ICELAND STILL ON MY MIND

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

Although I don't believe it was officially announced to the general public, our trip to Iceland in early June was cancelled.   This move was made in mid-March, at a time when the forecast for travel and group activities suddenly was limited, or shut down.

Unfortunately for members of our group who had already obtained flight tickets and lodging, this has meant unwinding reservations for which refunds are not readily obtained.  That's a huge hit, and a disappointment.  A few folks have held on, hoping to perhaps defer their travel to later in the season, shifting their reservations.  I hope this can happen.

In the planning build-up for Celebrate Iceland 2020, I took it upon myself to design a commemorative medallion that would be distinctive, and one that could be worn by our group when in Iceland, or displayed at home otherwise.

I now confess to having a need to peddle approximately 25 medallions with neck ribbons, as modeled by Mary Jo and me (above), and approximately 100 "coins."  Since retail shops are not up and running at this time, I'm offering them through my personal website for originally set up to retai my books:

    www.RichardPurinton.com

Cost is $30 each (plus sales tax and shipping). Please specify if a neck ribbon is preferred (limited number), or as a coin (comes in a small plastic case).  

I dealt with a local, Green Bay company, Medalcraft Mint Inc., and I can say that the detail and the quality is even better than I had hoped.  A die was created from which the medallions were struck, an additional manufacturing step with additional cost. These were hand-painted with enamel for the flag of Iceland, overlaying the outline of Iceland.  A tiny star represents the the seacoast village of Eyrarbakki, along the southern coastline.    On the reverse side are names of the four first Icelandic immigrants, tucked under the southern shore of Washington Island.



The medallions are a meaningful souvenir of this 150th anniversary year, and hopefully we will be able to display / wear them with pride when, and if, our Icelandic guests visit us in early October.

Our opportunity to be host remains to be seen, but for the present we're still planning an evening at the TPAC for one and all.  This program will be sponsored by the Island Archives, intended as both commemoration and fun.  

Let's hope we can make this happen!    -   Dick Purinton

Fifth Annual Literary Festival

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

The bookmark for September's Literary Festival (shown here) features a painting by David Friedrich, "Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog."

The theme for this year's festival, now in its fifth year, is "Exploring Frontiers, Real and Imagined."

The authors and poets who will be featured in presentations will use this theme as a stepping off point for discussion and selected readings.  There are few ways in which we can be so easily, quickly and thoroughly transported than through the written word.  Readers will find this year's experience will further stimulate their appetite for reading, for learning, and finding something new and surprising within a book's covers.

The reverse side of the bookmark features names of the main authors and their featured book.   Wisconsin's Poet Laureate, Kimberly Huston, and Door County's Poet Laureate, Sharon Auberly (their books are not shown). They'll read and talk about their poetry Saturday evening following dinner.

One challenge faced by the committee each year is to provide a meaningful program, improve on the previous years' experiences, and yet not overly complicate the weekend of events.  Logistically, there are challenges, but the outline for 2017 looks like attendees will enjoy an excellent program.  The many tasks and details are addressed through the input of a diverse, talented committee headed by Helene Meyer, whose ideas and inspiration led her to launch the first Island Literary Festival.  Helene, along with many others, strives to keep the festival program interesting, vital and worthy, in what she has often described as an "intimate gathering of readers and writers."

I'm not one to read each listed book of the featured authors, but I've recently ordered "Death and Life of the Great Lakes" by Dan Egan, based on a strong, positive review in the New York Times Sunday Book Review, titled, "Nor Any Drop to Drink?: Why the Great Lakes Face a Murky Future."   Egan works as a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and his work on Lake Michigan water topics has often been featured in the pages of that newspaper.  Egan has family connections in Egg Harbor.

