National Translation Month: Adina Dabija, Translated by Claudia Serea

Beautybeast by Adina Dabija

Welcome to the National Translation Month! This is a new project initiated by Loren Kleinman, Director of the PCCC Writing Center, who asked me to guest-edit a month-long celebration of translation for the PCCC blog. I hope it will catch on and become a regular feature, much in the same way that National Poetry Month in April has become. During the month of February, I will post essays about the craft of translation and poetry translations from the Romanian, Arabic, Persian, Russian, and Bulgarian, requested specifically for this project from various translator contributors.

To get started, I’d like to share with you a new book by an award-winning Romanian poet, Adina Dabija. The book is titled Beautybeast and was published last fall by NorthShore Press, Alaska. Adina Dabija’s poems have the freshness of a wind gust that steals the unsuspecting reader’s hat. Lighthearted, irreverent, and playful, this self-exploratory collection combines a strong discourse with startlingly original ideas for a dazzling result. One of the most acclaimed poets of the Romanian new generation, Adina Dabija brings new energy to the American literary landscape.

Here is what Andrei Codrescu said about her work: “My disposition and appetite for poetry were immediately aroused by these poems, like a bear’s nose awakened by the scent of honey in August. They are beautiful, fresh, naughty, full of life, and quite intelligent.”

Below are three sample poems with their Romanian counterparts. Check out the book and another poem on the publisher’s site: http://www.northshorepressalaska.com/Dabija.html.

And remember, in February and beyond: read, write, and share your favorite translated poems.

—Claudia Serea

The tramcar 16

Henry Miller’s books are the most important poems

I wrote one night.

Riding the tramcar 16,

Miller’s texts were my pretext.

Because of them, I only lifted my eyes

and the Gypsy’s mouth was the night,

his gold teeth the stars.

That’s when I was the most famous poet.

That’s when I papered the car with lines I forgot

as soon as the tramcar went on.

Now, I’m writing passionate love poems

with the steam of sauce.

They live as long as my lover still has food on his plate.

He just doesn’t know he’s eating poetry.

They say if you don’t write, you could get sick,

but to write is technically impossible,

because the poem simply flows from a piece of cheese

—and who adds a word

is a tablecloth.

That’s why I’m a poet, you see,

because the cheese hole may be a secret exit.

I never wanted readers, but wedding guests,

and for rhyme, dumplings with lemon zest.

I only write to make my lover love me,

and for my mom, to see me on TV, hi mom!

I am really going through some devilish acts,

like combing my hair with my boots—here are the facts:

my mom would sign her name on the hangers

when she lived in the dorm,

but I can’t scribble even a poem.

It’s useless: hundreds of lines I’ve forgotten on the back seat,

what a mess, in a generosity fit.

I made love to my own ideas

as beautiful as cigarettes,

then I forgot them and they were smoked in secret

by the student Andreas.

My poems are on the walls of the tramcar 16.

Forgotten by me, unknown by you, they are real.

One night, a drunk threw up in the last car and saw them.

Tramvaiul 16

Cărţile lui Henry Miller sunt poeziile cele mai importante

pe care le-am scris într-o noapte.

În tramvaiul 16, la ceasuri înaintate

textele lui Miller erau pretextul meu.

din cauza lor era suficient să ridic privirea

şi gura ţiganului era noaptea, iar dinţii de aur stelele.

atunci am fost eu cea mai mare poetă.

atunci am tapetat eu vagonul cu versuri pe care le-am uitat

îndată ce am coborât mai la vale.

Pe aburul de la sos scriu acum versuri pasionale

care trăiesc atâta timp cât iubitul mai are în farfurie.

iubitul nu ştie că mănâncă poezie.

Cică dacă nu scrii te poţi îmbolnăvi,

dar să scrii poezie e tehnic imposibil,

căci ea izvorăşte pur şi simplu din bucata de brânză.

