Teens Rule Next Week With Debut of The Alexander Muse and A Teenage Stroll!

A busy week is on hand for Alexander County Library - especially for the teens. On Tuesday, April 17 at 3:30 pm, the 2012 edition of The Alexander Muse will make its debut at The Spilled Bean coffee house in Taylorsville. Join us for awesome teen readings of winning works, view winning art and photography, and enjoy delicious refreshments provided by the Alexander Friends of the Library.

Music will be provided by the bands, Home For The Day and the Not So Mighty Bosstones, and singers, Grace Williams and Matthew Campbell. There will be door prizes, so come join the fun! Shannon Childers, owner of The Spilled Bean, plans to electrify the outdoors for this epic event.

On Thursday, April 19 from 5- 7 pm - in tandem with the 45th anniversary of Alexander County Library, we will have A Teenage Stroll. Teen artists from Alexander County will have works displayed throughout the library for everyone to enjoy. Alexander Friends of the Library will provide refreshments. (Aren't they awesome?) Music will be provided by local band, Ghost of Gertrude. Join us!

And let me throw in that this Friday, April 13, is Alexander County Library's 45th Anniversary celebration. We will serve doughnuts, coffee, and juice all day since having a library available to everyone here is sooooo sweet!

Did you know that there was a library here from 1936 to 1942? Then, there were 25 years that passed before the county library reopened in 1967. That is so sad...

Hope to see you at the library!
Mel

Teen Poetry Happens For Love and Get In Your Muse Submissions!

How exciting to have TPH @ The Bean happen on Valentine's Day! As you can see from the video, folks got their love words, songs, and art in motion.

We have just one more week to collect submissions for the 3rd edition of The Alexander Muse teen art and literary magazine coming out April 17, 2012. The last day to turn in your poetry, short story prose, art, and photography is Wednesday, February 29, 2012. (Hey! At least this is a Leap Year!)

Photography can be submitted to me digitally at mhager@alexandercountync.gov. If you have used film, you may turn in your print to The Spilled Bean, Alexander Central High School, or to me at the library.

This contest is open to all Alexander County high school students regardless of where you attend school - ACHS, alternative school, area public schools, boarding schools, or home school.

There are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes in each of the 4 categories. Also, 3 Honorable Mentions will be published in each category.

1st prize in art, poetry, and prose - a $25 gift card for Wal-Mart provided by Wal-Mart of Taylorsville.

The 1st prize for photography will be a classic Pentax 35mm SLR camera donated anonymously to The Alexander Muse! (Cool beans! - Thank you, Anonymous!)

2nd prize in all categories - a $15 gift card to The Spilled Bean provided by the Alexander Friends of the Library (Thank you, Friends! You are so good to us.)

3rd prize in all categories - a $5 gift card to The Spilled Bean provided by The Spilled Bean (You are cool without sayin'! - but I said it anyway!)

Shannon at The Spilled Bean will also give our honorable mentions a free scoop of ice cream. Thank you, Shannon and Brandy of The Spilled Bean, for ALL you do!

We, also, have another incredible list of judges for this year. They are:

Art - Ellen Ball, Lindsay Barrick, and John McIver

Poetry - Joseph Bathanti, Tim Peeler, and Adrian Rice

Prose - Joann Crawford, Scott Owens, and Jan Schoeppler

Photography - Janet Cull, Milt Hawes, and Joseph Young

We thank each of our judges for sharing their time and expertise with The Alexander Muse and the Alexander County community!

Students may submit as many items in as many categories as they wish, but may only win in one category. So, give her a go, people! Submit your stuff today!

Mel

The Alexander Muse 2011 Has Arrived!

Hi All!

What a joyful celebration on Tuesday, April 19 at The Spilled Bean when we introduced the 2011 edition of The Alexander Muse! Over 100 folks joined us with delicious snacks provided by the Alexander Friends of the Library and rocking music by Band of Music (thanks for stepping in, guys!) and local favorite, Below Freezing.

The poetry, prose, and art pieces were stunning this year! Ms. Duncan, Ms. Is, and I are so proud of the teens who contributed to the work. You guys rock!

We thank the judges who gave of their time to help determine the winners. Judges for this year’s magazine were: For art - Martha Burgin, Bud Caywood, and Kate Worm; for prose - Joyce Hostetter, Tim Peeler, and Gary Bebber.

Poetry judges were North Carolina Poet Laureate, Cathy Smith Bowers, Nancy Posey, Ann Chandonnet, and Doris Stephens. There were 28 prose entries, 54 art entries, and 64 poems that were judged.

