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roGer rosenBlATT poet but I didn’t have the patience,” he said. Year 2086,” which was placed in a time cap- would have been horrified that two suppos- “I got into journalism in the ’70s. It put me sule at the Statue of Liberty that will be edly grown men would go at each other as in the catbird’s seat, but it wasn’t the kind opened in that year. That feat guarantees if we had lances and horses. But the truth of writing that I wanted to do. It’s only been he will have achieved something that few is he won, which left me so pissed off... I’m in the past 10 years that I’ve been doing the writers ever achieve: being read 100 years still pissed off!” writing that I wished to originally. And in on. “I intend to be there to open it up,” he When presented with the idea of holding the last five I’ve hit a form that’s very com- deadpanned. “That would be quite a sight!” a rematch in Frazier Stadium and selling fortable – books made of short sections like While it’s too soon to guess what 2086’s tickets, he said, “I wouldn’t invite any- Making Toast and Kayak Morning. That literary world will look like, he has an opti- body to the stands. I don’t think the kids allows me the occasional poetic section mistic take on the state of writing in the age could take it!” because each section has its own nature, of Twitter, Facebook and blogs. “I think it’s That kind of fire and that kind of humor tone and point of view. So I’m back where I all good,” he said. “I don’t get worried about are what fuel Dr. Rosenblatt’s books, along started. It’s not real poetry, but it’s as close it. When television came on, people said it with a belief in the power of love and the as I can come.” would be the end of radio. That turned out good in humanity. “I’m no hero,” he said At his Guarnaschelli Lecture, Dr. Rosen- to be absurd. Radio’s never been bigger. when asked about the sacrifices he’s made. blatt will read from and discuss Kayak “The trick with all these things, in my “People (who’ve never suffered loss) say, ‘I Morning and a new book coming out this judgment, is if you’re doing something could never do it.’ I don’t think that’s true. fall called The Boy Detective. The book worthwhile, do it as well as you can and I think most people could do it very easily. will follow the format of memoir/medita- do it better – and hold your ground. Your You either lie down or step up.” tion but will focus on his early childhood. audience may shrink, but it won’t go away, “Love conquers death,” he writes inKayak “When I was a kid I used to pretend I was and if you’re doing something valuable, Morning. “In this boat, on this creek, I am a detective,” he said. “I didn’t know where eventually you’ll have a larger audience. moving forward, even as I am moving in to put a shoulder holster for my cap gun so I When I was at Time in the ’80s we were circles. Amy returns in my love, alive and put it under my shirt, looking like a kid who in hog heaven. With the pass-along factor, beautiful. I have her still.” snitched a mango from a fruit stand....I’d my essays were read by 30 million people. follow people around my downtown neigh- The reason was not because there wasn’t borhood of New York and you can imagine the Internet or blogs; it was because it was the reactions of perfectly decent business- a good magazine. 2013 men who’d turn around and see this kid “I think books will do just fine. If good GuArnAsChelli following them who looks like he has a people keep writing and smart people keep leCTure mango in his shirt. So I pretended I was reading, books will do just fine. And the a boy detective and I use the boy detec- new forms might do fine too. But it tickles Roger Rosenblatt tive metaphorically throughout the book, me – blogs haven’t been around very long which is part meditation and part memoir.” – e-books have been around for a shorter During his visit to Bellarmine, he will time still — and they’re saying books, which When: 7 p.m. April 10 also teach seminar-style writing instruction have been around since Gutenberg, should Where: Frazier Hall with various Bellarmine teachers, accord- go out of business? It’s nonsense.” Cost: Free ing to Dr. Carole Pfeffer, vice president for While Dr. Rosenblatt says he is eager What: The Guarnaschelli Lecture Series academic affairs. At press time, plans includ- to deliver the Guarnaschelli Lecture and brings leading arts and humanities ed a discussion of The great gatsby in Dr. teach Bellarmine students, he admits to speakers to the Louisville community. It Kathy West’s Capstone English 450; memoir another motive for visiting Bellarmine: is made possible by a grant from Dr. John writing in Dr. Tony O’Keeffe’s Autobiogra- spending time with his friends, Bellarmine and Marty Guarnaschelli of Louisville. phy, Memoir and Life Writing course; and President Joseph McGowan and his wife, Past lecturers include Isabel Allende, creative writing with Professor Frederick Maureen, whom he and Ginny met in Italy. Billy Collins, James Dickey, William Smock’s Advanced Creative Writing class. Or, “I really love Jay and Maureen – I think L. Shirer, Gwendolyn Brooks, Harold Wilson, George McGovern, Norman as Dr. Rosenblatt put it, “I’ll be sticking my they’re just great,” he said. “Jay and I are Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, Ken Burns, nose in existing courses and talking about both irrationally competitive. In fact, one Richard Rodríguez, Seamus Heaney, some of the things I know about.” reason I’m coming to Bellarmine is to give Wendell Berry, Leslie Marmon Silko, There will also be an opportunity for Jay a chance to win a bocce match, since Wendy Whelan (with Nilas Martins), Peter students to discuss journalism with Dr. he and I played in Italy and I creamed him. Matthiessen, William Styron, Kathleen Rosenblatt, who won awards writing for “OK, the truth is he won. Neither of us Norris, Allen D. Glenn, John Dunne, Time Magazine and The NewsHour on PBS. had played. In two seconds, we made it Jared Diamond and Salman Rushdie. His storied career in journalism includes a contact sport. I would take his ball and More info: www.bellarmine.edu a famous 1986 Time essay, “A Letter to the roll it down a hill; if anybody’d seen it they spring 2013 37


Bellarmine Magazine_Spring2013
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