Having observed Lake Michigan's water qualities as a sailor and ferryman, and knowing something of the problems that denigrate the qualities of this lake, I will be especially interested to read his book and to learn more about what is happening to the Great Lakes as a whole, both the good and the bad.  As an example, it wasn't many years ago that commercial fishing was a major economic factor in Northern Door County.  That's completely changed, and in a rather short time.  Forty years ago, there were between 40 and 80 boxes of fish, almost daily.  Now its rare to see any fish being shipped to commercial markets.  Why is that?  

Egan once interviewed me at the Ferry Office, and I believe his questions then dealt with piers, man-made structures built on the public lake bed, and how these structures might change water flow and quality.   In providing a ferry service, we need to connect floating vessels to solid land at several points, and piers are essential to the transport of people and vehicles, along with break walls that further protect the pier.  These structures are robust and substantial in dimension and mass in order to withstand heavy seas and moving ice.  I was a bit defensive then to Egan's questioning.  But, I'm interested now in learning if he promotes a viewpoint on limiting waterfront construction, or if I've changed my own point of view on that same topic.

In any case, as an island community we should be open to learning about Great Lakes water quality, even when we don't always agree with proposed solutions.

Festival registration for 2017 is $125 ($112.50 if you register prior to August 1st).  There will also be workshops, held on Friday, Sept. 21,  poetry and writing workshops by featured writers.  Workshop fee is $75, but then $65 for each additional workshop selected.

In order to register, checks can be made out to:  TPAC/Washington Island Literary Festival, PO Box 136, Washington Island, WI 54246.  Or, if you're on the Island, drop by the Fair Isle Book Store and you can register with Deb Wayman, located next to the Island Post Office and Red Cup.
  
-  Dick Purinton

2016 ISLAND LITERARY FESTIVAL LINE-UP

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

The list of authors and poets is set, for both presentations and workshops, for the 4th Washington Island Literary Festival.  

The invited authors have each written and published one or more works that reflect this year's theme: MYSTERY AND MISTIQUE OF THE MIDWEST.     Not all are writers of mystery, although that genre dominates this year.  

In non-fiction, author Michael McCarthy's book Ashes Under Water is about the Eastland disaster in the Chicago River of a century ago.  This maritime event that shook not only Chicago but the entire nation, a milestone disaster that set a course for federal laws for improved passenger vessel design and operation.  The poems of Wisconsin Poet Laureate Kimberly Blaeser reflect the mystique of living in Wisconsin.

 

A variety of writing and poetry workshops will begin Friday morning, September 16, and there will be a Festival opening reception at the Farm Museum Barn that same evening for all registrants.  A panel discussion will begin Saturday's program at the TPAC, followed by individual author presentations, interspersed by opportunities for the purchase and signing of books backstage.   Dinner Saturday evening will be at Karly's, featuring readings by Poet Laureate Blaeser.   Sunday morning's author presentations will once again be held at the TPAC.  

Registrations are now being taken, both online at the Literary Festival page within the Trueblood Performing Art Center website (www.truebloodpac.com).    Deb Wayman will also help to sign you up at her Fair Isle Bookstore, adjacent to Red Cup.

For more details on authors and events, please go to the Literary Festival website at:  
washingtonislandliteraryfestival.com

-  Dick Purinton

ISLAND LITERARY FESTIVAL 2014 - MULTIPLE SUCCESSES

Marnie Mamminga, author of Return to Wake Robin, talked about
her family's history at their cabin near Hayward, Wisconsin.
She was one of many writers who spoke at the recent
Island Literary Festival.    

Washington Island -

Eleven authors / writers were featured at the recent Washington Island Literary Festival, the second year of the event.   It was a success in several ways.

First, besides drawing writers of considerable acclaim to this event, readers were also attracted, along with aspiring writers interested in learning from veteran writers.   The range in talent and material presented was wide:  poetry, fiction, non-fiction, investigative journalism, personal memoir.   There were plenty of opportunities to meet and speak with individual authors, and to hear them read and comment on their work.  Several workshops were held prior to the main presentations on Friday, October 3, and these were also well received by those who signed up for them.

