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The spring creative writing students of Lafayette English professor Lee Upton will present “Sweet Love by the Fire,” a reading of their poetry, at noon Wednesday, April 26, in the Marlo Room of the Farinon College Center.
The event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be served at no cost. The event is sponsored by the Department of English, McKeen Residence Hall, and the Delta Upsilon fraternity.
“It promises to be a very special reading,” says Upton, an accomplished poet and the first faculty member at Lafayette to hold the title writer-in-residence. “The a capella group the Chorduroys will sing as an introduction to the poets, and the poets themselves are an innovative and interesting group of writers.”
The students scheduled to participate are Emily Brown ’00 (Santa Rosa, Calif.), Rachel Dresher ’00 (Hamburg, Pa.), Rachaud Evans ’01 (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.), Megan Gallagher ’01 (Weston, Conn.), David Gross ’02 (Willow Grove, Pa.), Daniel Herman ’02 (Brookfield, Conn.), Nathan Klinkhammer ’00 (Corvallis, Ore.), Jessica MacDermant ’02 (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.), Michelle Naughton ’00 (Bayonne, N.J.), Matthew Pellegrino ’01 (Hopewell Jct., N.J.), Tricia Peyser ’01 (Huntington, N.Y.), Kristen Pompizzi ’01 (Upper Darby, Pa.), Dwayne Thomas ’01 (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Todd Toriello ’00 (Denville, N.J.), and Mark Woodard ’01 (New Rochelle, N.Y.).
Toriello says he appreciates Upton’s creative writing class because it allows him to “escape” the formal writing and produce creative pieces of poetry and fiction. He enrolled in the class after being inspired by his experience last fall in Upton’s course Modern and Contemporary Poetry.
“Professor Upton brings to class an energy that is one-of-a-kind,” says Toriello. “She challenges her students during each and every class and gets the most out of them. I have enjoyed studying the wide range of poets and seeing their different styles and techniques. Breaking the semester into two parts, with poetry in the first half and fiction in the second, has been really good. Professor Upton has us read our work every class, and it is nice to be recognized by your fellow students.”
Herman says, “It is the ideal college class, from the small class size and the direct professor-student interaction that comes from it to the informal and jovial atmosphere Professor Upton encourages in every session. Every budding ‘creative writer’ is starved for an editor who will tell you how great or pathetic your work is. Professor Upton offers suggestions that can be taken to heart, and we have all seen our writing improve tremendously as a result.”
Toriello agrees. “Her advice and words of encouragement have enabled me to see my flaws in writing, and she has helped me correct them,” he says. “She is constantly commenting in-depth on our work and she is always inviting us into her office to discuss our writings. My writing has also improved by reading a wide range of works by a wide range of authors.”
“I had professor Upton in the spring semester of my freshman year, and I found that I was able to critically analyze both fiction and poetry with much more success than before,” Herman adds. “I can repeat this statement multiple times for creative writing.”
Toriello believes he has been well equipped by Upton and other Lafayette professors for the challenge of entering a graduate program in secondary education at Columbia University in the fall, where he will prepare for a career in teaching English.
“Professors at Lafayette are so willing to reach out and help you whenever you need it,” he says. “Constant writing and keeping a journal for class has improved my writing tremendously. Reading different genres also has enabled me to become a better writer.”