The English Club Announces the Toney McCrann Memorial Writing Contest and the Publication of the Sifting Sands

After a hiatus of too many years, the English Club revives itself and once again sponsors the Toney McCrann Memorial Writing Contest (formerly know as the Silas Sumner Contest) and this spring will publish The Sifting Sands composed of winning pieces from the context of last spring and this fall.

The winners for Spring 2008 are listed here:

Fiction: John C. Edwards
Runner-up: Amanda Pearson-Vanderbroek

Nonfiction: Amanda Pearson-Vanderbroek
Runner-up: Mary Trecek

Poetry: Carol Carpenter (winner and first runner-up)
2nd runner-up: Katie Bebout

English Club members once again invite all Peru State College students to take part in The Toney McCrann Memorial Writing Contest and The Sifting Sands beginning today, October 15. Send poetry, creative non-fiction, and fiction to us at the following address:

pscsiftingsands@yahoo.com

Start sending NOW. And please act quickly: the deadline is December 18, 2008.

Only electronic submissions will be accepted; please send all submissions as Word or RTF documents, for no other formats will be accepted. Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction should not exceed 2,000 words.

Each student may submit up to two pieces of fiction and creative non-fiction and three poems.

All work sent for potential publication in the Sifting Sands automatically enters the Toney McCrann Memorial Writing Contest.

Award-winning Nebraska poet and publisher Greg Kosmicki and award-winning Nebraska poet Rich Wyatt will judge the entries and determine a winner and two runners up for each of the three categories. To learn more about Greg and Rich, just visit this site from when they read at Peru State College.

Prizes will be awarded: $25.00 for First Place, and $10.00 for each of the runners up; all winners will also receive a complimentary copy of The Sifting Sands.



The English Club also will meet in the he library (just ask for directions) every two weeks on Thursday morning at 11:30.

We welcome interested students--you do not have to be an English Major--to join the club and work on the contest and The Sifting Sands.

If you have questions, feel free to contact either Mary Trecek (send to pscsiftingsands@yahoo.com and type "Mary" in the subject line) or Bill Clemente (bclemente@oakmail.peru.edu).

Watch for upcoming announcements and send your work to us for consideration.

English Club Officers

President: Mary Trecek

Vice President: Abby Linnerson

Secretary: Kris Miller

Mary Trecek and Abby Linnerson

Brett Anderson Gallery Talk

On Tuesday evening, January 22, Brett Anderson gave a talk about his show presently hanging in the Peru State College Art Gallery:

Hindsight and Rambling Ways

Anderson offered the audience an insightful and revealing discussion about his printmaking techniques and their roots in art history. You can view some pictures of the presentation at this site, where you can also download over the next couple months images that you enjoy.

If you cannot view the presentation at the preceding link on Gallery, you will find an identical slide show of Brett's presentation at this site.

"What I find myself most entranced with is the folly of human endeavor, our frailty and vice," Anderson has said, adding "I don't view this fixation on our shortcomings as some sort of pessimistic, nihilistic indulgence; it is really an affirmation of humanity."

His works also embrace popular fiction that appeals to him, including the work of Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Bukowski, Albert Camus, Umberto Eco, and Chuck Palahniuk.

Brett Anderson is currently an Artist in Residence at the Lux Center of the Arts in Lincoln, Nebraska.




Make sure to stop by and visit "Hindsight and Rambling Ways" in the Peru State Gallery where the show will remain until 7 February.

Peru Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast and Jazz Band Video

Bright and early on Saturday, January 10, the Peru Kiwanis Club organized one of the group's most popular fundraisers, the Pancake Breakfast, a nice way to kick off the new term, with farm fresh eggs prepared by a very familiar Peru State College face; you should, in fact, stop by Les's garage on the edge of town and pick up a dozen eggs for $1.25 and taste the difference, though wait a couple weeks because Les's chickens presently molt.

In addition to sausages and eggs, as the event's title suggests, the morning featured pancakes flipped by a master--note the concentration on his craft in the following picture:

Kiwanis members hire only the most proficient of batter masters to prepare the mix. To qualify, I am told, one must have studied the technique and taught at the college for around forty years. The two requirements share absolutely no connections, which makes Lester all the more special.

Everyone enjoyed the meal and a chance to say hello to friends. To see a few more pictures from the event, just click here. Watch for announcements about the next breakfast and join in the fun, the good company, and the food.

I also experimented with a new video for the Jazz Band that features images from a number of concerts and the band's playing a popular number Carlos Santana made pretty famous. Just click here to enjoy the three-minute celebration on You Tube.

The Peru State College Jazz Band