I attended Max Garland's poetry workshop and learned from his comments and easy manner regarding his own work.  Garland is a professor at UW Eau Claire and also the current Wisconsin Poet Laureate.   Afterward, I followed him to the Island School where he spoke to freshmen and sophomore students about why poetry matters, the forms which it may take, the human need for poetry, and how it provides an important means of self expression.

Although I consider my own skills to align more closely with journalistic writing and reporting (such as I'm doing here) I can't deny the interest and mystery poetry seems to hold as an outlet for expressing ideas either too complex or too difficult for linear writing.   I'd like to think that Garland's school visit will have planted a seed or two that some day - perhaps some decade - will inspire those present to seek their own expression through one of the many shapes and forms loosely identified as poetry.

Presentations during the three-day festival varied from a panel discussion to author readings followed by question and answer, but always there were plenty of opportunities to engage an author backstage on a one-to-one basis.

Guest authors were provided courtesy lodging, and Mary Jo and I were pleased to host Larry Watson and his wife, Susan.   Aside from the fact that Larry's birthday is just one week and one day before mine (I learned we were both born in 1947), Watson's book Montana 1948 remains a favorite book of mine.   I've recently read several of his books in fact, and I enjoy getting inside the lives and minds of his characters on the Montana and North Dakota plains, a spare and tough people with few frills in their lives.   It reminded me, as I read them, of my grandparents and their neighbors farming stony land on Old Stage Road near Sister Bay in the first half of the 20th Century - minus the violence that frequently emerges in Watson's characters.

Adam Schrager, a Madison television news journalist, described in his book Sixteenth Rail the
crime, investigation, capture and prosecution of the Lindberg kidnapper, using
the advanced science to examine the homemade wooden ladder used
by Bruno Hauptmann.    

I particularly enjoyed Adam Schrager's presentation of his book Sixteenth Rail, the story of a meticulous solution to the prosecution of the Lindbergh baby kidnapper by Arthur Koehler, leading wood scientist of his day, who worked at the U. S. Forestry Laboratory in Madison.  Koehler's examination of the kidnapper's ladder came amid tremendous pressure from the public and the press to nail key suspect Bruno Hauptmann.  Schrager's logical and easy-to-read book provides a fascinating look at the rise of exacting science in crime investigation to solve the nation's most publicized crime.

Poet Laureate Max Garland visited with freshman
and sophomore students at school.

Festival venues were varied.  The Farm Museum Barn, the recently reopened Washington Hotel, the Red Barn, the Island Dairy - all were utilized in addition to the TPAC, where main events were held.  At the TPAC, between events blocked for speakers, the Backstage Bookstore featured books for sale with the authors on hand to sign them.

The Literary Festival is far from a strictly "highbrow" weekend.   Events are accessible for anyone who enjoys reading, writing, or who aspires to do more of each.  Next year's festival dates have yet to be set, but several themes are being considered along with possible author names, and we're confident, based on the success of the past two festivals, an exciting slate of writers and poets will again be attracted to Washington Island.

We should also mention that the Literary Festival's goals and efforts are closely joined in spirit with Write On Door County!, an organization that fosters writing at their center near Judville.  Anne Emerson is founder and creative force, and Jerod Santek, Director.  Both Anne and Jerod were participants in this most recent Literary Festival.  Collaboration between these two organizations will help in highlighting writing as a creative force, and in the encouragement of new and aspiring writers.

 -  Dick Purinton

ISLAND LITERARY FESTIVAL REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW!

Summer reading may be coming to a close, but how
about fall?  A perfect time to prime your
pump for early October's second
Island Literary Festival.

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

Recently I finished reading the two books shown above.   Both were apart from my typical reading stack of non-fiction books, but I admit to having enjoyed both very much.

My real impetus for the recent fiction binge was to better inform myself on a couple of Wisconsin's leading writers who will help lead the Washington Island's 2014 Literary Festival, Thursday, Oct. 2 through Sunday, Oct. 5.

