Sunday, February 14th, 7pm The Bean Cycle/ Matter Bookstore
Join the Old Town Writing Group on the lustiest night of the year for a reading filled with savage desires, irregular heartbeats, and uncooperative body parts.
Monday, February 15th, 2pm, Avogadro's Number, Fort Collins
Lambda Community Center and SAVA Center of Fort Collins present the Respect for All film series. There will be four film showings over February and March and a big "Breaking the Silence event on April 15th.
There is a seductive myth of the lone writer. The master wordsmith sending magic back from pristine solitude, typing up pages and pages in some cabin in the woods—no one around for miles except furry animals and the occasional postman at the end of the road. Golden-worded thunderbolts radiate from a God-like mind. Sentences flow like caramel does in candy bar commercials. Transitions roll out easy, like drool from an afternoon nap. Such transcendent fluency is train wrecked by only one pesky obstruction: people. Those rampant interrupters.
That’s the myth. In reality, most writers need people. In reality, most writers go soft with no deadline, no one waiting on the other edge of the computer screen. Some unchecked stories get loose and meandering, some unchecked egos balloon exponentially, only to deflate rapidly with the obnoxious farting sound of self-pity. Most writers need a balance, a grounding mechanism, a central command to report to.
Most writing is enhanced by nuts-and-bolts concepts: workshopping, feedback, and revisions. While these craft-centric ideas may not sound sexy, the finished product is. Smart, cogent writing peer-reviewed and trimmed of unnecessary fat? Sexy. Smart, cogent writing about sex peer-reviewed and trimmed of unnecessary fat? Extra-super-sexy. This is the M.O. behind “Savage Night,” a Valentines Day reading put on by The Old Town Writing Group, a six-woman band of established Fort Collins authors who aim to share their work and the benefits of self-starting a writing collective.
Eugenie Scott is the executive director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) based in Oakland California. This non-profit organization monitors the debate over teaching evolution vs. intelligent design in science classrooms around the United States. A physical anthropologist by training Genie has used her passion for understanding evolution to defend its presence in science curricula at public institutions. She has served as a key witness in many court cases since the early 1980’s deciding whether or not to allow creationist learning material to be presented as science. I had the opportunity to sit down with her in the Matter Bookstore office to chat about the history of science education, the rise of Christian fundamentalism in United States, and the nature of ethics. The National Academy of Science recently awarded Eugenie its most prestigious award- the Public Welfare Medal – for her tireless efforts championing the teaching of evolution in the United States and leadership at the NCSE. It was an honor to meet with her and freely exchange ideas.
Matter Daily is a news, views, and community website run by staff and volunteers of Wolverine Farm Publishing in Fort Collins, CO. We are always looking for contributors and supporters. If you would like to write for us, please read the submission guidelines and pitch us a story. If you're not a writer but you have an idea for an article, please e-mail anyone on the contact page. And if you just want to give us a big fat check (please) to help continue this project, do so by clicking on the guitar case below.