Cine adaugă ceva e o muşama.

de aceea sunt eu poetă,

pentru că gaura din brânză e o ieşire secretă.

nu voi dori însă niciodată cititori, ci nuntaşi.

Şi pentru rimă să-mi aduceţi papanaşi.

dacă totuşi scriu uneori e numai ca să cuceresc un amor

sau ca să mă vadă mama la televizor, salut mamă,

dar cu mine se petrec fapte cu adevărat locuite de draci

cum ar fi că mă pieptăn cu zimţii de la bocanci.

Mama îşi semna umeraşele la internat,

dar eu nu-mi voi scrie poeziile.

e inutil: sute de versuri au fost uitate,

ce dezordine, pe bancheta din spate,

într-un acces de generozitate.

am făcut dragoste cu propriile mele idei,

la fel de frumoase ca ţigările,

şi apoi le-am uitat ca ele să fie pe ascuns fumate

de elevul andrei.

nu aveţi decât să mă credeţi pe cuvânt: sunt poetă.

Poeziile mele sunt pe pereţii tramvaiului 16,

uitate de mine, neştiute de voi, şi totuşi întâmplate,

doar un beţiv

a vomitat în ultimul vagon şi le-a văzut într-o noapte.

Ianus, potbellied and baldheaded

I saw Ianus fucked-up by life.

He’s got a small child, a potbelly and a bald head.

He works as a graphic designer at The Truth.

Ianus, who was laughing at the potbellied, baldheaded men,

cursing and writing poems,

is now a graphic designer at The Truth,

has a respectable air,

drinks beer on the terrace of The Free Press House

and says “When I was young.”

But let’s not be fooled by his appearance:

this, right now, is Ianus’s youth,

not the one before.

This is his true poetry.

He gave up the idea of being Marius Ianus.

He is free now, no longer an imitation of himself.

He finally found a straight way toward failure

that all of us follow.

Failure can only be enlightening.

I was reassured when I saw Ianus again,

happy in the flow of time.

He, who dreamed of revolutions,

lives on. A fly moves lazily along his arm

with which he raises the beer to his mouth.

Ianuş cu burtă şi  chelie

L-am întâlnit pe Ianuş futut de viaţă.

Are copil mic, burtă şi chelie

e tehnoredactor la adevărul.

El, care râdea de burtoşii cu chelie

înjura şi scria poezii,

e acum tehnoredactor la adevărul

are un aer respectabil,

bea bere pe terasă la Casa Presei Libere

şi spune „când eram tânăr”.

Să nu ne lăsăm înşelaţi de aparenţe:

aceasta de acum este tinereţea lui ianuş

şi nu cea dinainte.

Aceasta de acum este adevărata sa poezie.

A renunţat la ideea de marius ianuş.

e liber, nu se mai imită pe sine însuşi.

A găsit în fine calea sinceră spre ratare

pe care o apucăm cu toţii.

Ratarea nu poate fi decât iluminativă.

M-am liniştit când l-am revăzut pe Ianuş

vesel în şuvoiul timpului.

El, care visa revoluţii,

trăieşte, o muscă i se plimbă leneşă pe braţul

cu care duce berea la gură.

My Gypsy skirt

My rambles through the world mix up with my skirts.

My states of aggregation disguised in bleeding colors

—my Rue Saint Catherine green pants,

my red Bucur Obor Market dress,

—they are only stripes in my Gypsy-style skirt

with which I cover the earth.

Through the door of the washing machine,

I watch the colors mixing,

the streets, the smells, the feelings.

I see all the countries, all the men I loved,

and the world is whole again.

This way, I get high with a dollar and fifty cents

and the hot wash for whites

in the laundromat on Morris Park Avenue.

The washer rotates before my eyes

the avenues’ green scarves with the streets’ blue buttons,

my small drug dose, my little New York madness.

