{"id":54812,"date":"2012-05-18T16:15:50","date_gmt":"2012-05-18T20:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=54812"},"modified":"2023-01-24T14:09:56","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T19:09:56","slug":"senior-thesis-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2012\/05\/18\/senior-thesis-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"Audio: poems and prose from Bates’ creative writing majors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

With poet and writing adviser Rob Farnsworth looking on, Karen Nicoletti '12 reads from her novel during the 2012 Mount David Summit. Photograph by Rene Minnis.<\/p><\/div>\n

As is his custom at the annual senior thesis reading, creative writing adviser Rob Farnsworth blessed the graduating Bates poets and novelists whom he has advised during the academic year.<\/p>\n

A poet and senior lecturer in English, Farnsworth invoked the four ingredients that Herman Melville said writers need to continue their important but often thankless art.<\/p>\n

“May you go forth into the world,” Farnsworth told the seniors, “and find what every writer needs: time, strength, cash and patience.” And like any good public reader, he paused at “cash” for appropriate humorous effect.<\/p>\n

Farnsworth also praised them for their “dedicated commitment to the life of the imagination.”<\/p>\n

The seven readers and their voices at the May 17 event (an eighth creative writing major, Emily Cull of Greenville, S.C., was unable to attend):<\/p>\n

Alison Cornforth of Warren, Maine, read autobiographical poems. The experience of creating them, she said, raised emotional issues, “but I ended up writing them anyway.”<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/magazine\/files\/2012\/05\/OK-CORNFORTH-000325_0035-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>
\nListen to Alison Cornforth read her autobiographical poetry.<\/p>\n

Alana Folsom of Los Angeles read part of her prose thesis that explains, like a parable, the curse on the small Southern town that is the focus on her story.<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.bates.edu\/magazine\/files\/2012\/05\/OK-FOLSOM-000325_0035-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Listen to Alana Folsom read prose about the curse on a small town.<\/p>\n

Lil Henry of Lee, N.H., read from her poetry on relationships, including one about difficult emotions a young mother feels toward her new baby.<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.bates.edu\/magazine\/files\/2012\/05\/OK-HENRY-000325_0035.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Listen to Lil Henry’s poetry about human relationships.<\/p>\n

Karen Nicoletti of Brewster, N.Y., read from her prose thesis about a saxophone player and Juilliard dropout who winds up playing for handouts in the New York City subway.<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.bates.edu\/magazine\/files\/2012\/05\/OK-NICOLETTI-000325_0035-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Listen to Karen Nicoletti read a selection from her prose thesis.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Charlotte Simpson's poetry and prose explore the power of imagination to pull us into the unknown. Photograph by Rene Minnis.<\/p><\/div>\n

Meg Ramey of Bethesda, Md., read her gritty and realistic poem “Violet” and a selection from her prose thesis dealing with mental and emotional disorientation.<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2012\/05\/OK-RAMY-000325_0035-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Listen to Meg Ramey read her poetry and prose.<\/p>\n

Charlotte Simpson of New York, N.Y., read the poem “Opener” and a prose piece called “Space Is the Place,” each about submitting to one’s imagination and the unknown.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/magazine\/files\/2012\/05\/OK-SIMPSON-000325_0035-3.mp3<\/a><\/audio>
\nListen to Charlotte Simpson read two pieces whose theme is the lure of the unknown.<\/p>\n

Michelle Schloss of Unionville, Conn., read a biographical poem, 18 stanzas each with 10 lines about Zelda Fitzgerald, from her wild Roaring Twenties days to her suicide in 1948.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/magazine\/files\/2012\/05\/OK-SCHLOSS-000325_0035-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>
\nListen to Michelle Schloss read her biographical poem about Zelda Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Their adviser, Rob Farnsworth, praised them for their “dedicated commitment to the life of the imagination.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":54831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[4,11010,133],"tags":[11002,2329,3271,6135,9512],"class_list":["post-54812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-life","category-arts","category-creativity","tag-audio","tag-class-of-2012","tag-english6","tag-music-tag","tag-writing-at-bates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54812"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83269,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54812\/revisions\/83269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}