New York skyscraperNetworking, we’ll call it

… but not necessarily happy about it, the Lighthouse crew trudged back to Denver after a busy halfweek at the AWP conference that featured mumbling poets, disheveled professors, and more literary publications than could be contained on the world’s largest bookshelf. 

Several surreal moments to report: First, running into a workshopper from the very first Lighthouse class (circa 1996 in Boston) showing up with his book of poetry (“You’ll recognize some poems I drafted in that class,” he said), freshly minted as the chair of the Columbia College MFA program. 

The Lama's English Lessons

Congrats Tony! 

Next, a random, unplanned convergence, among the 7,000 registered attendees, of five Lighthouse faculty members (Laura Pritchett, Mike Henry, Tamara Guirado, Robert Root, who never saw us, and Andrea Dupree) in front of a rickety easel holding a map of the conference’s dizzyingly plentiful activities. The metaphor of lost westerners in the city, meeting in front of a map, will go unexplored. Where’s one’s camera when needed?

Mas network

We found time to meet—or, let’s call it “network” and “collaborate”—with Lighthouse far-flung pals from Boston at the Olde Town Bar.  (In the middle, LH programmer Andrea and LH director Mike.) This on our way to an ambitiously planned rendezvous, a la An Affair to Remember, at the Empire State Building (which now corrals visitors through several windy ropes courses, during the navigation of which folks are exuberantly marketed to with bullhorns and scare tactics. “You will never forgive yourself if you don’t buy our special, commemorative map!!!!”). 

Lighthouse presentation on Saturday morning (held, church social-style, in the basement of an adjacent hotel) was attended after all, despite suspicions to the contrary. ”The independent creative writing center” went off without a hitch with our pals from Grub Street and Just Buffalo.  Thanks to Harrison Fletcher and Trent Hudley for padding the audience and lobbing the softball questions.  (Just kidding, of course.) Also in attendance, intimidatingly, was the director of The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, the mama ship.

Thanks, all.  Until next time! AWP conference comes to Denver in 2010. I don’t think we’re ready.

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