My life is not set to Cold/White Load, but to Hot/Mixed Load,

and I don’t care if this stuff really cleans,

for I come here every evening with my laundry bag of clean,

colorful clothes,

hoping to wash them to the final meaning of the thread,

the riot of mixed-up strings,

until the stitches and distances tear apart

and all makes profound sense again

within my Gypsy skirt.

Fusta ţigănească

Odată cu fustele se amestecă preumblările mele prin lume,

stările mele de agregare deghizate în culori care ies la spălat

pantalonii verzi rue Saint-Catherine cu fusta roşie Bucur Obor

nu sunt decât frânturi din fusta mea ţigănească

cu care învelesc globul pământesc

Prin ferestruica maşinii de spălat

privesc cum se amestecă culorile,

străzile, mirosurile, sentimentele,

cum se unesc toate ţările lumii şi toţi bărbaţii pe care i-am iubit

iar lumea e iarăşi una.

Aşa mă îmbăt eu cu un dolar şi cincizeci de cenţi

programul fierbinte pentru rufe albe

de la o spălătorie de pe Morris Park avenue

care îmi învârteşte prin faţa ochilor

bulevardele fulare verzi cu străduţele nasturi albaştri

micul meu drog, mica mea ţicneală de new York

viaţa mea nu e Cold/ White Load ci Hot/Mixed Load

şi chiar că nu-mi pasă dacă chestia asta curăţă

căci eu seară de seară vin aici cu acelaşi sac de rufe curate şi colorate

în speranţa că în final se vor rupe toate până la înţelegerea firului

până la dezmăţul aţelor amestecate

până la ruperea cusăturilor şi distanţelor

pentru ca totul să capete din nou sensul profund

al fustei ţigăneşti.

Adina Dabija

A poet and playwright, Adina Dabija now lives in New York, where she practices oriental medicine. Her first book, poezia-papusa, was awarded the Bucharest Writers’ Association Guild Prize. Her second book, Stare nediferentiata, won the Tomis Award. Beautybeast, translated by Claudia Serea and published by North Shore Press in 2012, is her first collection of poetry appearing in English. 

Claudia Serea

Claudia Serea is a Romanian-born poet whose poems and translations have appeared in 5 a.m., Meridian, Harpur Palate, Word Riot, The Red Wheelbarrow, Green Mountains Review, and many others. A two-time Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, she is the author of Angels & Beasts (Phoenicia Publishing, Canada) and The System (Cold Hub Press, New Zealand).

Can Writing Be Your 20 Percent Time?

An education colleague, Lisa Thumann, wrote a post recently about how some teachers are using the concept of  20% time. It’s a work concept that came about in 2006 when one of Google’s engineers wrote about how the company allowed them  to spend one day a week (20%) of their time “working on projects that aren’t necessarily in our job descriptions.”

They weren’t playing games or updating their Facebook page. They were supposed to be developing something new, or fixing something that’s broken.  Google claimed that in 2009 half of all Google’s products originated in 20% time.

When I heard about this back in 2006, I wondered why more employers didn’t introduce the concept.

Well, it has some obstacles: Money for one. Why pay people a chunk of salary to work on other things?  And what about those employees who would be updating their Facebook pages during that time?  But it could (with some parameters) produce some important things for the employer.

Lisa was writing about educators but what about you as a writer?  I was writing on another blog about this and later thought about how writers often complain that they just don't have time to write, but the secret is setting aside time to write on a regular basis.

William Stafford and Robert Bly are writers known for their "morning poems" which they did each day upon waking up.

The problems in doing the 20% in some jobs might be: Where to get the time? How to monitor work? How to stay on task? (And that includes using the time to fool around and using the time to just do your regular job.)

If I told you take Wednesday as your outside writing time, would I also take away 20% of your workload or would you just have to do that 100% in 80% of the time?

Google’s founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, have said that the concept came from their childhood Montessori School experiences.

Creative play is underrated. So is having the time to be creative.