Winners in the art category were: 1st Place and the cover page, Dallas Perry with “Landscape”; 2nd Place and the back cover, Rebecca Chapman with “Element in Time”; 3rd Place and the title page, Christina St. Clair with “Brighten Up”. Honorable Mentions in art were Carolina Arias, Kristin Collins, Louis Miller, William Vannoy, and Hunter Wiseman.

In the poetry category, winners were: 1st Place, Christy Vaughn with “Does Rain Free-Fall?”; 2nd Place, John Harriman with “Burning Buildings”; and 3rd Place, Erica Burley with “the fly on the trash”. Honorable Mentions in poetry were Abigail Keller, Harlee Korte, India McWhorter, Ashleigh Reid, and Adonna Smith.

Those who placed in the prose category were: 1st Place, “Eerie Setting” by Josh Bowman; 2nd Place, “Prose of Captain Acid” by Alan-Michael Bresch; and 3rd Place, “Unearthly Visitors” by Jordan Cruz. Honorable mentions in the prose category were Kandace Allen, Chace Carswell, Devin Mitchell, Justin Owenby, and Brittany Sullivan.

1st Place winners received a $25 gift card provided by Wal-Mart of Taylorsville. 2nd place winners received a $15 gift card for The Spilled Bean provided by the Alexander Friends of the Library. A $5 gift card for The Spilled Bean was provided for the 3rd Place winners by The Spilled Bean.

Honorable Mentions received a free scoop of ice cream provided by The Spilled Bean. The Alexander Muse wishes to thank these organizations that provided prizes. And a special thank you goes to the Alexander Friends of the Library for sponsoring this year's publication!

Also, thank you Tim Panza and The Spilled Bean for hosting us all year. Thanks to The Taylorsville Times as well for doing a great job printing The Alexander Muse!

We will have a May TPH - our final meeting of the year :( - on May 10 at 3:30 pm at The Spilled Bean. Hope everyone can make it.

Have a blessed Easter!

Mel

Alexander Muse Debut

Must remind everyone that the debut of the Alexander Muse teen art and literature magazine is upon us! Yippee!! I am so proud of the Alexander teens who participated. We are putting out another wonderful collection this year.

The party will be at - where else? - The Spilled Bean next Tuesday, April 19 beginning at 3:30 pm. There will be door prizes for the students (sorry older folks!), tasty goodies (including my famous apple bites!) provided by the Alexander Friends of the Library, and great music by TPHers Below Freezing and The Image Drivers. Please join us!

On a side note, I just found out I will have some of my poetic works published in The Lyricist, a statewide magazine through Campbell University. I am stoked about that as well! April as Poetry Month is rocking!

Hope you have a great evening!

Mel

It Only Takes A Minute!

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday was the final official Teen Poetry Happens @ The Bean meeting for the 2010-2011 school year. We will, of course, have our huge Alexander Muse celebration on April 19 at The Spilled Bean! TPH folks will be there, but we won't do any art or poetry activities for the party.

For our final activity, we created minute poetry - a form embraced by North Carolina Poet Laureate, Cathy Smith Bowers. Ms. Bowers has a lovely tome, A Book of Minutes, from which I read to the teens. Then, we got down to business and created some minute poems.

The rule for minute poetry is to have 3 stanzas. In each stanza you have an 8 syllable line, then a 4 syllable line, another 4 syllable line, and a final 4 syllable line. This 8-4-4-4 stanza can have a rhyme scheme as well, but it is not necessary.

Check out these fine minutes!


Charisma
Confidence is a precious gift
Magnetic selves
Having a voice
Moving a crowd

Sometimes it is better this way
Wall flowers bloom
Hanging silence
I cannot choose

I can't help the personal traits
There is no choice
I like it now
I hate it then
by Christina


Me In Your Head
Hiding in your closet smiling
Holding a knife
With rainbow clothes
What am I, huh?

Giggling while you are sleeping
Creeping the door
To watch you sleep
Not knowing me

When you wake up and I'm not there
Wondering why
I wasn't there
It's in your head
By Pa Jai, Xeng and Karla


Who We Are
In the depths of time we perceive
always too far
always too close
always afraid

Looking for our person to change
To perfect it
To complete it
To control it

While oblivious to the truth
We are the now
We are the present
We are future
by Josh




This was a combined art and minute poem by Rebecca. Click to enlarge it.

Great job guys!

Tomorrow is Judgment Day for The Alexander Muse! I am so excited about the panel we have on board. Cathy Smith Bowers will be one of the judges for the poetry category. What an honor to have our NC Poet Laureate be a part of the process.

There were 63 poems entered, 28 prose entries, and 54 art entries. We will announce the winners on April 19 at The Spilled Bean. The public is welcome to join us! More details will be forthcoming.

Have a great day!

Mel