Although the Trueblood Performing Arts Center (TPAC) will be the main venue for presentations and panel discussions, workshops and events will also be held at other island locations.   Examples: a hospitality event coupled with registration will be held Friday evening, Oct, 3 at the Farm Museum barn.   Dinner and a presentation by current Wisconsin Poet Laureate Max Garland will be held Saturday evening at the Island Dairy.   Sunday afternoon a story telling event will be held at the Red Barn near Gislason Beach.   Workshops will be held at the Washington Hotel classroom building and backstage at the TPAC on Friday.

There ought to be plenty of variety for everyone's tastes, ranging from fiction to non-fiction, and poetry, with many leading Midwest authors, centering around the theme, "Rooted in the Heartland: Themes of Family."  I have to say that the two books shown above closely fit this theme.

Registration is open now, and you can do this by going to the TPAC website at www.truebloodpac.com. You can also send a check (write "Lit Fest" on the Memo line) to the TPAC at:    TPAC -  PO Box 36, Washington Island, WI  54246

If you're on the island, you can stop in and see Kathleen Dixon at Island Time Books.  She'll be happy to take your check and registration, and she carries many of the books by this year's featured writers.

Cost is $75 per person for the Festival registration, but that price goes to $90 after Sept. 15.   There are workshops, too, starting Friday morning, a Poetry Workshop with Max Garland;  another on Writing with Susanna Daniel and Michelle Wildgen, 11am to 1pm at the Washington Hotel;  and a third, "Strategies for Claiming Your Creative Time," with Susan Gloss, 2-4 pm, also at the Washington Hotel.   Workshop fees are $40 for each class.

If you're a Facebook user, go to  www.facebook.com/washingtonislandliteraryfestival

There'a a long list of authors, and in a future blog I'll go into more detail.  For now, I hope to alert you to this event, that it's coming up very soon, just a little over one month away.

-  Dick Purinton

BACK AGAIN

Sunrise over Detroit Harbor following night of heavy rain.

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

No excuses for no blogs.  Just been away awhile.

Lots of activities to wrap up our Washington Island summer after our two-week trip to England (which I may report on in an upcoming blog).  There was the Death's Door BBQ, several days of very heavy rain (several reports of 7 inches falling one day), the Labor Day holiday weekend, and for me, days working on the Karfi and driving the Cherry Train.  With temperatures in the lower 50s Labor Day Monday morning, it feels good to catch up on a backlog of items at home.

An important milestone was reached in the progress of my book, Thordarson and Rock Island.  I'm now expecting a delivery date of Friday, September 13.

Two days before boarding a plane to begin our trip to England, I passed the last of the edits to Amy Jorgenson.   Amy then made final changes and sent the files to Worzalla, the printer in Stevens Point.

We had been through many edits in the previous four months, with the help of five volunteer readers.  By the time I boarded the plane Sunday, August 4, I held that any remaining mistakes would have to be overlooked by myself and readers.  Then, from England  I continued to email both Amy and the printer, and the 4-color cover was approved.  However, final text and photo page approval awaited when I came home.   Those I elected to thumb through, more for formality and as a requirement by the printer  in order to keep the project moving, knowing that any changes at that point would only cost more and add to the delay in printing.

So, September 13 is now the date I'm counting on to receive my books, and with some confidence this is a done deal, I'm happily taking orders now on my new website:       www.RichardPurinton.com        You may wish to visit that site if for no other reason than to read more about the process of finishing and publishing this book.    

With editing finally in the past, sales and promotion have taken priority.

First time event:  Washington Island Literary Festival October 5 & 6

As it happens, my new book and a new Island event will coincide.  The Washington Island Literary Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday, October 5 & 6.  This event will center at the Trueblood Performing Arts Center on Washington Island, with additional activities at the Historic Island Dairy Saturday evening, and a trip to the Thordarson Boat House on Rock Island Sunday morning, weather permitting.