Open Positions at PCCC

Passaic County Community College (PCCC)is seeking talented and motivated professionals to join our community of learners and educators. We are currently seeking interested educators for the following, full-time, grant-funded positions. Please click on each link below to be directed to the position description. Application instructions are listed on our website: http://pccc.edu/job.

•     Coordinator of Academic Technology
•     Coordinator of Tutoring
•     Director of Academic Advancement Center

If you have any questions, please feel free to email off-serve at writingcenter@pccc.edu. 

Knowing Your Characters Deeply

The PCCC Writing Center blog welcomes Diane O’Connell this week. Diane is a veteran New York publishing professional, and as Editorial Director of Write to Sell Your Book, she specializes in helping first-time authors achieve publishing success. Follow Diane on Twitter at @WritetoSell.

 

Learning how to craft a compelling hero means truly understanding why you need one in the first place. Whether or not your protagonist’s journey inspires, frustrates, or enlightens your readers, one thing is key: the author of a phenomenal story not only completely knows her hero’s weaknesses and fears; she makes them confront these terrors face to face. It may sound like the work of an author is akin to the behavior of a sociopath. That’s actually not far from the truth.

It’s All About The Journey

Over the years, I’ve read so many manuscripts that fall short of compelling me. So often, no matter how vivid the story world, how fresh the language, or how original the premise, the biggest roadblock between an author and a publishing deal has to do with the hero’s journey. There’s a core question that the author did not fully confront: Why should readers care about my character’s story?

Don’t Be Afraid of The Dark

The best stories have characters whose journeys explore the inherent flaws of the human condition – and how those flaws either break or build them. Would Heathcliff be so compelling without his streak of darkness? Would The Scarlet Letter’s Hester Prynne be so mesmerizing if she didn’t go through hell? Like Hamlet’s, your own character’s arc should inevitably spiral toward that inevitable doom, whether or not you choose to have your characters’ stories end up there at the end – that is the crux of a stellar story.

So, how do you do this?

Get Dirty and Dig

Making a character is much more than knowing the stats on her driver’s license. As the carpenter of your story, you must construct your hero from the ground up, or he won’t be able to weather a whole lot. It’s important to know the details. What are your hero’s ticks? Does she obsessively rub her hands a la the guilt-ridden Lady Macbeth? Does he have 10 locks on his front door to symbolize his broken relationship with society? But, don’t stop at the character blueprint; have conversations with your character so you can fully anticipate her every move. Know your character’s mind as much as you know your own. When you come across something in your own life, ask, “What would my protagonist think about all this?”

Put Your Character Through The Ringer

Now that you know your character better than you know yourself, test her. This is where the story sprouts. The difference between a passable book and a bestseller comes down to the depth of the main character and the story that comes out of the journey your character undergoes. The plot has to be completely intertwined with your character’s journey.

Breaking Bad is not a novel, but the show’s writing is so fantastic that I always use it to demonstrate how storytelling not only entertains, but reveals the pitfalls of the human condition. In Breaking Bad, Walter White transforms dramatically from the challenges that cross his path. The writers always find ways to up the stakes, pushing the characters to the next breaking points. If the stakes are not high enough, your novel will be flat. It goes nowhere, and readers stop caring.

No matter where you are in the novel writing process, remember that every book that was truly groundbreaking delves into dark territory, at least a little bit. Ask your hero what her hopes and fears are. Then, make her biggest fear stand in the way of her biggest hope. No matter what you choose to do to thrust your character forward, remember: It’s painful to be a protagonist.

Book Review: Researching the Writing Center: Towards an Evidence-Based Practice by Rebecca Day Babcock and Terese Thonus

Researching the Writing Center is an evidence-based text that emphasizes the importance of vigorous empirical research that can and will inform best practices in writing centers across the country. The authors, writing center professionals (an Associate Professor of English and a Writing Center Director) have put writing centers and their tutoring sessions under a scientific microscope, to examine the various ways we can investigate and study academic tutoring—what works and what doesn't?

