N E W S

Good morning, Subscriber First Name,

Eager for more Deep Beauty content? Join us on Tuesday, March 16, for an evening of thought-provoking conversation with our authors! The Writer’s Center will host an exclusive discussion with co-editors Catherine Lee and Rosemary Winslow, along with essayists Nancy Naomi Carlson, Teri Ellen Cross Davis, Yael Flusberg, and Bonnie Naradzay, plus a special reading from the late Stanley Plumly’s essay, “Barnesville, O.”

In the meantime, enjoy our newsletter, which includes thoughts from Nancy, Teri, Yael, and Bonnie on Deep Beauty in conversation with the COVID-19 pandemic as well as their insights on writing and coping with the state of the world. Yael, a writer and yoga teacher, reflects on resiliency.

How has what you’ve learned about resiliency sustained you during the pandemic?

“This past year has underscored how resiliency is the twin flame of trauma. It’s possible to have one without the other, but it seems much more likely that they go hand-in-hand.”

Nancy Naomi Carlson talks about her new book—a poetry collection that she describes as “a small act of resistance against the hatred and fear bubbling all around us.”

A review of your new book, 101 Jewish Poems for the Third Millennium, notes that "they come to us just as we need them. The poets here celebrate a culture and caution against hatred ... " What’s the significance of your book at this particular time in our history?

“Thank you for bringing up the new anthology. Full disclosure: the anthology was the brainchild of my co-editor, Matthew Silverman, and these were the words he used to sell me on the idea. Throughout the ages, human beings have had a tendency to scapegoat other human beings … a need to blame others for all of life’s negative consequences and their own personal shortcomings. We now find ourselves living in a polarized America where White supremacists are pandering to people’s baser instincts. This anthology is a small act of resistance against the hatred and fear bubbling all around us.”

Rosemary wrote a heartfelt piece on the late poet and Deep Beauty essayist, Stanley Plumly. Below is an excerpt of his piece. You can find the full version on our website.

“Professor Stanley Plumly was instigator and director, with Rod Jellema, of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Maryland, a position from which he never retired. We in the DC metro area felt fortunate to take affordable classes for several years with Stan at The Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland.”

Photo by Hope Maxwell Snyder

And we asked Bonnie Naradzay where she found deep beauty this past year.

“As I write this, March is upon us again. I remember vividly how, on March 11 last year, I led a morning “Poetry Salon” with people at Miriam’s Kitchen, a daytime homeless shelter in a church basement in downtown Washington DC, as I’d done on Wednesdays every week for years. At 4 p.m. I was at Ingleside, a retirement community elsewhere in the city. At Ingleside I’ve led monthly poetry workshops for years as well (I call these workshops Salons also, though I am mindful that a Saloon is only an extra “o” away from what I do). The next day, everything was closed abruptly.”

To read the full author Q&As, visit our website!