An Island Literary Festival was the idea of Helene Meyer's, honoring her late husband, Gene Meyer.  Helene enlisted the help of Betsy Wallman, who in turn named a committee of six other persons. I believe that our first meeting was in mid-July.  Tremendous progress was made since then in planning the program and obtaining presenters, given the comparatively late start date.

This Literary Festival emphasizes Wisconsin writers and their literature, and it's designed to give readers - the audience - the opportunity to meet and hear a range of authors with strong Wisconsin roots, and who may also write about Wisconsin.   Below is a poster developed by committee member Mari Anderson for this occasion.  I'm proud to be among those writers asked to be a presenter.  Timing of the publication of my new book is such that I anticipate receiving it in the next two weeks, in time for an event in the Thordarson Boat House Sunday morning, October 6th.  There, in the great hall of the structure most often associated with Thordarson and Rock Island, I'll read and talk about Thordarson.

The Washington Island Literary Festival Registration is being taken now, and you can sign up via the Trueblood Performing Arts Center website.  Cost is $75 per person.  You'll meet writers who include well-known former Wisconsin Public Radio host Jean Feraca, who is also an author.  Jean will also chair a panel discussion.  Listeners of WPR's Chapter-a-day will also recognize the voice of Norman Gilliland who will speak Sunday afternoon.  Norman will have a new novel out this October.  Former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Bruce Dethlefsen will read Saturday evening after dinner,  and he'll also lead an open-mic, joined by other poets - including Ralph Murre and Sharon Auberle of Baileys Harbor who recently co-published a new book of poetry.  Ralph and Sharon will also read in the Thordarson Boat House Sunday morning.

Besides admission to the presentations by writers, your registration will include dinner at the Island Dairy Saturday evening, early morning coffee and pastry, break refreshments, and the Sunday morning ferry ride to Rock Island State Park aboard the Karfi.  For anyone who enjoys literature, especially authors and books with a Wisconsin flavor, you will want to send in your registration soon.  (The registration fee jumps to $90 after 9/15/13.)

This blog doesn't begin to catch up on old news, but it's a start.  I hope to see many of you at the Island Literary Festival.  It should be a fun and rewarding experience.

-   Dick Purinton

VETERAN DAY PROGRAM AT TPAC 2011

American Legion Post 402 Commander, Bill Nauta, led the program that
featured speaker Tim Raymond, Island Schools Administrator,
and island elementary children.

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

Veterans Day, previously known as Armistice Day, was observed by community members at the Trueblood Performing Arts Center this past Friday morning.

This day of national observance has also had island traditions that, with the exception of a different speaker each year, few changes from one year to the next.  The program format over time came to include a certain predictability, beginning with the clanking of metal folding chairs as they were set up by Legion members in the Community Center, and the same annual list of audience sing-along numbers that included dusty relics from the WWI.  (Who among us identify with WWI era songs that have lyrics such as:  "Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile; while you've a lucifer to light your fag, smile boys, that's the style; What's the use of worrying? It never was worthwhile, So pack up your troubles etc. etc."?)  It was time for change!

The 2011 program shifted to the newly remodeled TPAC, a comfortable setting that permitted easy audience access and easy presentation of program elements from the stage.  This shift from the traditional program at the Community Center could be said to have actually started with completion of a walkway installation one week earlier.  A crew poured a new concrete sidewalk between school and the auditorium, removing the old chain link fence at the same time along the school's southern boundary. This installation is a welcoming feature both from a practical and symbolic viewpoint, as it opens up the north-to-south contiguous properties of Community Center, Rec Center, School and TPAC, now one "campus."

This year's program injected fresh elements.  Speaker was School Administrator Tim Raymond, new to Washington Island in August.  Elementary school children followed, whose voices led the audience in "My County 'Tis of Thee."  The large, rear-projection screen behind the speaker and the school children ran a slide show of military images, old and new.

Comments afterwards indicated that the setting and the active participation by schoolchildren were well received.  The program was short and to the point, starting at 10:30, ending by 11:15.

  - Dick Purinton