In this comprehensive text, Babcock and Thonus describe the current status of research in writing centers (or lack thereof), give readers a crash course in research basics (what aspects have and can be explored), and discuss the various contexts of tutoring, including studies of different tutoring populations and some of the existing recommendations for practice. They then examine the sequence of events (specific actions and responses) followed in a typical tutoring session; “What defines a successful tutoring session?” (143-169). While they give some potential answers to this question, the authors reiterate the need for more scientific RAD (replicable, applicable, and data driven) research that builds on existing studies and methodology. The text concludes with various agendas for future writing center research: questions and approaches, methods, data analyses, and possibilities in terms of modifying professional practice (170-179).

Babcock and Thonus view writing center scholarship as “largely artistic or humanistic, rather than scientific, in a field where both perspectives can and must inform our practice” (3). They are concerned with connecting “theory, inquiry, and practice” (3) in the same way that other fields must question, examine, theorize, and put into action recommended changes. Writing centers are not a hot topic of research, like health and medicine, and do not garner even as much attention as classroom teaching practices in public and private schools, though the similarities are evident.  In a field such as medicine and pharmaceuticals, the necessity of empirical research, repeated testing, and experimentation is obvious. But every field can benefit from a more scientific approach—where statistically sound data and evidence using different methodological approaches (often a combination) that builds on past research—is used to help make changes in the way professionals approach their work, companies manage their employees and their products, and services and product quality are enhanced. It is too easy to use “anecdotal evidence or hasty surveys” to serve some other purpose, such as making an institution look good on paper, but backing up claims with solid research (that requires time and funding) is the real impetus for change and can result in a fundamental shift in the way professionals view and approach problems.

The authors serve as a model for the very practices they wish to encourage: Babcock and Thonus provide the reader with background and a slew of published and unpublished dissertations and theses (“grey literature”) that explore various aspects of writing centers and give us a detailed picture of what work has already been done, as well as offer suggestions and potential questions for further research: What do current writing centers look like, what populations do they serve, and who staffs them? What tutoring methods are effective for various populations (deaf, second language learners, culture)? What types of consultations are preferred and result in the best outcomes? What do tutoring sessions look like and what kinds of actions appear to work best in various contexts?  What specific details in linguistics (directives, suggestions, politeness, tone) affect consultations and in what ways? (172-178).

“Researching the Writing Center” is exactly as the title suggests: It is a type of research and discourse about research that serves both as an informational tool for researchers and writing centers, but also as a generative, thought and question provoking text that gives anyone involved with a writing center new avenues to explore (in terms of critical thinking and potential for revision). It is NOT a how-to manual for what a writing center should be like and how a consultation should enfold.  

Though Babcock and Thonus give us recommendations for practice, based on current and past research, they do not subjectively argue for any particular course of action. Some of these recommendations include: considering private space for tutoring in addition to open space, lengthen consulting times, rethinking the required consultation, considering open negotiations between tutor and tutee, encouraging writing consultants to really listen to the tutee, considering tutor vs. tutee centered sessions, and exploring the incorporation of read-alouds and pauses during the session. Many of these are less recommendations as they are considerations, as it is always important to take context into account; each writing center serves different populations and different needs. It seems that a more encompassing recommendation would be that writing professionals learn sensitivity to the needs of various populations, become flexible in the way that they structure a consultation, and be open to changes in implementation. If we return to the important question of what makes a successful consultation, it seems that most writing centers define success as making “better writers” as opposed to satisfying course instructors or tutees, or even just improving a given paper (145).

This is a critical perspective to consider; making better writers is something that is hard to quantify and measure and is something that is more inherently concerned with process (how does the writer write?) as opposed to product (what grade did the writer earn on his or her paper?). Babcock and Thonus would argue that it is essential to research the unquantifiable elements in whatever ways we can. And it is even more essential to look for ways to be better at the process of writing and tutoring writers, as it is essential to focus on the process of research—collecting information methodically, analyzing and replicating studies in order to learn more about the role of the writing center and the ways in which it can be improved.

