the poem, which deals with a man only aware of his self while in the presence of his lover. Lee ended the reading with a se lection from his latest work, “The Winged Seed,” a long prose poem that serves as a memoir ofhis family’s emigration from Indonesia. It deals particularly with his father, who spent 19 months as a political pris oner in that country. “It’s 200 pages. I’ll only read half of it,” Lee joked, before read ing a poignant selection from the work dealing with a dream he had about his father. This selection was the last of Lee’s reading, which lasted about 45 min utes. Afterward, Lee was available to sign copies ofhis books. Overall, one could not ask for more of the event; Lee’s warm, affable man ner, insightftil comments and excel lent poetry all made for a wonderftil evening. My only complaint concerns the chosen venue—the Highsmith Cen ter Lounge is a lousy place for a poetry reading—but Lee even managed to distract one’s attention from the al most preternaturally ugly mural that spans the wall behind the stage, no small achievement in itself Lee was born in jakartha, Indone sia in 1957 to Chinese parents. But, following his father’s political im prisonment, he and his family fled anti-Chinese sentiment in the coun try in 1959, eventually settling in the U.S. in 1964. Lee was educated at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Ari zona and the State University of New York at Brockport, and has taught at several universities, includ ing Northwestern Universty and the University of Iowa. Lee, who now resides in Chicago with his family, has received grants and awards from the National En dowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. If you are looking for an afford able place for your summer vaca tion, Montreal, Quebec is an ex cellent destination. Montreal is an incredible and truly world-class city that offers Quebec’s drinking age of 18, great museums and parks, bars/clubs that do not close until 3 a.m., and a large resident student popu lation to keep it all going. Once you factor in a favorable exchange rate ($1 United States = $1.50 Canadian), affording the trip is easy. A friend and I to this went Montreal past spring break, and we '-j—did the whole trip for under $300 a person. First, we de clared this a road trip in stead of flying. We spent just over $50 per person on gas for the round- trip, as we drove from Asheville to Montreal. Do not do this all at once, though. Since I contacted a friend in Phila delphia, PA be forehand, we broke the long 20-hour drive in half Sleeping on someone’s floor is great af ter driving for several hours. In Montreal, stayed L Parkinson’s Disease Walk-a-Thon The American Parkinson’s Disease Asso ciation will hold its l4th annual Walk-a Thon beginning at Biltmore Forest Town Hall April 29. The walk starts at 2:30 p.m., and winds around five miles of Biltmore Forest. Musical entertain ment, refeshments and door prize draw ings will be provided. HOUSE + Gardens t Winery Employment Hotline: 828-255-1144 Visit the Biltmore Estate Web site at ivivw.biltmore.com for Estate information ' Ihih )b po'stings. Munch Money from all meal plans expire on the last day of final exams, May 10th. ^OfVoirvoes Maybe it's time to start thinling of using your Munch Money! Sodtix'hc) Marriott at The Alternative Backpacker’s Hostel of Montreal, a clean, safe and cheap ($1 l.U.S./ night) hostel in an amazingly reno vated 18th-century building. The' hostel had a full service kitchen, which helped to cut down on food expenses. In Montreal, you can see the sun rise in the “south.” Do not tell a native they’re wrong; in Montreal, west is north and east is south because of the island’s narrow, north-south orientation in the St. Lawrence River. There’s no fighting it: all addresses are listed according to human, rather than natural, directions. We visited Plateau Mont Royal. The neighborhood is a fun mix of students from nearby McGill University and the University of Quebec at Montreal, in addition to several ethnic groups. We walked along Rue St. Denis and Rue St. Laurent, the main streets for shopping and nightlife there. We briefly stood in an around- the-block line for Cafe Campus, a well-reputed, four-story tower of drinking and dancing. If you are stuck in a huge line for a club, there’s always a smaller and likely more-entertaining one nearby. This materializes as Angels, a nearby bar that was packed with young people dancing to re-mixed American, French and Quebecois hip-hop. The next morning, I decided to explore Chinatown. It is true, most large cities have Chinatowns, yet Montreal’s was unique because all the store’s signs were in Chinese, French and En glish. After exploring the neighbor hood and eating delicious, cheap food ($4 U.S. for unlimited dim sum), I concluded that language and culture defined this city. This city stays fun and interest ing; you never know what lan guage someone speaks until they talk to you. Montreal’s city flag reflects the city’s original ethnic heritage, with a clover for Ireland, a rose for England, a thistle for Scotland and a beaver for fur trapping French-Canadians. An image of Earth would be an -appropriate new flag, though, be cause Chinese, Indian, Arabic and French- speaking Afri can groups live all over the city. As an En- glish-speakei, you can get around fine just make sure to be humble when you tell someone, don’t speak French.” I heard “Bon jour” several times in stores before I plied with a Southern “pardon” am received a kind grin for it. ThG hap pened at Ba silica Notre Dame, church with an altar whose huge scale and sky-blue back ground appear to be outdoors. I tucked my English brochure into my jacket as the church closed and met my friend a few blocks away at the hostel. Montreal is very walkable addition to having a fast and clean subway, which we rode to Plateau Mont Royal. We ate dinner at Cafeteria on Rue St. Denis, where a gourmei pasta and wine dinner was $22.5® in U.S. dollars for two peoplci and the deejayed trip-hip music was excellent! Our last day in Montreal entailed visits to the Canadian Centre foi Architecture, the Museum of Con temporary Art and Mont Royal Park, a snow-covered 900-fooi mountain overlooking downtown. The museums were amazing, but goofing around in insanely deep snow is equally entertain ing! Snowball hurling makes one hungry, so we met my Montreal friends at Cafe Santropol on Rue St. Urbain in The Plateau. It served incredible vegetar ian sandwiches that mix up carrots, cream cheese, radishes and other seemingly mis matched ingredients for tast)' results. After blowing our excess coins (non-exchangeable in U.S.) in Littlt Italy’s huge Saturday morning mar ket, we finished the evening lis' tening to Celtic music at Buste' Harvey’s, an Irish pub. It was a great trip, and it was affordable. COURTESY OF SCOTT ADAMS UN CA student Scott Adams vis ited Montreal, Quebec, and rec ommends the alFordable trip for summer vacation.
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
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April 26, 2001, edition 1
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