“Researching the Writing Center” offers some provocative questions that can serve to incite researchers and writing centers to action—perhaps some will continue the research and use this text as a mine of valuable information and potential methodologies; or perhaps this book will serve as an educational point of discourse for writing center professionals—helping to increase reflective practices and thoughtfulness in their work.

Researching the Writing Center: Towards an Evidence-Based Practice is available on Amazon. 

About the Authors:

Rebecca Babcock is Associate Professor of English at UT Permian Basin where she teaches courses in writing and linguistics. Visit Rebecca's website: http://www.rebeccababcock.com/ 

Therese Thonus is the Director of the University of Kansas Writing Center and a trained linguist who has published extensively on writing centers and tutoring. She teaches courses at the graduate and undergraduate level.

The Writer's Process: An Interview with Shanny Jean Maney

The PCCC Writing Center Blog welcomes guest blogger Sarah Dolan, the Assistant Director of Residential and Student Life at Lincoln College Normal. Sarah travels, writes, and creates various forms of art in her spare time.  The PCCC Blog, in addition to sharing writing best practices, is also a space for readers to learn more about writers and their process. This blog introduces an interview with poet Shanny Jean Maney.



Shanny Jean Maney, poet.

Shanny Jean Maney lives in a house that looks like it belongs to a poet, a composer, and two dogs named Cricket and Wembley.  Art adorns the walls, books fill the shelves, and a piano is nestled into an impossibly small room.  It is in this home that Shanny smiths words into images as real as our own memories.  Throughout her book, I Love Science, Shanny whisks the reader away in a chicken limo navigated by Jeff Goldblum, and her awkward 11 year old self recounting events of a childhood that seems distant but familiar.  It is in her home that Shanny, dogs in tow, answered questions about her writing.  When asked about her childhood, Shanny recounts that she read too much. “I would often hide in the closet to read.  My parents used reading as a reward.  I couldn’t read my book until I practiced my violin.” 

 Even though Shanny always had a love affair with books, she never thought that she would eventually write one.  “If you asked me 8, no 5, years ago, I would have never thought that I would ever make a living writing.”  Initially, Shanny’s creativity was expressed through performance.  She competed in speech tournaments and performed slam poetry.  According to Shanny, “Writing something that is going to be said is different than writing something that is meant to be read.” 

Because of this, the transition from spoken word to written word came with some challenges.  Shanny entered Write Bloody’s open book contest.  In the second round she had to submit 40 poems.  During that time, Shanny quit her job as a waitress and wrote constantly while coaching speech.  When asked about her initial writing, Shanny laughed, “It was not all good.  I had a few trusted friends who I would send my work to.  Often they thought it didn’t fit with my overall theme.  It’s hard to not take it personally, but it also gave me the opportunity to defend my work and see what was really important and how to express that idea.”

I Love Science by Shanny Jean Maney.

What happened next still seems impossible to Shanny.  She won and became published, but the hard work did not end there.  The next phase was promoting her book.  “People think that getting a book published means a lot of money and riding in limos.  What they don’t realize is that it means sleeping on friends’ couches and hoping that your last gig will pay for the gas money to get you to your next one.  You are extremely lucky if you make money let alone break even."

But being published has its perks.  Shanny has traveled the country reading her work.  Most recently she presented at the University of Illinois at Chicago, to a class that had read her book.  She expected them to hate it, proving that she is always her toughest critic, but was met with a group of students eager to hear her read.  It is no wonder.  Through her writing, the reader cannot help but feel that they have known Shanny her whole life.  For aspiring writers, Shanny has these words of wisdom, “My husband once told me that as an adult no one tells you what to do, in college somewhat, but after you need to do it.  No one is going to care if you don’t write or create art, so you have to care.”  I Love Science is meant to be read out loud amongst friends.  It can be bought at www.ShannyJeanManey.com or on Amazon.